Awakening Thoughts

Be a sinner and sin strongly... ~ Martin Luther, Protestant Reformer (1483-1546)

 

Last week I awakened from a nap with the words of a (rather well-know, I think) fundamentalist radio evangelist rocketing against my ear drums. I really don’t know how my radio became tuned to that station; when I fell asleep I was listening to classical music on one of Louisville’s public radio stations. Perhaps Alex, in his stalking an imaginary wildebeest (Alex has been watching a TV program about lions on the Serengeti), stepped on the radio remote and changed the station.

As my head began to clear from my uncouth awakening, I heard the gravel-voiced fundamentalist radio evangelist  pronounce the words sin and sinner at least a dozen times in perhaps sixty seconds. I didn’t catch the full context of his jeremiad, except maybe that the world and everyone in it was caught in sin and condemned to eternal damnation. Since he was near the conclusion of his discourse, I choked down my desires to scream Idiot! at the moron and to gag.

I listened to the end of the so-called evangelist’s diatribe against humanity and was amazed that he ended in the same way as I first heard him: the world and everyone in it was caught in sin and condemned to eternal damnation. He spoke no words of hope or grace or forgiveness. From his viewpoint there was nothing anyone could do except await and accept damnation. This dude made me feel sick!

Sick, not condemned! To utter such, uh, shit, has no place in my sense of Christianity. I would love to meet this fundamentalist radio evangelist and debate with him his theology, especially his Christology (if he has one).

Where sin is concerned, I much prefer the words of Mainline theologians, such as Martin Luther, who one wrote: Be a sinner and sin strongly, but more strongly have faith and rejoice in Christ. Being who we are, we cannot not sin. (Sin comes from the sport of archery and means that one has missed the bull's eye, missed the goal). I know few of us who can claim never to have missed the bull's eye(s) of life. 

At least the gravel-voiced evangelist got that right: everone sins! However, sin in my view does not lead to automatic eternal damnation. Sure, we must accept the karma resulting from our actions, but even that is not automatic.

It is the nature of the God that I know and serve to be just, gracious, faithful, forgiving, and most of all, loving. That’s what I want to say to this fundamentalist radio evangelist. I fear that he would not understand what I am talking about, so perhaps I would tell him this story:

 

It is the moment of the Final Judgment (see below) and all of the souls who have ever existed are standing before the throne of God. Forward steps the archangel Gabriel, who reads to the gathering the Decalogue:

 “’I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;  you shall have no other gods before me.’ 

"All who have worshiped other gods depart this place for eternal damnation.”

And 99.8% of the souls gathered disappeared.

Gabriel continues reading the other commandments. When the archangel has finished, where billions of souls had once gathered was standing only one little man, smiling. The silence was overwhelming.

At this point, Jesus leans over toward God and says, “You know, Dad, it’s going to be terribly lonely up here with just that one dude around.”

And, God commands, “All right! Everybody back!" 

And again all of the souls who have ever existed are standing before the throne of God, laughing and singing.

Except the one little man who had moments before been standing alone before the throne of God, who frowned and asked, "Why didn't someone tell me that this was going to happen?"

 

I wonder if that evangelist preacher dude would have any idea what that parable is saying? 

Matthew 25.31-46 (Revised Standard translation)

 "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.  Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

Then the King will say to those at his right hand, `Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?'

And the King will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.'

Then he will say to those at his left hand, `Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'

Then they also will answer, `Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?'

Then he will answer them, `Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.'

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

Peace, my friends.