I just read an provocative article on
Atoday.com.
Since it is short here it is:
I tried to heal someone this week.
I have a friend who is extremely sick, as in die-any-day type of sick. Furthermore, he doesn’t believe salvation is for him and rejects Jesus as his Savior and Friend. Lately it has become nearly impossible for him to feel any type of love from God, his family, or his friends because his sickness is clouding his thoughts.
I have done, quite literally, everything I can think of in order to show him the love of God. I have prayed the tears out of my eyes. I’ve tried Bible studies. Prayer circles. Different doctors. Just being a listener. Pastoral counseling. I can’t list all the things I’ve tried. But he got worse, not better. With every change in tactic I expected some type of improvement, yet there has been no change in his sickness or in his soul.
There is no prayer like a desperate prayer. At one point I got so downcast that I asked God to violate his free will and save him no matter what he wants. I was, and kinda-sorta-but-not-really still am dead serious about that despite how I know that the destruction of free will precedes the destruction of true love.
Lately, my best friend and I have been talking about miracles. About how Jesus essentially said that even a little faith could move a mountain if it was hindering the work of God. About how Jesus said His disciples would do greater and more things than He ever did. About whether these and other statements were meant specifically for His 12 disciples in that cultural context or if they are timeless principles.
I thought to myself: If only my friend wasn’t sick, he still might not choose God, but at least the choice would be clearer. If only my friend wasn’t sick, maybe he could feel love again. If only my friend wasn’t sick, his judgment would be normal…
I asked God to give me the authority over this type of disease. I told God He could take the authority away from me after the disease was gone. I had almost asked God that question earlier this month, but I didn’t yet trust myself to ask not out of caring for my friend, but out of doubt that God would do it on His own. I just wanted to give him a clear mind, so that maybe, possibly, prayerfully, he will choose to follow Christ.
So I tried to heal someone this week.
Didn’t work. And I feel dumb.
Thy will be done……so easy to say. So difficult to mean.
Go ahead and read through the comments
as they are about as provocative in what they say and don't say. The
author in the comments states that his main concern is the salvation
of his friend.
What I have come to think is that we
have as Christians taken a view that it is all about coming to
believe in God as we ourselves believe. The author of the article
wants his friend to view God the same way he does. But his friends
mind is cloudy or sick or whatever he does not see God the same way.
In fact this is the problem we all face. We want people to think just
as we do. If they think like us then they will see the truth. But
many Christians have created a religion where that truth...that
specific knowledge is what everyone must have to be saved. Salvation
then becomes the product of correct knowledge.
Yet none of us actually have correct
knowledge or really any method of determining correct knowledge. We
like others have a set of beliefs some of which are based upon reason
and suppositions and some of which are based upon tradition and
upbringing. But we do not “know”.
In many Christian churches they are
dealing with how they can deal with science which presents a view of
an ancient earth and constant change. Evolution may not tell us where
we came from but it presence is pretty well established and it is at
odds with a young earth creation as interpreted by many in the book
of Genesis. If the story of Genesis is alluded to by Jesus then many
Christians will interpret that to mean that it is a divine expression
that the Genesis stories are literal truth. Much the same as many
look at New Testament verses about woman and authority in the
church. How does the church deal with such things when the culture is
more equitable and more knowledgeable.
Churches develop their structure and
form by their claims to knowledge of revealed truth. When one church
finds different truth in their Bibles then they form a new church
based upon their new revealed truth. Thousands and thousands of
differing versions of truth. Yet often to be saved you have to
acquire the correct view of truth. Which often finds itself revealed
in my version of truth. Insert your own views as the “my” in that
sentence.
I think there is a growing movement of
people who find this troubling and who can't grant themselves the
privilege of the belief that their version of beliefs represents the
truth. If only others could be freed from their delusions and
upbringing or traditions they could realize the truth and be saved by
God. But this view seems to not work with that of a God of love.
Salvation based upon what you know or what you live up to because you
believe it seems different from a salvation based upon a love of God
that seeks to save the lost.
We often suspect that if there were
miracles all the time that might make us believe in the presence of
God. Just look at the miracles the legs amputated regrown etc. Yet
all it would suggest is that there is supernatural forces in the
world. It would not be evidence of a God of love unless all legs were
regrown or no one died. Even supernatural experiences would not give
us knowledge of truth. We are in a very weak and limited state when
it comes to truth. Science has to slowly build it's knowledge and it
is forced to regularly redefine its propositions. Religion is far
slower to redefine its propositions. But it seems we are way past
time to begin redefining what our knowledge of truth is. A little
more humility and a lot less surety are in order.
God could very well save every living
creature for a new life, would that be out of the character of love
to be accepted. What may be the future of Christianity is not the
traditions of the past but a new view of what religion can do for us
in the now. How can it be used to encourage better and fuller lives
for people. Whether they believe in Christ or God or the
supernatural. Leaving salvation entirely up to God the Christian
would then focus on helping others here and now. No longer soul
winning as we have no ability to win a soul anyway even if we knew
what it was. Perhaps Christianity is really as easy as the story of
caring for people that Jesus taught*. Perhaps the idea of damnation
was just sticks to prod people into doing something that they were
reluctant to do. Rather like the promises or threats a parent gives
to a child for doing what the child should do. But at some point the
promises and the threats don't become the impetus to action. Can
Christianity actually grow up?
*Matthew 25:34 NIV“Then the King will
say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the
creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I
was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and
you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison
and you came to visit me.’
