Holding the light.
A woman at the church I attend shared a heartfelt account from her life experience last Sunday. She told how, due to some failings which she attributed to herself, some of her children were not ‘walking with the Lord’. But she had faith that God would restore them to himself.
The children had attended church and Sunday school, nonetheless, the woman believed she had not communicated her faith to them in real ways outside of the church setting, and that this was the reason they, in her mind, were ‘lost’. For the time being, anyway.
Afterwards, an elderly man also attending shared his own experience briefly as an impromptu addition to the message – that his own children, also now adults, had similarly abandoned the faith, but now in their 60’s, one had ‘returned to God’ and the others were expressing interest. And he felt assurance from the Lord that he would not pass from this life until he had seen his children restored to faith. These children also had contributed to the church as young people, and had been missionaries even, together with himself and his wife.
Afterwards over lunch, my wife and I discussed what we had heard. It seemed amazing to us that, having brought up their children in the church, and having seen them express faith as young people – these older folk were now seriously worried for their grown-up children’s eternal salvation – except perhaps for the grace of God – due to, well, it was not entirely clear what. Because they were not attending church? Because, perhaps, they lived or expressed themselves in ways which we might consider sinful? (As we do also, and as do all people, sadly.)
What hope then, observed my wife, would there be for any who did not have the good fortune (or divine provision) to grow up in Christian homes like these children had? If one struggled to believe for the salvation of one’s own children, whom one had brought up in the faith, and who in some cases at least had accepted that faith – what hope for the rest of the world, most of whom (in my country anyway) appear to show no faith or interest in God at all? And some of whom appear downright wicked.
The testimonies shared were sincere and passionate, yet my wife and I happened on the same word which seemed to us somehow to characterise what we had heard: small-minded. Not to say that the speakers were unkind, which that word can also be taken to mean – just narrow, when contemplating the work and love of our great God among those dear to us, and among others.
Has my faith which I have held now for forty years grown stale? Am I, God forbid, ‘lukewarm’ as Jesus observed of some in his messages to the churches in the book of Revelation?
The passion of these two speakers was reminiscent of how I was as a younger person, in the early years of my faith (and these two were older than I am now, one perhaps ten, the other twenty years older). But more than that, the message they seemed to believe – or perhaps ‘world view’ is a better word, that is, the whole message of their faith – was also perhaps more similar to what I believed as a younger Christian than how I see things now.
‘And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.’ (Mark 16:15-16; apparently this verse or part of it has been cut from some versions, but it is in mine which I have come to rely upon, and see no reason not to in this case.)
Fairly simple when you see it like that. And I do not doubt the truth of the scripture, or of Jesus’ words.
But as I have continued through life, and raised one child (if my contribution can be given that much credit) and met so many others, a large number of them unbelievers, it has become incomprehensible to me that the God I love and know a little of would abandon all of these unbelieving folk to eternal damnation. Because if I in my infinite inferiority can treasure and even to a small extent, love some of these people – will God who loves them all completely and absolutely, not save them? Jesus, who ‘has the keys of hell and of death’? And who suffered the most terrible death himself for this very purpose?
And so I find I have ‘slid’ gradually and to some extent unknowingly into a perspective which, on the surface of it, is not obviously in keeping with some stark statements of scripture, such as Jesus’ words above.
A well known preacher from the United States has written a book on this subject of salvation recently, and as I understand it, suggests perhaps that all people will be saved; and he was roundly (and rather ironically) condemned for the idea. I picked up a copy of the book which I found by chance at a secondhand store, and I can’t say I warmed to it. I cannot now say clearly what the reasoning of the book was because I found it too unpleasant to read, so I didn’t read it all, but after reading a couple of chapters closely I only skimmed parts of the rest. It seemed to me the author was rather enamoured of his own ideas, and from that starting point set about selecting scriptures to support the ideas he had otherwise arrived at himself.
But perhaps that author’s experience was not so unlike my own. He found aspects of the mainstream Christian world view too difficult to reconcile to other, important aspects of his faith – so he set about finding a perspective that brought together what he believed.
I found the above author’s reasonings on universal salvation (and a number of other matters) unconvincing, but I can say equally that a view of salvation in which every person who is not a ‘good living’, church-going Christian is headed for damnation, is no longer a view I could hold even if I were inclined to. In my heart of hearts, despite whatever else I may believe, I don’t believe that. And I am not sorry I don’t. After all, ‘charity believes all things, hopes all things’ (1 Corinthians 13:7). Should I not then believe and hope for the salvation of the precious souls I have met, most of whom appeared to have no interest in any such salvation or in God himself? And if God ‘is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’ – will he not save those whose salvation I have indeed thought about and asked for? Because I am in the habit of doing that.
The subject of this article is not actually the matter of ‘big salvation’, which occupies my thoughts a lot, but which is too big for this article. Rather, what I am writing about is our response to being stretched by scripture and our own experience to positions where we have trouble holding the pieces together, and how we respond to that. Because it seems to me that in the modern church, this is big.
