The Flood - An Epilogue (Part 3) - The Gulf within the Church… and the World
As described The Flood - An Epilogue (Part 2) - Jesus Shows Compassion in the Afterlife, it would seem that after showing Adam’s descendants no presence of the divine in (at least) their last 120 years of life, God the Father just suddenly killed everyone. Then, Jesus goes to Hades and tells them why. Then, I have the gall to say that God’s silence is mercy, and Jesus’ preaching is compassionate. How intellectually unsatisfying, huh?
What’s unsatisfying is that God has not created a world that conforms with humanity’s black-and-white views on what is right or wrong… well guess what! Nor do we conform with God’s! What’s most interesting is that it isn’t only nonbelievers who disapprove; such dissatisfaction even makes its way into Christian faith!
As Christians, we hate the existence of Hell, but find ourselves confined to the truth that we cannot convince many of the good people in our lives to live in Christ. How many people do you know who have made you think, “Wow. They would make a great Christian.” Simultaneously, we seem obliged to watch church-goers who provide awful examples of what living in Christ means. To an outside, it seems too simple to say that the godly go to Heaven and the ungodly get condemned, yet we Christians know it is the Biblical capital ‘T’ Truth. Well, to say that God’s ways are higher is certainly true, and is enough for many of us. But I also believe that the knee-jerk recitation of that truth to nonbelievers misses a very important point.
I believe that we Christians are misunderstanding something, something that the skeptics and other nonbelievers see to a limited extent, but we Christians can be blind to in some fashion. Remember when I said in The Flood - An Epilogue (Part 1) - God’s All-Knowing Patience, that when people debate, it can be unproductive because each side has a measure of truth to argue from? The result is that everyone is also arguing against an aspect of truth! If you have seen the confusion this causes, then perhaps you can see the truth that is in both the skeptic’s and the Christian’s typical point of view. Consider this parable of Jesus…
Luke 16
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
Do you see it? Do you see in this parable the gulf separating the skeptics and the Christians? It’s there if you look for it, but not where you might think.
The beggar is not described for his faithfulness or his righteousness. In fact, we know nothing of his belief in God just from this passage. Ditto for the rich man. But we know from verse 24 that the rich man knew who Abraham was. He knew of Moses and the prophets; he called Abraham father. Both men were most likely Jews, raised in the scriptures. However, look at what each did. The beggar, most likely disabled or old, begged; he was not a thief (to our knowledge), but a beggar, and he was begging from someone who could help, asking only for what the rich man was not going to eat. Does this make a man godly? Does it make him righteous? Let me rephrase. Did the beggar believe God’s truths? Did he obey Him? God promises to provide what His faithful need. One could argue that in this case God failed; after all, the man was a beggar. On the other hand, if being a beggar becomes a given, then he had the shelter of a gate and enough food to survive from day to day. As pitiful an existence as this was, it became enough for him at some point. As for the evil that put the beggar there, and the comfort he lacked on earth, God provided relief and comfort in spades after he died. Now contrast him with the rich man…
The rich man surely knew of the beggar. He most likely gave him the crumbs from his plate, or else the beggar wouldn’t remain there day after day. But, he could have given him more than crumbs. What’s more, look at verse 30. He spoke of repentance because he knew his own life was sinful, and that his entire family was still living in that sin. He knew he didn’t repent of it in time; and he knew he could have. He knew that his family needed to repent still, and that without seeing a dead man rise, they would likely never repent… even if they had a beggar sitting in their doorway, waiting for them to show some good will.
It is the same pattern we saw in The Flood - An Epilogue (Part 1) - God’s All-Knowing Patience. God provided the rich man, who had evil desires in his heart, with the chance to repent. That chance came in the form of a beggar at his door. Every day he (or his servants) saw that beggar was a chance to do that man right… but he never did. But as you see him now in Hell, the rich man isn’t arguing. He isn’t being clever. He isn’t asking to be removed. He is asking for comfort… the one thing he withheld from the beggar. That was to be his Hell, tormenting in flames, with no hope for comfort, and the eternal knowledge that he could have repented at any point before death, and been spared. The beggar had no evil in his heart from what we know, given that his request was for only what he needed to survive day to day… not even that. He didn’t ask for comfort. He didn’t ask for relief. But, when he died, God gave him both, and gave it to him for eternity.
Now, if we consider the period in which Jesus spoke, and assume the men in the parable were Jews who lived as expected, then you can assume the rich man kept the sabbath, and that the the beggar most likely did not. You can assume that the rich man tucked in his children and fed his family; and that the beggar either had no living parents to honor, or simply could not do it. You can assume that the rich man went to temple on a regular basis for teaching, and that the beggar only went in the hopes of receiving charity. Yet, in the end, they were judged for the evil or goodness of their heart, and not for the appearance of their lives or their demonstrated religiosity. Did the beggar curse God? It would seem not. Did the rich man pray before his meals? If a Jew of the time, then he most assuredly did! But praying, attending worship, and giving to your loved ones is easy; even brutal dictators are known to act that way. It takes a good man to truly care for a beggar. The beggars on the other hand are the least in any society. Some just give up hope; others are content to subsist. Some resent the mainstream; others are grateful for their charity. Some curse God and die; others just wonder helplessly why God let them become beggars. Whatever the case was here, this beggar died and was comforted in Abraham’s bosom. After the great judgement, he would eventually go to Heaven, to remain comforted forever.
