Family is, after all, nothing more than love and bonds, relationships built on memories and trust. I share many memories and experiences with this dear friend of mine. She and I have faced trials and troubles together and come through them better than we went into them.
But there is one trial that continues to vex us. It is that of free will in a Christian's life. She believes in it. I do not. It is a dividing line between the two of us. It is a line that keeps us restrained in how much Scripture we can share, a line that hinders us more times than either of us would like to count.
We often do Scripture studies together but we both are aware that there is a point we cannot cross. We will share our beliefs but those beliefs must be tempered through consideration for the other, knowing Truth as we each see it must be shared, but also knowing the other does not see Truth quite the same way.
Some might say that we should not be friends or that we should not do Scripture studies together. There are those on both sides of that dividing line that would label either or both of us heretics. I am aware of that and believe it or not, my friend and I have gone down that road ourselves. We have both accused the other of being a heretic. We have 'battled' for our beliefs and the opening of the others eyes.
In the end our love for one another won out and now we respectfully share our beliefs with each other, trying to point out each others error in faith and doctrine, while loving friendship and sisterly bonds bind us to each other more deeply than any division in doctrine can divide.
Any believer in Christ that holds more than the most superficial belief will quickly find themselves mired deeply in this fallen, sin filled world. We must navigate enemies seen and unseen. We must fight for a faith that is hated. We must walk as pure as we can while weaving the path of righteousness, as we understand it, through this world.
I often think of how easy it would have been had God created this world and filled it with only His elect, had He never allowed sin to enter it. He is, after all, God. He created the world and everything in it. Why not just make it pure to begin with and keep it that way? Why not make His elect as He wants them rather than refining them through trials and fire?
But I am not the Lord and it is His world to do with as He pleases. And do with it He did. As a result His elect must make their way in a fallen world, doing their best to navigate life and our very Christianity.
I think of those that would declare my friend and I enemies because we fall on two different sides of a line that cannot be compromised. Free will is either a true thing or it is not. There is no compromise. One of us is right. One of us is wrong. And there are those that would say we should part ways because we do not fall on the same side of that dividing line. I would guess that there are those that would say our friendship is sin because we are 'flirting with the enemy' so to speak.
But who gets to define right and wrong in these matters? Who is the one that determines whether we can walk in friendship and love with someone on the opposite side of that dividing line? I happen to be on the side of the line that does not believe in free will.
I cannot stand all the man-made terms used to describe believers of differing sorts. Gone are the days when we had Christians and non-Christians. Gone are the days when believing in Christ was black and white...if those days ever existed. Now we have Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists...Calvinists...Arminians.
Calvinist.
Arminian.
Two terms that pit people that hold a belief in Christ on two different sides of a belief. Two terms that create a Christian civil war. We implode ourselves from the inside out...or from inside Scripture out.
And the war rages on.
Strife. Contention. Division. The Arminians are often the lucky ones because many of them live their lives unaware that they are considered the enemy, even the enemy in the extreme, by other people that profess a faith in Christ. Many that call themselves the 'elect' of God rip others to shreds because of their faith.
How are we to know whether a person that believes in free will is of the elect or not? Yes, I realize Scripture is clear in what it teaches but...
Scripture is clear in what it teaches.
I recently did some very indepth studying on the Apostles and Christianity as the Scriptures portray it and you know what? Paul embraced them all, treating them as baby Christians and mature believers based on their professions and their fruit.
We should never compromise Scripture. We should stand firm on our faith and on the Truth of God's word. Many people who believe themselves to be Christians...to be God's elect...will find themselves with a bitter reality when their days on earth are over. Who are we...O man...to determine who will be on which side?
Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easya that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ Matthew 7:13-24 ESV
I have encountered those on the side of the dividing line that believe themselves to be of the elect so strongly that they fail to take heed to the above verses. They are assured, by what measuring stick, I do not know, that they are God's elect and have made themselves out to be judge and jury on all who profess a belief in Christ.
If anyone on the 'elect' side of Christendom shows compassion for Arminians, if they dare to say that we must embrace them as believers, then those on the 'elect' side are labeled all manner of names and denounced as brother or sister in Christ.
Are the Arminians wrong?
Someone has to be right. And someone has to be wrong.
Those declaring themselves to be the elect with a holier-than-thou attitude, so certain they are right and that that gives them the right to be judge and jury on the Arminians would say that they are the ones in the right.
I do happen to fall on the side of the line that says free will is nothing more than an illusion. But I also happen to fall into the thought process that the Lord saves multitudes out of the free will camp...I am living proof of the fact that He pulls people out of that belief system...and that if someone professes a belief in Christ then we should look beyond the dividing line to see what fruit they have. It's possible that we are looking at one of the elect without knowing it. It's possible that they have not been pulled into the light yet or that they are simply deluded, possibly searching for something that they feel but do not yet understand.
Now let me brace myself for the onslaught, the very attack that will be thrown at me by those that believe themselves to be 'elect' but attack others for showing compassion to fellow believers. Honestly, I am not bracing myself for anything because I could truthfully care less about the attacks the 'elect' might throw my direction. I am not on this earth to please man but to please Christ and His word says we are to love others.
And so the Christian Civil War rages on, not because of verses like Ephesians 6:12...
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
...but because of people that choose to make war over their own idea of what constitutes the elect and how those that fall on the 'right' side of the dividing line should treat those on the 'wrong' side.
A while back I wrote on how people pass judgement on the dead, ushering them into heaven because it suits their purpose to do so. The flip side of that coin is that many that fall into the non-free will belief pass just as much judgement, declaring themselves judge and jury, 'discerning' the 'enemy' simply because their own standards label someone as such.
Now here I sit, having met only one person, in real life or online, that would fall in the 'non-free will' catagory that does not hold to holier than thou mentality. If I were faced with a literal Christian civil war where Arminians were on one side and everyone that could possibly be put under the term 'Calvinist' were on the other...if I were standing there looking at both sides, standing on opposite sides of a gap, I would sooner join the Arminian side than the Calvinist side.
I could easily see myself walking into their midst because I sure couldn't join the holier-than-thou 'non-free willers'.
I have heard the 'elect' say that Arminians get nasty when pressed on their beliefs and told they are wrong. Maybe they do. I have seen it happen with a few but I can attest to the fact that I have never seen an Arminian get as nasty as the 'elect' do.
And so the Christian Civil War rages on.
And on...
And on...
No comments:
Post a Comment