Last Temptation

Dear Malady,
I like the Pascal chart. The "God exists/Ungodly life" intersection brings up something that intrigued me about The Last Temptation of Christ. It is this: Does God expect you to believe in Him in order to go to heaven?

I'm pretty sure Jesus didn't quit believing in God and that God was His father, but during the period Satan had duped Jesus and gave Him a human life after the attempted crucifixion, Jesus seemed to have given up on Himself and His purpose. What if Judas had never found and made clear to Jesus that Satan had tricked Him? Would Jesus have still gone to heaven?

I'm wondering about believing as a requirement to go to heaven because what if Satan took an otherwise good person and made God invisible to him/her their whole life? Why wouldn't God try harder to make Himself known and to show that person that he/she has a purpose for living?

I'm trying to determine to what extent the responsibility is mine to seek Him out. It seems that God would have to throw a person some kind of carrot so his/her interest is at least piqued. But if He never throws the carrot (or Satan successfully hides the carrot from a person for his/her entire life), should that person be disallowed from going to heaven? I'm struggling with this idea right now, but I'll keep sorting it out. In the meantime, any carrots you can throw my way so I can better understand this dilemma would be appreciated!

You discussed grace in the "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" post. I find a great deal of comfort in that explanation and it makes me believe that God would give me a break if I couldn't find a reason to believe in Him. I found Jesus's romantic love for a prostitute to be a profound combination of grace and humanity. I have always subscribed to the idea that one cannot help who one falls in love with (or just loves) and I thought it was pretty courageous to pursue that relationship so openly in Temptation. And that Jesus challenged social propriety and defended Mary in front of others showed that He was the stand-up kind of guy we should all aspire to be.

A last point about the movie, what you've talked about, and what I've run into in the second book of Mere Christianity: I'm not sure Satan was obviously evil in The Last Temptation of Christ. This is an idea that I first encountered in John Milton's Paradise Lost (which I would like to add to our reading list) and it has rocked my world ever since.

Satan was clearly a bad egg in that he lead Jesus astray for many, many years after the crucifixion. Getting married, having children and a home was not what God had intended for Jesus - I understand that. But Satan allowed Jesus to experience a kind of human happiness that, I think, helped him to better understand what humans need in their lives to want to get out of bed each morning and march on. This seems to support Lewis's explanation of the Christian view that everything has its origins in Good - including Satan. I'm interested to know how you think about this issue.

Jesus's expression of joy on the cross at the very end of the movie left me unsure of what to ultimately think, however. Is the purpose of living to grow the soul or pursue happiness? I think the best-lived lives are those that combine both. But why does it remind me so much of your "walking the tightrope" image...?