Flash from the Past

Previously posted October 19, 2007.

It's pretty ordinary around here.

Except for one exciting thing that happened.
My parents work with a ministry called Agape Flights, you might already know that. Anyways, every Wednesday two pilots come in and stay at our house overnight after the flight. This week we had an interesting occurrence.
My dad and I drove to a place near by to get some pizza for dinner that night. We had a great conversation. We talked about a whole bunch of stuff. I can't even begin to tell you all of it. But I do remember one thing.
We talked about all of the paradoxes in our faith.
Freedom by surrender naming one.
It's so crazy.

Christianity is the only faith that I know of that you can't personally do anything to get into heaven/nirvana/peace or whatever you're looking for. It's only by the grace of God that we make it. And we don't even deserve it. Nor can we ever gain it. Only receive it.

Doesn't that point to something there?

Yeah, it's the hardest, but at the same time, a child can understand it. People try to make salvation so complicated, and it's so simple. Isn't that just like God? He never seems to do things the way we expect Him to. But He does them perfectly.

But anyways, that's not even the exciting thing that happened.
We got back home and sat around the table, eating pizza and breadsticks. It was nice. And then one of the pilots (the volunteer, not the captain) pops a question. He says he wants to "pick our brains" so to speak. Get our perspective on a few things.

So he asks, "Is God into micro-managing?"
I'm a little confused so I ask him what he means.
He asks, "Well, is God into the details, or did He kind of just create the earth and say 'Okay, here's the earth, go and do something good with it.' Did He just set it in motion and kind of back away to see what would happen?"

And that's where it started.

As we tried to satisfy him with an answer to this questions he asks other questions like, "What about the people who never hear the name of Jesus? What about them?"

And after talking with him (me, my dad, my mom, Jeff, and Charlie) we finally come to this conclusion. We finally have this epiphany of sorts.

"Ohhhh, he's not a Christian yet."

That turned the whole discussion in a new direction. We were wondering why talking about certain things didn't seem to make much sense to him. So we started trying to take out some of those "Christian" words that tend to confuse people and just be straight to the point.

We didn't try to convert him. Just answer his questions to the best of our ability. To let him know that he is a sinner, but Jesus still loves him.

It was a really great night. I listened mostly. Feeling like that kid Elihu who had to speak after all those older than him before he could speak to Job.

Sometimes I felt like crying for that guy. He kept saying,
"I feel like God is a great guy. A really kind being. With infinite intelligence. And I think He's smart enough to see a grey area. So that those who are basically good people, He'll go ahead and let into heaven."

That's just not how it works. And I don't think he wanted to admit that. He wanted us to tell him he's basically a good guy. He didn't have to worry about getting into heaven.

He kept forgetting that we are all sinners.
And we have fallen short of the glory of God.
And God still loves us.
But He's a just God as well.

It was just, heart wrenching. I prayed for him that night. I'm praying for him now. I hope he finds the truth before it's too late.

He's a good guy. He does good things and has good morals.
But being good isn't enough.
"Your good deeds are like dirty rags." - Isaiah 64:6
And dirty rags aren't going to cut it. God is perfect and holy. How can He expect any less?

That's why He sent Jesus.
Suggesting that there's a "grey scale" to sin is saying that Jesus' death didn't really matter. That it didn't need to happen.

And that is simply impossible.