Daily Readings, August 11, 2004

Today's readings

If you read the Bible from cover to cover and you really think about the material in there, some of it is pretty hard. The passages about social justice and selling all that you have to give to the poor are hard. And so are the posts about the angry, jealous God so often brought forth in the Old Testament.

Depending on your frame of mind, reading some of the prophecy books of the Old Testament can be positively disheartening. After all, the Isrealites were screw-ups...just like us, and God passed down upon them harsh punishment, sometimes after a seemingly small amount of chance to seek forgiveness.

This is one such example. In the first reading, God is striking down everyone who does not grieve at the abominations done by their countrymen. They didn't have to actually participate in the abomination, all they had to do is to not grieve over it.

Sometimes, we get this reading in the Old Testament, but it is balanced by the New Testament or Gospel reading. Not today.

Today, Jesus tells the disciples that they can bind peoples' sins to them on earth and they will be bound in heaven. He is saying that your brother has three chances to clean up his act, then you can shun him. He is saying that if two of you agree on something, it shall be done.

Those are scary passages, particularly in light of the Old Testament reading, which includes the order to not "look on them with pity nor show any mercy!"

If anyone is deserving of such punishment, it is I. Not currently, but in the past. I have been a stiff-necked person, and fortunately for me, I have had a lot of chances to put it right and I have finally--more or less--started to move in the right direction.

But the Old Testament tells us that those who did not were to be struck down, even if they were children!

So how do you reconcile this with Abba, Father?

I don't know how. God is not safe, but He is good. And He requires that we seek forgiveness, and then live according to our heritage as His children, or at least to do our best. I believe (and this is not a universal belief) that you can lose your salvation. I also believe that God will give you every opportunity. I mean, if He is God and nothing is impossible for Him, perhaps we even get more opportunities at the moment of death or even after.

But the key to this passage is that we just don't know. And as a result, we need to treat our salvation relatively seriously.

That is not to say the fear should be the primary motivator. For me, it was just the fact that nothing else worked. And that fact has been re-enforced year after year since I realized it. But coming to the conclusion is an important thing. It is important because, at least in my experience, a life lived seeking what God wants is a life of higher quality. It is also important because it is likely that not everyone will be there in Heaven.

But while this can be a bitter pill for a believer to swallow, it can be an absolute barrier to any additional consideration for a non-believer. That's why, at least in my opinion, you need to use such a message sparingly with non-believers.

Evangelism is marketing. You are trying to get consumers in the spiritual marketplace to buy what you are selling. And you cannot do that with threats of eternal damnation.

So while the Bible does say the things in today's readings, it might be wise not to lead when them when we address people searching for a spiritual answer.