Friday, July 01, 2011

"Everybody Must Get Stoned"

Lord, why is the gate so small and the path so narrow? Lord, why are people so petty and their minds so narrow? Why is it so easy to get the Gospel wrong? What is the 'Good News'?

It's certainly good news that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins "of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). But if that's true, why did Calvin teach (and so many tragically believe) that only a select few were appointed to go to heaven and the rest are destined for hell with no possibility of altering their course? I'm aware of the verses the 'Reformed' Christians use to support this heresy and I must admit those verses seem to say what Calvin and his coven claim to be the truth. But then that would make the 'Good News' to be really just the 'So-so News'. It's great if you're chosen, but you might as well 'curse God and die' if you're not.

Anyway, Lord, I'll love the heretics just like you loved the Pharitics: I'll "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). But even though I clearly see that their predestination theory is bunk, I also have a hard time reconciling this idea of unconditional love and eternal security that everyone is cooing about with the passages that clearly warn against persisting in the works of the flesh:

Galatians 6:7-8 NASB - [7] Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. [8] For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Galatians 5:19-21 NASB - [19] Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are:immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions,factions, [21] envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-12 NASB - [7] and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, [8] dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. [9] These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, [10] when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed--for our testimony to you was believed. [11] To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, [12] so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's clear that those who are not deemed "worthy of [their] calling" because they don't "obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus" will suffer eternal destruction, banished from His presence forever. Why would Paul pray that they would be counted worthy if, as the Callvinists claim, the elect are called and then sanctified (entirely apart from their own free will!) so as to make their salvation an absolute certainty? They claim that those who backslide and return to a life of sin just prove that they were never really one of 'the elect'. But I never got the impression that the apostle Paul was a dimwit! Why would he waste his time praying "always" for something that is a foregone conclusion? I think he had better things to do.

But it's also clearly not as the 'once saved - always saved' folks would have us believe. The same verses blow that theory out of the water as well. Salvation is a gift, but not in the sense of an object contained in a box wrapped with festive paper and a pretty satin bow, that once opened becomes the permanent property of the recipient. Salvation is like a prescription for a medication that we must continue to take according to the Doctor's directions if we are to have any hope of recovering from our illness. The cure is guaranteed, but only if we continue the treatment. We can "know that [we] have eternal life" according to 1 John 5:13, but it's easy to take this statement out of context and many do. True faith (which according to James saves us) is characterized by:

1) A love for God - which John defines as keeping His commandments, which he claims are not burdensome. The New Covenant has only 2 directives: to believe in Jesus, and to love our spiritual siblings (John 6:29, 1 John 3:23 - read Gaylord Enns "Love Revolution"). Now that our hope is "Christ in you, the hope of glory", we are loving God when we love one another.
2) Overcoming the world. God loves us like we are, but he also loves us too much to leave us like we are. The letters to the 7 churches in 'The Revelation to John" make it clear that we must be overcomers. In the letter to the church in Sardis, Jesus states that those who overcome will never have their names erased from the Book of Life. Overcoming is not optional, but focusing on sin management is clearly not the answer as Colossians makes clear. The church in Sardis was guilty of 'incomplete works'. They apparently had lost their fervor for loving people in practical ways. They were dead, even though they had a reputation for being a happening place to 'do church'.

Well...I could go on forever, but the bottom line is that I need to be more in love with Jesus. I need to make room for Him to reveal His heart to me; to speak to me about what He wants to do in and through me. I need to be filled with His Spirit. I need to quit trying to make God happy by my performance and just focus on letting Him all the way into the depths of my soul, no matter what dark place He wants to shine the light of His glory into.

I just finished reading "Son of a Preacher Man" by Jay Bakker. He has a ministry in Atlanta called 'Revolution' that reaches out to punks, skaters, goths, metalheads, etc. Their MO is to just accept these kids as they are. They put on concerts with secular as well as Christian rock bands. They don't exclude kids from their Bible studies and activities over their dress or piercings or tattoos...or even if they are high or intoxicated. They try to love them like Jesus would, who hung out with the dregs of society when he was here in the flesh. But even Jay admits that the love that he knows Jesus wants to show the disenfranchised, he has a hard time appropriating for himself. We're so conditioned by 'the church' to be Pharisees, that we even turn on ourselves. I'm sometimes the worst Pharisee of all. Sometimes I'm right there, guarding the jackets at Stephen's execution. "Everybody Must Get Stoned"