Mark 5
He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
"Fear God", screeched the preacher-man, "or else he will torture you for all eternity!"
It is possible that my blog entries recently might suggest that I am a re-constituted conservative - one who has experienced the excesses of liberal Christianity and is now in fear retreating into a nice safe conservative hole. Far from it, gentle reader. Let me correct
any misconceptions you might have.
I am liberal enough that I cannot bring myself to believe that God's 'default' approach to creation is the agony of all that exists in it. I try my hardest... but I can't. There is nothing about Jesus that would back up this theology. Heck, he even has mercy on the evil spirit of a strong man (but not, perhaps, the poor porkers). The kind of God Jesus introduces us to is holy and just and powerful but also (and far more importantly) gracious and forgiving and ultimately loving. So I part company with my hardnut conservative friends when it comes to the hellish fate of all who avoid intellectual assent to a five step dogma.
It is scary how often the words of the evil spirit come out of the mouths of believers. 'Dear Jesus, swear to me you won't torture me! Let's make a deal so that I will not have to suffer. Let me sell my soul to the devil... er, I mean Jesus; so that my power and comfort is secure.' Though it pops up in evangelising crusades and finds its particularility in the question 'if you die tonight do you know that you are going to heaven?', in truth it is the language of evil spirits. It recognises that Jesus holds God's power and authority, but is incapable of seeing God's grace and forgiveness. It cries out for mercy, but only because Jesus refuses to make a deal.
Let's not be so arrogant as to assume we can 'make a deal' with God. Let's not be so self-centred as to believe that God is 'just like us' and wants us to suffer because we annoy him. Most importantly, let's not get so worried about what happens when we die that we forget to follow Jesus while we are alive. For eternal life begins now.
He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
"Fear God", screeched the preacher-man, "or else he will torture you for all eternity!"
It is possible that my blog entries recently might suggest that I am a re-constituted conservative - one who has experienced the excesses of liberal Christianity and is now in fear retreating into a nice safe conservative hole. Far from it, gentle reader. Let me correct
any misconceptions you might have.
I am liberal enough that I cannot bring myself to believe that God's 'default' approach to creation is the agony of all that exists in it. I try my hardest... but I can't. There is nothing about Jesus that would back up this theology. Heck, he even has mercy on the evil spirit of a strong man (but not, perhaps, the poor porkers). The kind of God Jesus introduces us to is holy and just and powerful but also (and far more importantly) gracious and forgiving and ultimately loving. So I part company with my hardnut conservative friends when it comes to the hellish fate of all who avoid intellectual assent to a five step dogma.
It is scary how often the words of the evil spirit come out of the mouths of believers. 'Dear Jesus, swear to me you won't torture me! Let's make a deal so that I will not have to suffer. Let me sell my soul to the devil... er, I mean Jesus; so that my power and comfort is secure.' Though it pops up in evangelising crusades and finds its particularility in the question 'if you die tonight do you know that you are going to heaven?', in truth it is the language of evil spirits. It recognises that Jesus holds God's power and authority, but is incapable of seeing God's grace and forgiveness. It cries out for mercy, but only because Jesus refuses to make a deal.
Let's not be so arrogant as to assume we can 'make a deal' with God. Let's not be so self-centred as to believe that God is 'just like us' and wants us to suffer because we annoy him. Most importantly, let's not get so worried about what happens when we die that we forget to follow Jesus while we are alive. For eternal life begins now.
posted by nm at 1:08 pm
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