Actions over Beliefs

What is our image of God?  What do we think he is like?  For the Christian, this important question is something we should spend time on by reading and studying about the life of Christ.  Theologians debate the nature of the incarnation of God in Christ, the Trinity, how Jesus could have been fully God and fully man at the same time, and so on.  This can get very complicated and it seems there is going to be no complete agreement on this or any number of other topics in this lifetime.  But most Christians would agree that God was in Jesus and if we want to know what God is really like and what he cares about then we should look at how Jesus lived.  Then, what is important is to follow his example and to obey his commands to love God and neighbor.  

If we look at the life of Christ and somehow see him going door to door preaching to people that they must believe certain things about him or be tormented forever, then that would be the way believers might legitimately act in following him.  But clearly, Jesus did not do this.  In fact, recall Jesus forbidding people and/or “evil spirits” to even say who he was?  His message and parables are full of lessons on what God is passionate about.  His life is an example of how people should strive to bring about the kingdom of God (not meaning the afterlife, primarily, here) on earth as well.  So we have the prayer “your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”  And so it shall be.  The way to do this, as Jesus showed, was non-violent, yet passively resisting the kingdoms of this world – that would have been the Roman Empire at this time, and those collaborators with Rome among the Jewish elite, the very wealthy.  Instead of taking care of the poor and working for justice in the world, the rich and powerful became more so, unjustly, at the expense of the poor. 

No wonder Jesus’s followers wanted him to exact justice against their rich oppressors.  But violence generally begets more violence and the kingdom of God is above that.  It wasn’t an option, ever, that Jesus even considered.  Jesus considered this to be “satanic” even.  Jesus counseled and lived out service and non-violent resistance then, to the end.  He told us to love our enemies, even.   That’s what God is like.  The kingdom of God (and the healing, justice, compassion Jesus demonstrated that goes along with it) was a threat in the minds of the Jewish elite—Jesus was winning over the multitudes—who convinced the Romans ultimately to have Jesus killed to preserve their positions as elite and favored by Rome. 

The crowds in the Gospels were clearly for Jesus, but they would on occasion demonstrate to him that they would have him be king “by force,” which would have caused him to appear or be the same, essentially, as the kings or “Caesars” in the kingdoms of the world.  They wanted Jesus to crush the enemy, by force!  This partly explains why he would hide himself or go away at times.  The way of force would wind up with just more of the same with the Jews exacting bloody vengeance on their oppressors.  We’ve seen this back and forth in history…think of Yugoslavia as one prime example of this. 

And so the week Jesus was killed we see him riding in humility on a donkey, no less, while the Romans marched in from the other side with swords, armor, horses and so forth to give some additional security during this period when thousands of Jews would be flocking in to Jerusalem.  They were ready to put down any troublemakers, by force.  Clearly, this is not the way God works—by force and violence and coercion. 

However, after Jesus’s death, after he sacrificed his own life, many of the Jews chose the path of violence and rose up against Rome.  After much bloodshed and thousands of crucifixions, they ended up completely crushed and Jerusalem was sacked, the temple destroyed, as Jesus said it would be.  Later, with the marriage of the church and the Roman Empire, we saw the beginnings of corruption, violence – the opposite of the kingdom of God working its might against enemies.  Christians began to persecute each other.  Heretics were hunted and their books burned.  And so we saw the working out of the doctrine of eternal, everlasting torment by the early Latin theologians, Augustine in particular.  Before Augustine, Tertullian also believed this, but he was in the minority.  

The authorities realized, of course, that such a doctrine was fear-based and that fear is a fairly good (I should say “effective”) way to control human beings. All who would not submit to certain beliefs about God would be forcefully crushed and tormented for all eternity.  Enter the Dark Ages, inquisitions, bloody wars, crusades, tortures, burnings, drownings, and worse.  The heretics were going to be crushed by God and/or Jesus and so the worldly church would send them on their way with a taste of the everlasting torments to come.  What a total and complete opposite of what Jesus lived and taught!!  This “you are headed for everlasting torment if you don’t believe such and such” fear-based traditional religion is STILL preached and taught in way too many churches throughout this land today. 

