"Heaven or hell. Saved or condemned. Believer or unbeliever. Truth or heresy. Biblical or unbiblical. Born again or spiritually dead."
Sounds familiar? It's possible and still very common to think and act in dualistic terms. I know that I did it myself for a long time. Those contrasts are in the Bible, this is what my Christian environment taught me, and those things alone were reason enough for me to follow down the same path. It's easy to picture yourself as a brave warrior and martyr for the truth and see every challenge to your own views as an attack of unseen evil forces trying to entice you or create doubt through misleading philosophy based on rebellion against God and an evil desire for autonomy.
Once you've established what's black and what's white, people are being categorized as well - "you're either with us or you're against us!" You are pretty sure you know who is going to heaven and who is headed for hell. God made that perfectly clear, didn't He?
But the drawing of lines doesn't stop there. You discover that Christians in other denominations or even in your own church have a very different interpretation of the same things you read in the Bible. You may be appalled or convinced by what you hear and read. You go back to the Bible and try to form your own opinion who is right and who is wrong. Once your opinion has become a solid conviction, you're ready for battle again and to convince those who still got it all wrong.
Is there anything wrong with this picture? Are we even aware of what's going on when we act this way?
Once again, I have no intention to advocate relativism (if that is your concern). And I still see Scripture as a decisive compass God has provided for straightening out our thinking. I also know that He's drawn certain lines that are consistent with His own nature and character. Both good and evil do exist.
So what exactly is wrong with the attitude described earlier? I think it is mainly one thing: it paints a picture of God that is turning His intentions and His desire upside down! I will go even further and claim that it is turning God into something truly satanic. Don't get upset quite yet and let me explain what I mean.
God has zero interest in people being "out". Whenever the subject comes up explicitly, the opposite is affirmed (Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:17; 1 Timothy 2:4). The way Jesus was welcoming sinners was deeply upsetting to the religious community who sought to isolate themselves from the "spiritual cancer" rather than seeing God's desire to heal the broken and to seek the lost. The opposite is true for "the accuser of the brethren" (Revelation 12:10) who disguises himself as a friend but has nothing but murderous intentions.
So my question is: why are we so keen on defining who is "in" and who is "out" when even Jesus warned against that kind of endeavor (Matthew 13:28+41). Why can't we leave that kind of sorting out up to God? Shouldn't Matthew 25 be a lesson to us that there is going to be a big surprise regarding the fact who will be in and who will be out?
I believe strongly that we ought to focus on what makes the gospel good news! And I think we ought to be more humble when it comes to our own perception of which interpretations of biblical statements and narratives are theologically sound or not. We all err in many ways! Let's seek the truth together in a spirit of cooperation and humility!
I'll be writing some more soon regarding the issue that there are many people who desperately want to be "in" but feel rejected by the church. Much more could also be said regarding the fact that reality is not always divisible in a black-and-white pattern but there's a lot of grey and other shades of colors and dimensions as well. I'm aware of that but I just don't want to make this post any longer than it is already.
Thanks for listening!
