Every day, I am reminded of my "bad theology." In my own defense, I was raised with bad theology. I trusted the adults in my life to know what they were talking about, and sometimes maybe they did and sometimes maybe they did not. In defense of those who shared it, they were definitely doing what they thought was good and right and best for those they taught. That does not excuse me for getting almost to my 61st birthday without a better realization that some of what I was taught was bad theology. It does not excuse me for my spreading of bad theology.
I was taught, and still know people who believe that it is wrong to read what others say about the Bible. "We are to read it for ourselves and the Holy Spirit will guide us." I believe that, but I have to wonder, if I believe in a transcendent God who is active and alive, why can he not "inspire" people now to a deeper understanding of the meaning of His word? Why can He not use the intelligence and hunger for understanding of someone like N.T. Wright to help me gain a deeper insight? Believing otherwise, seems, if not bad theology, at least a very limited boxed-in theology.
So much of what I was taught was black and white. I am not sure what we did with the scripture about not judging because we certainly had a refined sense of who was in and who was out. Even I figured out at an early age that not only people who attended the church of Christ were going to heaven. I remember in college, sitting in the balcony of Alumni Auditorium at David Lipscomb College before chapel, a good friend from my church informing me that my next-door-neighbor, one of the kindest most spiritual people I ever knew, was going to hell because she attended the Baptist church. Really? Please, God, tell me that nobody is living today who believes that....please. I figure that person has lived enough life at this point to realize, himself, what a ludicrous thought that was.
Absolutely, there was no possibility that Christ's sacrifice on the cross was far-reaching or strong enough to cover people who danced or "mix-bathed" or listened to rock and roll, or had premarital sex or drank or were attracted to the same sex. His sacrifice only covered those of us who said the right things and believed the right things and who occasionally might utter a curse word, or play solitaire with "playing" cards (Old Maid was fine), or overeat, or tell a little "white" lie, or spread a little gossip. We certainly cannot be having guilty people walking around with their struggles thinking God loves them anyway. That might excuse them for their unacceptable behavior. And, we cannot be culpable in their sin by not setting them straight and letting them know what they are doing that is dooming them to eternal hell. Seriously, we might be responsible for their salvation as if God is incapable to handling it. So, we did not mind letting people we barely knew or knew not at all how to straighten out their lives through tracts, "gospel" meetings that were anything but "good news," and door-to-door canvasing.
We have many seeking, thinking, loving, questioning young people in our church family. I love them. I need them. We have a series of classes on movies and how to find God and Christ and the Holy Spirit in those movies. Some of them are rated "R." It is an adult class. Some of them are violent and dark and have "language." Some of my generation take exception to discussing these movies at church. I do not attend the class because it is on Wednesday night, and those who know me know that I keep the boys on Wednesdays, and am usually too tired to stir from the sofa when they go home. My not attending would be enough to convince me that I really need not express any criticism of the class. But, I know the young man who teaches it. I trust him to not present anything salacious. He is much wiser and has a much better sense of what is acceptable in a church setting than that.
Once again, I was just living life, and not concerning myself about what anyone thought about that class. I did chuckle to myself when I saw that one Wednesday night the movie to be discussed was No Country for Old Men, and the next week on the schedule was "An Old-Fashioned Hymn Sing." I love a bit of irony...or is that a paradox - Betsy, Sandy...anyone? As usual, I digress.
Yesterday, as part of communion, another young man who is known to be extremely thoughtful, shared a few words. He started out talking about, of all things, a movie; Man of Steel. As I listened to him, I had an epiphany. Those of my generation who are so opposed to the viewing or discussion of these movies were raised with a pounding in their heads of the importance of remaining unspotted by the world. We often are unable to get past the violence and the language to see the point. We are working so hard to remain unsoiled that we miss the cleansing lesson of redemption and salvation that these young people see. We see sin marring a perfect world (which it is), and they see Kingdom springing up in very unexpected ways in a struggling world. I do not want to excuse sin, my own in particular, but I do want to see Kingdom.
For today I wish you love and joy and
Kingdom life.
blessings,
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