Another example:
At a church I attended last year, one of the leaders was dismissive of the Old Testament because, so it seemed to him, the God of the Old Testament did not appear loving (given the gruesome and appalling tales of destruction contained in the Old Testament, some involving or even being direct acts of God) and therefore, knowing that God is love as the New Testament proclaims, the Old Testament picture must not, according to this man, be very accurate. And I concede, it is difficult to understand the terrible things written about in the Old Testament, and how God could allow or in some cases, personally do such things. But then, terrible things are written about in the New Testament too, and furthermore, are reported in the news most days. And so it seems this church leader was stretched by what seemed to him irreconcilable angles of faith, and so abandoned one, in his case, the Old Testament (and in truth, the Bible).
But are those who claim to embrace the whole of scripture and who view God as vengeful and violent, and in truth, unloving – are those persons more faithful to the written word of God, the Bible? Than those who confess they struggle with it, and cannot fully believe? Because the attitude of some who profess a complete and literal belief in the Bible is not always, it seems to me, the attitude of God, neither does their view of God always honour other aspects of his nature clearly revealed in scripture: his extreme patience, faithfulness, longsuffering, and love.
So it seems to me a common failure of the church to limit our understanding to one perspective or another, and simply reject what we cannot fit within the scope of our understanding. And in many cases it is the Bible which is rejected, whether that is acknowledged or not, and in other cases a complete faith in the Bible is professed, but the attitudes accompanying that may deny the Bible in practice, not least what it teaches us about God. And this happens not only in the small utterances and acts of unknown believers such as myself and my church acquaintances, but also on a vast, global scale.
One denomination has a revelation of the divinity of Christ, and so cannot accept that his mother was indeed a woman in many ways like any other – or that we can, ourselves, speak to this Son of God, and that, while sinless, he is one of us. Rather, they suppose, the woman, his mother must have also been sinless in some unique sense to have given birth to Jesus. And it is probably safer to pray to her, or to some of Jesus’ friends, rather than to the man himself, who is God most high, and largely unapproachable.
Another denomination has a revelation of the humanity of Christ, and so struggles to imagine that anything about the circumstances of his birth or life would in actual fact have been truly miraculous; after all, he is first and foremost a man. There is no need, in this view, that his mother should be a virgin. Or that Jesus should walk on water, or turn water into wine, or raise the dead. According to this view he was really just an excellent man, in some sense a man from God. And we should follow him, as one of us.
These follies arise because our minds cannot grasp the long and the short of it – how two, seemingly irreconcilable things, can both be true. In this instance, how Jesus is both man and God. And so it continues today.
One branch of the church – ‘progressive’ – perceives that certain representatives of another branch are hateful and bigoted, and that those same people profess a ‘fundamentalist’ belief in the Bible. The progressive branch therefore relegates the Bible to a lesser standing, because, if that is what its most ardent adherents are like – how can it be completely true?
The other branch, ‘fundamentalists’ for want of a better word, observe that the ‘progressives’ have left off to revere the written word of God, and therefore consider them heretics and apostates, who condone all manner of things which the Bible clearly condemns. In truth, we all have failed to stretch our hearts to reach for the unthinkable greatness and vastness of our God as revealed in his book, the Bible. And if we have eyes to see, in the light of the scriptures, even as he is in our world.
But Jesus, who laid out the heinous wickedness of the scribes and Pharisees in passages such as Matthew 23, and knew that he himself would suffer unimaginably by their devices, yet said:
‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for the say, and do not.’ (Matthew 23:3)
And Jesus, who came deliver us from the law by himself fulfilling it on our behalf, and who said to the woman caught in adultery:
‘Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.’ (John 8:11)
this same Jesus also said:
‘Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ (Matthew 5:18)
and:
‘And if they right hand offend thee, cut it off: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.’ (Matthew 5:30)
How natural it would have been – if Jesus were naturally as other men are – to reject the doctrines of the scribes and Pharisees, his tormentors, who bore no resemblance whatsoever to his heavenly Father. To reject the scriptures which were their pride and joy, by which they elevated themselves to bring suffering to others. After all, how could anything good be in the hands of such men, and celebrated by them? How could the scriptures be used to such evil purpose, it they were indeed from the Father, and good?
Yet not only did Jesus uphold the sanctity of the scriptures, but very office of the Pharisees who so dishonoured it – that he affirmed, because he recognised the place of Moses which they occupied. Not in any honour to the Pharisees, nor yet in honour to Moses, but in honour to the God of Moses, who is our God too.
Our hearts and minds, pulled in one direction and another, fail to bridge the great expanse of our holy God. And for some, that is no problem. Because not all God’s people are driven by a longing to understand, but are content simply to gaze upon our God and his word, and to believe. God bless them. As for myself, understanding is the very knowing of God which I crave, because it is he whom I love.
And so I look upon the truth of our God as stars in a dark sky, seeing the brightness of their shining, not knowing the cosmic path from one to another. But I will block none from my view, because the form of their connection is slightly appearing through the shadows of the moment. And already I can say that there is not one star out of place, and that our God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Amen, and amen.
wilderness99 