Do you see the gulf yet? It only ends between the beggar and the rich man. But, the real gulf, while separating the godly from the ungodly, does not specifically separate Christians from nonbelievers, but people who believe and obey God from hypocrites. It turns out to be a gulf that does not run between Christians and nonbelievers on earth, but it is a gulf runs through them both… and that gulf continues right into Hades.
I realize that I am suggesting something controversial, so let me explain before you dismiss my Christianity and condemn me from Christ’s Body. I want to describe exactly what it means for a “Christian” to be on either side of the gulf, versus a nonbeliever being on either side. The ones on the “right” side of the gulf will go to Heaven; those on the “wrong” side will go to Hell.
The Christians on the right side of the gulf are those who really love God and do what God calls them to do. Most likely, they tithe, they serve, and they love others as God loves them. What they know of their sin, they have repented for. On the other side of the gulf are those Christians who like the church culture and like the values. Some can even argue the scriptures like the back of their hand, but the love that comes from them is lacking… because they do not really love God. What they love is the shelter that the idea of Him brings, and many only feel that at Church… because they are accepting their comfort from people, and not from God. Such Christians often lead dual lives, happy Christian on Sundays, miserable human being in between.
For the skeptics, including atheists, disavowed Christians, and even people from other religions, many on the wrong side of the gulf are obvious. They know who God is, but reject Him. Some hate Him, and will often take it out on those around them. Some do evil in the name of good, and even appear to realize it. Some like it. You can tell some because they hate themselves, and refuse to love their fellow man. Still others live and think carnally, having two lives to satisfy, the one they show in public, and the twisted carnal aspect that they indulge privately. Some resemble those “Christians” who are on the wrong side; happy when giving to a cause, but miserable at work and at home. These people need God, and are often quite effective at debating against belief and God because they come from a position of lack, which they demonstrate God could fill but does not. Still others are quite happy, happy to drink, happy to eat, happy to relate, but no connection to God, and no desire to forge one.
The hardest group to identify are skeptics and nonbelievers who are on the right side of the gulf. These are the most difficult to identify. In fact, they are so difficult to know of for sure, that I do not recommend ever giving up on an opportunity to witness to them, until you know for sure that they have become a Christian. The reason is because you can never know a man’s heart. Never. Only God can, and even if a person manages somehow to be on the right side of the gulf despite not being a Christian, it is God’s desire to know that person fully, to let that person know what God has done for them, to see that person grow in Christ in this life. But that said, what might such a person look like?
One of the things Jesus told us is that we would know people by their fruit. He was generally talking about His followers, so that we could tell the converted from the hypocrites; the converted show much more fruit than the hypocrites, and its juicier and healthier, metaphorically speaking. Well, a non-Christian on the right side of the gulf would have such fruit as well. Is it truly possible? I cannot say so with certainty, but I do know non-Christians who appear to have a lot of fruit in their lives. The people around them are cared for, and they cast as wide a net as possible, making their sphere of influence as beneficial as it can be for those they encounter… and they do it seeking no credit or attention. On the other hand, they won’t go to church, and find many aspects of Christian behavior too offensive or ignorant to accept my invitations to church. They don’t lump me in with the hypocrisy they reject, but they do wonder why I would immerse myself in it, while being glad that at least I behave as I claim Christians should. Can I say for sure these people are saved? Of course not. However, if Jesus had not come yet, then I would be certain… and so I think perhaps they are. Now, they may not be… but if there is such a thing as a saved non-Christian, then to the best of my understanding, that would be one possibility.
Now, I cannot ask that you completely agree with me on this, because of how clear scripture is that anyone who rejects the Son rejects salvation. But it is also clear that if someone rejects religion and just calls it God, then it might not be God they are rejecting. However, I cannot say. As we seen in scripture over and over again, God will look at their heart, and only God can know their heart… and that is enough for me.
But consider this.
The mere fact that I can argue as I have above and that it is even reasonable to consider that the gulf described in Luke 16 runs through Christians and non-Christians alike, should show that the gulf between Christian and skeptic arguments is not a reflection of their respective salvation, but of untenable positions that contain a combination of truth and untruth within them. By arguing simply that Christians are saved and non-Christians are not, it puts Christians in the position of defending sinful lives that may not in fact be saved, and condemning lives that may not in fact be condemned; likewise, skeptics are forced to point out the inconsistency in the Christian’s argument. Each side is right; each is wrong. God however is always right. Only God knows the heart. All we can judge is the fruit.