In a Box

Hmm. Where do I begin?? I've noticed that the human race has a pathological need to have everything ordered. "Things must happen THIS way" Everything from their houses and cars to their children and churches. Humanity seems to crave absolute order, while demanding absolute "freedom". A great many people don't even realize that they have this need.

What of it? Take your average "Joe" or "Jane". They have their job, their daily grind. While they might enjoy the occasional excitement or change in routine, there are always absolutes that they need to anchor their life. This could be their daily cup of coffee, their exercise routine, their diet...anything. But EVERY person has something absolute in their life.

This need to have an absolute anchor carries over into religion. It is amazing how people try (and often succeed) at turning their relationship with God into a "it has to be THIS way and ONLY this way" fiasco. I am coming from a Christian perspective, for this is the path I walk. As a Christian, I have experienced many different denominations, and while they all promise "freedom", they usually deliver bondage. Is it any wonder that people have so much trouble finding Jesus through all the junk his people have clouded over Him??

So what about freedom? What about absolutes? It is humanity's need for the "absolute anchor" that creates "religion" in the first place. People do not like the feeling of being out of control, of not knowing what to expect. So what do they do? They create absolutes. "God is like THIS and NEVER like that" "You must do this, pray this way, etc." What does this lead to? I mean, who are we to put God in a box?

Is God absolute? Yes. He is the ONLY absolute. BUT...He is so much bigger than we can imagine or even begin to comprehend. Can we look at a severed finger and determine what a person was like? I think not. Yet with our limited minds we attempt to put the parts of God that we can see into this "box" and claim that there is nothing more to Him. This fuels the fires of those who would discredit Christianity, because they point out the flaws of this "boxed" religion and the inconsistancies of the "boxed God".

"How can a loving God send someone to eternal torment?" That's a good question. It deserves an honest answer. Here it is: I don't completely understand. God is bigger than me. I know that He is loving, but He is also just. Willful evil enrages Him, and eventually, His longsuffering patience gives way to justice. My answer also hinges on the fact that God is "long suffering" not "eternal suffering" which means that while He will suffer the evils of humanity for a time, it WON'T be forever.

Back to religion. I don't believe that there is a black-and-white way to serve God. The "Sunday-morning-Wednesday-night-Bible-belt-way-to-heaven" is not the only way, and honestly may not even be the best way. Why do I think this? Well, it's like this. Jesus isn't about some words printed in black and white on a page. He is a real, living person. He wants a real and living RELATIONSHIP. That's the core of TRUE Christianity. Tell me, what kind of marriage would it be if you only saw your spouse for an hour on a Sunday morning? Would you date a person who had less than two hours for you A WEEK?? Even high school kids know better than that! So why do we adults get it so wrong??

It's that "absolute anchor" that says "thus is how your Christian walk should go" and that same anchor that lets us get lazy. If all we have to do to "go to heaven" is follow the black and white safety line of the absolute anchor, we've got it easy. There's no stress, no struggle. It's a breeze. But it's also NOT REAL. A REAL relationship involves spending time with the person you're involved with: be it a co-worker, a friend, a spouse, a family member, or your God. It involves thinking about the other person and wanting that other person's happiness.

It's not about dressing a certain way, or walking a certain way. Adults do their best to teach their kids to avoid these social traps in school. Many a mom says "Honey, if you have to dress a certain way for them to like you then they're not really your friend." Smart teens know that if you have to behave a certain way or do certain actions to belong to the group, then they're not really your friends either.

Yet, as adults, we even go so far as to teach our children that the way to have a relationship with God is to walk a certain way, to dress a certain way, or to do certain things! Is this what God really wants from us?? NO! This creates nothing but a bunch of anchored, easy-living robots. People who try to live this lifestyle end up tired and embittered from constantly failing to fit the black and white "absolute-anchor mold".

So what does God want from us? What does it really mean to be a Christian? It means having a TRUE relationship with God that is not based on how you act, how you dress, or what rituals you perform. It's based on MUTUAL love and understanding. Of time spent together, both good and bad. It means that we live real lives with the acceptance of God's unconditional love, and with the desire to please Him by returning that love.

Many long hours I have spent late at night thinking about what it means to be a part of God's family. Jesus said these words, and they are the basis of my entire life: "I have loved you as the Father loved me. Now remain in my love. I have obeyed my Father's commands, and I remain in His love. In the same way, if you obey my commands, you will remain in my love...This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love a person can have is to lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:9-13) Too often, we interpret this as a nearly-impossible task of dying for another person, and we forget that it's much harder to live for your friends than to die for them. But isn't that what it means to "lay down your life"? It means to lay down what you want from it and serve others. It means to lay down your desires and give to those you love. This is the basis of Christianity. It is serving others, man as well as God.

Don't be tempted to turn this into an "absolute anchor"! Will you always be the one serving? No. Will you serve the same as others? No. Should your walk, your life, look like someone else's? NO! Look around you. God did NOT create a black-and-white world. The world is FULL of color...so many that it is nearly impossible to count or even name them all! The world He created for us to live in is very complex. Each flower is different. If God considered exact duplicates beautiful, then why is each and every snowflake different?? He doesn't demand you to live Billy Graham's life! He wants you to live your own. He DELIGHTS in diversity. It is His joy. You can tell that by looking at any picture of nature. Even in the lush rain forest no two leaves are alike.

So don't think that someone is better than you because they're different. Don't think that you're better than someone else because you're different. We are all unique and treasured to God, a billion-person rainbow painted on His canvas called life. It is time to let go of religious absolutes and even those absolute anchors you've set for your life, and let's all take God out of the box!

@>~~