Winnowing separates the desired from the less desired. Wheat is winnowed to separate the edible grain from the less desirable chaff. In earlier times, the trampled grain was simply thrown into the air and the chaff blown away with the wind.
God wanted to let those who would reject Him winnow themselves from those who chose to believe and obey. He used His ability to program and compile particles into systems and beings to write and download The Creation Program. Within it, every human program will freely choose between loving God and neighbors or to not do so.
The Creation Program provides opportunities for winnowing. The vain believe The Creation Program is a 10 or 20 billion year old accident. “I do not believe that God could be powerful enough to have made all there is.”
Humble souls believe that God downloaded fossils, layers of rock, and other big, small, near, far-away, and old-looking things so we’d be free to believe in accident or Him.
The winnowing process separates wheat from chaff. Consider how winnowing works:
Commandments are clear and include: “Thou shall have no other Gods before Me.” and “Thou shall not kill.” Some choose to decide: “I believe we have evolved by accident within a larger accident. I am pro-choice.” Such a soul, barring sufficient repentance before departure, is “winnowed”. That’s how winnowing works.
That’s easy. Consider a more complicated question. Someone discovers that their Somewhat Christian group has changed its teaching on, say, abortion. The deadly sin is now said to be “a serious matter of personal preference”. The person reaches the obvious conclusion: “That will only help a person justify getting an abortion. It will cause more babies to be aborted.”
That person should think about how winnowing works. Financially supporting such a group causes more deaths. Can those who cause more deaths of the unborn get into Heaven? Many who are faced with that dilemma decide: “I value the friendships in my group, so I will continue to support it.”
Here’s how winnowing works: “I value my friendships more.” moves ahead of “Thou shall have no other Gods before Me.” The First Commandment has been violated. That’s the very, very serious way that winnowing works.
Those who make excuses to justify ignoring The First Commandment are guilty of bearing false witness with every excuse. That’s how winnowing works. Once a soul lets itself be blown away, it just keeps on going.
Those who more deeply understand how winnowing works end up being Catholic. There is simply no safer way to get our soul into Heaven.
Mt. 16: 18-20 has all the necessary information a person needs to be saved: “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
That’s what Jesus said. Ultimately, the degree to which we obey or disobey the one, simple instruction from Jesus in Matthew 16: 18-20 is how winnowing works on our own soul.
