cringeworthy

I just had a thought. An obvious one. No aspect of your faith should make you cringe. There should never be an aspect of your faith which you wish wasn't true. It may well be true, and if true it is therefore beautiful, and you will someday see it for what it is. But while it rings false, or unlovely, to hold it as part of your faith is poison.

To cite a personal experience, a non-Christian once asked me if I thought she was going to hell. She didn't ask it in a mean way or a flippant way, but was really asking if it was my opinion that, should she die unbelieving, she would go to hell. I more-or-less refused to answer, leaving such judgments to God (whose grace and justice are both infinitely wiser and greater than my own), and only asserted that Jesus is the way to heaven.

I might be able to answer slightly better now - or at least I've thought about it a bit beyond just absorbing what I was taught - but that's not the point. The point is, I cringed inside, because, essentially my belief at the time was that yes, she probably would go to hell. Understanding of course that it isn't my call, but under what I'd been taught, that would be the expected result.

Now, I do very much believe that if you reject God, by which I mean with your whole being you refuse the light of His truth and love, then yes, you will be separated from God. If there is any punishment inflicted above and beyond the separation you have created, it is (in my opinion) most likely God conforming the external to the internal, possibly even in an attempt to make you see life without Him for what it is. But again, not my point.

The point is, I believed something I didn't want to believe, and it made me cringe. Because no way in a million years would I ever send someone like her to hell. As far as I could see, she was - at least in the common use of the word "good" - a good person who legitimately cared for others. I couldn't make myself believe that she deserved to be punished for ever, least of all for her opinion on the truth or fiction of an account of what happened thousands of years before, and not for anything that really reached to her heart. Now, through the influence of the Spirit, I believe those two things can become related, that the two become at length intertwined - heart and opinion. But they do not appear to be obviously related, and are obviously not very related at all in some.

Anyway, I basically believed sending her to hell would be unjust, at least from my vantage point. I probably would not have admitted it, though. I more openly believe something like it now. What I mean to say is this: there is a vast gulf between saying you are Christian, and living out the Christian faith. I believe it may well be that someone in complete denial of God's existence, yet loving and gracious and serving his fellow man, is miles farther along on that infinite stair to the holy than the man who rests his hat solely on his opinion about what historical events are and are not factual. No doubt in the fullness of time, the soul that loves and serves will believe and see God; the "godly" unbeliever will ultimately see God for the lovely Father that He is.

Here's what I think: we, blinded by sin and pride, cannot understand the full nature of living faith. Otherwise, why does Jesus commend those who did not think of serving him ("When did we visit you in prison?"), and blast those who drove out demons "in his name?" "Get away from me, I never knew you!" He says. Terrifying words, especially since the knowing of him is eternal life. Knowing about Him, however, is not. Our own opinions may be as superficial as any other lie we tell, if they do not reach down to our hearts. May God give us the grace and strength to set ourselves at His feet, and follow wherever He leads us. Comfort zones and prejudices be damned.

Jesus prayed we might be one...and did we ever drop the ball on that one

I was gonna go on a rant about the problem with a, b, and c (I'm not sure what the a and the b are, but the c is for Calvanism), but what's the point, really? And what do I know? Sure, I may have issues with fundamentalism, and issues with Calvinism, but the presence (or absence) of those belief systems are not what makes you a follower of Christ. No, the faith and the strength to follow Christ comes from the Holy Spirit, and flows through the heart - the deepest will - not the intellect. For all my wishing that some Christians changed their attitudes, or their opinions, what about me? Do I let Christ be at work in my heart? Or do I stymie every effort with selfishness, indignation masquerading as a heart for justice, and a refusal to do anything more strenous than hold a somewhat out-of-mainstream opinion? As much as I am able, when I even think about laying down my self, I realize how utterly impossible it is without divine intervention.

Calvinists, Arminians, Lutherans, Catholics, whomever: let's drop the names, drop the theological buzzwords. Let's stop saying who is and isn't Christian, or who is and isn't in a better standing before God (due to their opinions, of all things!). Since when was that our call? And let's work together. Do those not knowing Christ recognize us as Christians for our love? I should dare say not. We've got to let go of the things that divide us, and realize that (by and large) they are not what makes us God's children. Our opinion (and it is only that) on predestination, or sacraments, or whatever - none of it affects the work we are to do. None of it is a part of the pure, good religion laid out by Micah and James. I can't believe we let opinion stand in the way of justice, mercy, humility, and caring for others.

Besides, a lot of the theological opinion stuff is much worry about things that are not our business. Just as Jesus explicitly said it is not for us to know the date of the end times, it may not be our place to try and define the means of or the limits of God's justice and grace. We know that God takes "no delight in the death of anyone," we know in Him is no darkness at all, and we know the Judge of all the earth shall do right. What more do we need to know? Is that not enough of a basis on which to trust Him? I think it is. I think it is more than enough to know that, in the end, all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well.