Many Evangelicals, and former Evangelicals like myself, were raised on a common story of salvation. The story goes something like this:
We humans are depraved. We were born separated from God. If you were raised in a hyper Calvinist tradition you were born “totally depraved.” God help us!
As the story goes there is no good in any of us. We are incapable of doing any good on our own. We are sinners alienated from God. The chasm that exists between God and us is unbridgeable. We are hopeless and helpless. We are hell bound in our natural sinful state.
But God, who exists far away from earth (Sky God), decided to remedy our depraved condition by punishing his only Son Jesus in our place. Therefore, our sins are forgiven, washed away by the sacrificial shedding of Jesus’s blood on the cross. Sounds pretty primitive doesn't it? Well, it is.
God, in his mercy, decided to rescue us from eternal damnation (hell). Otherwise there is no real future for us humans other than to be cast into “outer darkness” or worse yet into the “lake of fire.” This is the fate that awaits all non-Christians.
So the scenario is often set up this way: If a depraved sinner can somehow believe that Jesus paid the penalty for his or her sin then that person would be saved and go to heaven following death.
Otherwise only hell awaits the unsaved person.
So this is a conditional version of salvation.
Believe or burn is the outcome of this story which ironically is considered “Good News” by those who embrace it.
Now this particular story of salvation works quite well for many Christians today. It is the first, and for many, the only salvation story they have heard. There are no other competing stories of salvation. This is the story we inherited.
It is not hard to find various verses of Scripture to defend such a horrible story. One can cut and paste a plethora of passages in order to build such a dark narrative.
Yet this story no longer works for me and an increasing number of people who have evolved beyond such a primitive narrative. In fact, it is also surprising for many to learn that an alternative story of salvation is available to them.
My theology professor in seminary often reminded his students: “Hold on to what you believe in until you find something better with which to replace it.”
Well I was able to discover a far better story of salvation that works much better for me. The story tells of a God who is never separated from his creation and from those whom he created—that is you and me.
We are not depraved sinners or filthy rags or incapable of doing any good unless God saves us. God’s grace is far more powerful than all the human badness in the world.
His love supersedes human sin.
Love wins! Indeed!
To be saved, according to this story of salvation, is to be awakened to God’s presence within us. I take this to be at the heart of what it means to be “born again” or “born anew.” God has never abandoned us nor does he need to punish Jesus so he can love us. That is simply a toxic version of salvation.
We are never separated from God. As author Marcus Borg once quipped, God is “separated from us only by the membranes of our own consciousness.” In other words, if there is any separation it exists in our unawareness of God’s presence within us—even still God remains faithfully present to us.
Why is such a story of salvation so important? Because the story emphasizes the eternal love of God for all of his creation. Because this kind of love drives out fear—a fear of a vengeful get even God, who will burn you in hell should you not comply with his offer of eternal life in heaven.
Is God so fickle and insecure that he would eternally torment anyone who rejects him? This is the way humans act towards one another my friend, but not the way God acts.
This is a salvation story I can live with because it honors God and validates his eternal love for everyone, and it is consistent with the God Jesus revealed!
This is actually Good News!
No comments:
Post a Comment