Philippians 2.9-11 says, "Therefore, God also has highly exalted him [Jesus] and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father."
The popular view in Christianity is that when those people who resisted Jesus during their lifetimes finally do confess Jesus as Lord after the resurrection, it will be too late. By this time, God's wrath is burning hot, and it is now time to send the unrepentant to their final punishment.
The popular argument is that not everyone who will confess Jesus as Lord will be sincere about it. Using Jesus's words from Matthew 7.21, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven," it can be argued that some who call Jesus "Lord" will be doing it from improper motives, saying the correct words just to get out of being punished. However, according to 1 Corinthians 12.3, "[ . . . ] no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit." Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the "Spirit of truth" (John 14.17, 15.26). Are we to believe that the Holy Spirit will compel some people to confess Jesus as Lord falsely? Merely saying words and confessing something are two different things. To confess something implies that the confessor believes that what he or she says is true. The Greek word translated as "confess" is exomologeo, meaning to say something out of agreement. When the entire world confesses that Jesus is Lord, they will mean what they say. Some will argue that yes, they will mean it, but at that point it will be too late. Their fate was sealed by their lack of confession of Jesus during their lifetimes.
Do you remember that old childhood game called "Mercy"? Two kids would stand facing each other with their fingers interlocked and try to bend each other's hands backwards at the wrists. The stronger kid would inevitably bend the weaker kid's wrists back to the point of pain and would not let up until the weaker kid said "Mercy." The majority view in Christianity paints God as similar to the stronger kid in the mercy game. Those who didn't confess Jesus until it was too late are the ones with their wrists bent back in pain. God will force them to say mercy before sending them off to their final punishment.
The Philippians passage quoted above says that when everyone confesses Jesus as Lord, this will bring glory to God the father. The Greek word doxa, from which the word "glory" is translated, is also translated as "praise," "worship," and "honor" in the New Testament. Is extracting a forced confession from the unwilling an honorable action on God's part? How are we to praise a God who resorts to extortion? This type of God is no better than Nebuchadnezzar who forced his subjects, under penalty of death in a fire if they would not comply, to worship a golden statue of himself. In fact, this God should be esteemed less than Nebuchadnezzar because even when people confess Jesus as Lord, God is still going to throw some of them into the fire. The metaphorical cry for mercy, "Jesus is Lord," will go unheeded. How does this balance with the church's teaching that God is infinitely merciful?
The predominant view in Christianity has made God into a tyrant, someone who coerces allegiance. Can we truly say that we love and honor someone like that? Again, something is wrong with the way that Christianity presents God.
7 comments:
The popular view in Christianity is that when those people who resisted Jesus during their lifetimes finally do confess Jesus as Lord after the resurrection, it will be too late. By this time, God's wrath is burning hot, and it is now time to send the unrepentant to their final punishment.
The popular argument is that not everyone who will confess Jesus as Lord will be sincere about it.
The majority view in Christianity paints God as similar to the stronger kid in the mercy game. Those who didn't confess Jesus until it was too late are the ones with their wrists bent back in pain. God will force them to say mercy before sending them off to their final punishment.
The predominant view in Christianity has made God into a tyrant, someone who coerces allegiance.
I like the understanding of scripture you are presenting, the view of of mercy and confession.
However, I struggle with the motive that seems to be driving the post. Are the sections I highligted above coming from a published doctrine or position statement of a group of Christians? Can you provide some sources for your statements about what the majority believe?
If you do have sources, can it be said with accuracy that they represent the majority of Christian opinion in the world? Could anyone really know or define what the majority of Christians believe?
It seems you making some blanket statements about majority views. I would challenge that the Christian community is so large and varied, that the phrase majority opinion has little relevance.
Again, I like the analysis of the scriptures, but I challenge that you could have presented just the exegesis leaving out the other. It comes across as if you have an axe to grind.
Or, I could just be reading this post with my own filters clouding the intent.
Did you go to church again this past Sunday? :-)
(most won't understand my joke)
Your friend in Christ,
Tony
Did you go to church again this past Sunday?
LOL!!!
It seems you [are] making some blanket statements about majority views.
You are probably right. Christian beliefs are indeed quite varied. When I use the term "majority" or "popular" view, I'm referring the view that I hear voiced most often, especially here in the Bible Belt. And that view consists of the belief in a tormenting hell after death for sinners. While this view isn't necessarily preached blatantly, if you listen to Christian talk radio or to some TV preachers, hell is often alluded to as a final destination for many people. Many Christians who "share the gospel" with non-Christians begin with the idea that people need to be saved from eternal torment--usually the flames.
This is the view that I seem to have run into the most during my five years attending BSF. Admittedly, most of the women I've listened to don't come right out and say that people are going to burn in hell, but lots of these women are very concerned about their loved ones' state of salvation. When they say such things as "I'm ready for Jesus to return, but I hope he doesn't come back until 'so and so' gets saved," then it's pretty obvious what they are fearful of.
Perhaps instead of using the definite article "the" I should have simply used an indefinite article and said "a popular view."
As for my motive in this post, I simply want for Christians to reevaluate their views about God and consider the idea that God may be much more merciful than what he's given credit for. Also, in keeping with my posts of a couple of weeks ago, I want Christians to realize just how the "good news" sounds to many non-Christians.
You're definitely keeping my on my toes--I feel like I just got my paper back with lots of red marks on it!
:-)
You're definitely keeping my on my toes--I feel like I just got my paper back with lots of red marks on it!
Payback is hell!
I agree that the condemnation view seems to be prevalent in the southern US. Certainly I heard this alot growing up and still hear it. You are dead-on that this is not a Good News ministry when preached. And I agree whole-heartedly that Jesus preached a truly liberating message as well as a much more challenging lifestyle than my conservative southern protestant demographic espouses.
I fear that part of the problem is too many preachers, evangelists, elders, and so on never conduct an open-minded challenge of what they heard and were taught and rarely revisit regularly an exegesis of scripture.
We have all heard of academic incest being bad for educational institutions, I think that doctrinal incest plagues organized religion.
Also, I have wonder if Christianity is victim to the vocal minority and silent majority just as political parties are. The more extreme views are broadcast while the majority have a more middle-ground viewpoint but feel forced to choose one of the vocal extremes when confronted.
P.S. The payback is hell comment I made referring to teaching and grading reminds me of a joke that is perfect for the start of school. I am going post the joke. I don't have anything more inspiritionl to post on my blog right now.
Also, I have wonder if Christianity is victim to the vocal minority and silent majority just as political parties are. The more extreme views are broadcast while the majority have a more middle-ground viewpoint but feel forced to choose one of the vocal extremes when confronted.
You could be right about this. And I think this has a broader implication as far as religious views mixing with political views. As I was writing my post, the part about God extorting false confessions from people made me think about the use of torture to find out things from "enemy combatants." If we believe that God will ultimately send some people to a final torture, then it's much easier to justify our torturing people.
BTW, I sure am glad you can't grade and redline my comments. Terrible typo's.
Thinking, rewording, editing, and typing fast all at the same time is not good.
Proof a blog comment, are you kidding me. Who would do that?
I should!
Interesting post, JMG.
I have never fully understood the concept of -- or the desire to be -- "God-fearing."
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