Christians Aren't Perfect, Just Forgiven

Perhaps you've seen the bumper sticker containing these five words, perhaps you haven't, but recently I was reminded of the fact of its existence, and just how arrogant a sentiment is contained within. At first glance, of course, the message appears somewhat benign, at least before the comma. Our car owner is acknowledging, to a certain extent, that he or she has his or her flaws, too; that he or she is no better than anybody else. Which is all well and good until you consider the fact the information is being shared for all the world to see via, in essence, a rolling sign board, which would seem to indicate, at least to me, a decided lack of humility (not to mention the somewhat smug, "in your face"-iness of the whole message).

Then there's the (to my mind) illogical arrogance of speaking for God (which we see all the time, of course - look no further than certain religious pronouncements on gay marriage, among other things (and a note on gay marriage - nothing in the gospels against it: Jesus curiously silent on the issue)). If I remember any of my Catholic/Christian upbringing (and oh boy do I ever), I seem to recall that a penitent would need to ask forgiveness from God (or Jesus) before actually being forgiven. But here we learn that forgiveness will be granted because one is Christian. It's an intrinsic property. But couldn't, in fact, God (or Jesus) make a judgement that, for whatever reason, the penitent was not sufficiently sincere? And, in that case, couldn't God withhold forgiveness until such time as God decided said penitent was sincere? For that matter, couldn't God forgive a non-believer (if God existed and God wanted to), whether or not the non-believer had asked for forgiveness in the first place? I don't know the answers to these questions, but I can tell you that, if I were a Christian, it would never even cross my mind to pretend to understand the thought processes of the Almighty, let alone explain as a matter of fact (in five words no less!) what the Deity's thoughts were on a subject as weighty as the forgiveness of sin.

There are several passages related to humility in the New Testament, among them Luke 14: 8-11, wherein Jesus tells the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, who were worshiping in the temple at the same time. The Pharisee proudly speaks to God about how good he, the Pharisee, is; about how much better he is than other people, including the tax collector. The tax collector, for his part, won't even look up to heaven, and asks God to have mercy on him, a sinner. Jesus advises the reader that it was the tax collector who went home justified, not the Pharisee - those who humble themselves will be exalted.

And that last phrase there? I think it would make a perfect bumper sticker.

Everybody in, nobody out...


IBL:mm