Can you imagine Jesus torturing anyone?  How about Pilate, or Herod Antipas, or perhaps those who were flogging the daylights out of him in preparation to kill him?  Wouldn’t that have been the time to show them what God is really like – kill them all, torture them, whatever?  No, he didn’t do that…rather, he forgave them from the cross.  The agony of death on a cross he submitted to instead of yielding to the temptation to operate as the world systems operate, by force.  Now remember James and John wanting to strike down Samaria and Jesus rebuking them for it.  Or Peter rebuking Jesus, or chopping off a man’s ear with a sword.  Jesus was not pleased.  Violence, according to Jesus, is not the way to get someone to believe or obey from the heart; nor is it the way to treat someone who doesn’t happen to believe as you or I do.  Do we actually think that Jesus is going to do an about-face and come back for some serious revenge?    Justice?  Yes.  Revenge?  No.   He told us to forgive not seven times but seventy times seven – in other words, do not EVER stop forgiving. 

Therefore, justice will demand that punishments fit crimes.  This will be done perfectly, since God is perfect. It certainly was not done in the Roman Empire, with crucifixions being administered to any who opposed them as an example of what happened to the disloyal.  In fact, no society has gotten it perfect, not one.  But God’s justice must be perfect and so it boils down to a matter of trusting God to take care of everyone with compassion and mercy depending upon each person’s circumstance.  It’s most definitely not going to be a lining up of those who accepted Christ as Lord and Savior in this life on one side, and all others on the other side, followed by a sweeping of the unbelievers into everlasting damnation to no purpose except bloodthirsty wrath.  Believe that and you are buying into the theology invented by the kingdom of this world, not the kingdom of God. 

We are told that humans are in a condition of sin; in other words, we are born flawed.  Surely this will be taken into consideration.  Romans 11:32 tells us that God, in fact, has “bound” or kept people in this state for the express purpose of having mercy on everyone!  Then, life will be abundant for all, there will be enough to eat for everyone, and no more sickness, death, jealousy over another man’s wife, murders, etc. etc. because the evil systems of wealth and power will be no more and all will be satisfied and reconciled to God.  There will be no more addictions because God will satisfy every need with more than anyone can ask or imagine.

In the meantime, our mission is to obey with the knowledge that we have.  This means to follow Jesus in helping to bring about a more just world; at least it means to strive to bring about the kingdom of God on earth by helping those in need and obeying commands to love God and love neighbor by our actions toward them.   We really need to rid ourselves this “you must believe this or that or be damned” doctrine and go out and help someone today, each day.  If Christians did this more, instead of going around trying to convert everyone to a set of beliefs, then this would be a major step in the right direction.  Things are looking up.  Yes, if you’re in a fundamentalist-type church, they’ll shun you as an apostate, de-friend you, backstab you, and more.  So be it!  That is their image of God and they have grown into it. 

Keep on following Jesus in spite of them, forgive them, move on even as they may reject you, and do as much good as you can (a rough quote from John Wesley) to as many people as you can, wherever you can, for as long as you ever can.  Do this, and you will truly be growing into the image of God, whose mercy and compassion never ends.  Yes, his mercy endures forever!!  (Psalm 136, repeat over and over).  Thank God for Jesus, who showed us that God is not a vicious being, but one who loves all his children and has all the time in the universe to transform them into all they can be.  It’s a privilege to be able to help and serve others, as this is what Jesus would have us do – it’s what he did, and when you run into the powers of the world, don’t let them turn you into one of them!  They’re in God’s merciful hands.  Trust him with everything.  And do not be afraid!!  Jesus will take care of you and all your loved ones in his true, infinite grace.  What you have in many churches today, including those with “grace” in their name even, is not really grace – it is conditional grace.  And conditional grace is no grace at all.  It's an oxymoron.

God bless,

David