Thursday, January 5, 2012

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

8 comments:

  1. I can't agree more. A very refreshing and complete little discourse. I really like the reminder to look deeper at what is being said, particularly when it comes to sound bites or company mottoes or logos or commercial phrases. Oversimplification is a sign of totalitarianism, authoritarianism. The real issue is not divine forgiveness but forgiveness of ourselves and others. Finding deep and sincere forgiveness within yourself is a lifelong pursuit. Forgiving yourself or others because you think your God forgives you or others is missing what's essential. I'm blurting this out, I may be off the mark. I'll let it go for the time being.

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  2. "That's OK; He believes in you!"

    The perennial chipper rebuttal to my intended-to-be-polite-but-firm "I don't believe in (G)od" response to those who would engage me in jesustalk. The first time it happened was in 5th grade, I shit thee not. I wasn't actually an atheist then, just annoyed by the certitude declaimed by a 10-year-old jesustalker.

    I believe there is, somewhere in that motley collection of political tracts, prophetic ravings, moral teachings and bizarre myths called the Bible, something about professing to know the mind of (G)od as constituting a sin.

    Dostoevsky wrote that a genuine Christianity had to be "forged in the crucible of doubt" (that's how I remember it, anyway). And yet today's modern christianist (I love this neologism of Andrew Sullivan's) is most proud & assured of (G)od's favor when the very *possibility* of doubt is vigorously denied, let alone the possibility (perish desirability!) of an honest & searching _encounter_ with doubt.

    When a half-mad epileptic pseudo-revolutionary turned turbo-Orthodox Russian writer now appears on the side of rationality vis-รก-vis faith, things have come off the rails.

    And where are the Jesuits, the Anglican/Episcopalians, the Congregationalists, Methodists & Presbyterians? Why have I literally *NEVER* heard a single public statement demurring (let alone denouncing) this wholesale hijacking of Christianity by the unhinged evangelical/born-again hordes?

    Maybe the so-called 'New Atheists' wouldn't need to be so strident if any countervailing voices were ever heard on the magical side of the street.

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  3. Thanks for those words, Bryan...

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  4. @ Paul - How arrogant: "he believes in you". I hope they patted ye on your head and sent you on your way to Punk Rock class after that...

    And, yes: where are those demurring voices. I'm ready to demur right now (but then you knew that); hell, I might even denounce...

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Welcome, Monty. If you'd like to go a little deeper with your thoughts on this I'd love to hear them...

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  7. Hi, Monty - I see you removed your comment. I've been busy and was going to respond; my apologies for not responding sooner. At any rate, I wanted to thank you for coming back and adding to your original post. And, again, wanted to apologize for not responding to this in a timely fashion. Likely you're not tracking this anymore but, if you are, and you'd care to continue a dialogue, that would be fine and dandy with me. All the best...

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Civility.