In a previous article, Jesus and Church, I wrote how our western idea of 'either-or' limits us. It is like putting on blinders. It restricts our thinking and denies us the opportunity to embrace the unknown. Why do we deny what we don't know? Why are more and more people so positive God does not exist, when the consequences of denying God's existence keep piling up?
Feel free to blame the increasing injustice and suffering on whatever you want, but as we move further and further from God our lack of respect for one another and our pain and suffering will only increase. Pharmaceuticals will grow even wealthier as they convince us we all need to be medicated to cope with one another. Of course when we snap we will blame it on our medication.
Trying to squeeze God into an 'either-or' box as the detractors of Jesus did two thousand years ago won't work. Denying that we don't know also defines our hypocrisy. Note the following passage from the Book of Luke.
Luke 7:31 “To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; (EITHER) 34 the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (OR) 35 Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
Jesus asked them an 'either-or' type question, the kind of question they loved asking Jesus, the kind of question we love asking one another. The Pharisees never could trap Jesus, but we always lead one another to dead ends with our either-or questions. Ultimately when we place ourselves in the box created by 'either-or' questions we eventually alienate ourselves from those who are different from us. When we cease to grow, when we cease to expand our horizons, when we cease to admit there is much we just don't know, we cease to live. Life is not 'either-or.'
At Seminary I was exposed to the phrase, 'hold in tension.' At first I did not like that phrase. Like most of us I wanted answers. I still do, but after I have whined and complained I eventually admit that I do trust God. I know that God will ultimately do what is best for all of us.
I believe God has something wonderful planned for God's creation, but it won't happen until everyone has received an invitation. It won't happen until everyone has had the opportunity to decide for themselves if they want to go. The flock will just have to wait till that last sheep has been brought safely home.
What does that invitation look like? I am not God, but Jesus did say the path is narrow and few will find it. Jesus also made it clear that half of the great command, the command upon which ALL of the law and ALL of the Torah rests, is that we should love our neighbor as our self.
Don't you think God's invitation to God's great event will have a lot to do with this? We can all disagree on Who and What God is, but can there be any doubt who our neighbor is? Does the tribal person who never heard the Gospel have a neighbor? Must the Holy Spirit wait for missionaries before God can speak to the heart of the unsaved? Remember, this is half of the great commandment.
Before we take the plumb line from God and condemn others to hell maybe we should ask ourselves if we are getting this half of the great commandment right. As for the other half of the great commandment, are we really loving God with all our heart if we don't likewise love God's creation?
Do you see the danger of either-or thinking? Me? Yes, I believe the Bible and the Bible holds me accountable. Sin is sin, but some of us have well lit paths. We are accountable for being able to see what may be in darkness for others. God forgives us. Aren't we, who know we have been forgiven much supposed to walk in humility and gratefulness? Aren't we whose righteousness is as filthy rags instructed to forgive?
If opting for both-and is a copout then I am guilty. I will have to trust God to forgive me this sin with my others. Right now I need to work on loving my neighbor and let God take care of all the people and all the issues I don't understand.
E.A. Robinson said we are like children in a kindergarten trying to spell God with the wrong blocks.
Comments
I have a yogic background but a southern baptist upbringing. My take is this:
The road to the "Kingdom" is paved with compassion. It is built from nothing else.
Religion, in a good hearted way, often leads people away from that simple notion in exchange for a social structure of like minded people. Self reinforcement can be a good thing as long as the programming is pure. It's a virus otherwise. More often than not, it creates an us and them mentality, thereby limiting compassion.
Jesus would abhor the notion of a religon trailing in his wake. It runs counter to what any God realized individual would desire. Because such people understand that only a living master can speak the "Word of God".It can never be written down. It must be spoken by one who is capable. By one who is alive in the modern day.
Many are called...but most are book learned and spiritually blind as a bat.
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