Synchronization and Judgment

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17)

I just got done reading a lesson that asserts commonly taught views about God, salvation, wrath and beliefs about what happened when Jesus died on the cross. It stirred up feelings inside of me that I had to stop and face squarely and deal with before I could have peace. I am learning how to better relate to people who believe and teach things that I have come to believe are false and misrepresentative of the real truth about God.

One thing I realized is that I need to have the same atmosphere of instant forgiveness that surrounded the person of Jesus. I am starting to realize that when the things people say ruffle me it is partly because I am being induced into being synchronized with their beliefs or opinions. Humans do that, you know. It is our nature to want to synchronize with each other emotionally, psychologically, spiritually and even physically at times. Synchronization is part of how God designed us to live and so our desire for it is unavoidable. Conflict and tension occurs when we find ourselves out of synchronization with those around us.

I am learning that I can choose to be different than others, to believe differently and choose a different path without allowing the tension inevitably produced to threaten my own sense of identity or value. But this can only take place to the extent that I have secured my sense of value and identity on my relationship with my Creator instead of on what others think about me. Much easier said than done many times but still vitally true.

So I simply stopped in my reading of this lesson I was studying and asked God to deal with this trigger that still threatens my peace inside. I also asked Him to explain to me some of the things that were disturbing me and creating conflict inside my own thinking. There are things from God's word that appear to be in direct contradiction with each other at times until they are viewed from a different perspective and I need to remember that I usually can't resolve that dilemma without wisdom from God. But when given insights through the Holy Spirit many of these things suddenly find beautiful synchronization of their own as the background picture comes into better focus.

When I opened my Bible to meditate on John 3 again I felt a wave of refreshment as I read these verses about God's way of relating to the world and the sin problem. It was part of the answer that I had just been praying for and encouraged me to see things better from God's perspective instead of through the lenses of various theologians attempting to hammer out doctrines in religion. It also gives me yet more insight into how various issues in the big picture fit together perfectly, though I still have a long way to go to understand them all clearly.

I suppose many people assume that though this verse says that Jesus did not come to judge or condemn the world when He came the first time, that God will be different the second time He comes back. Most Christians believe that there is coming a future day of judgment when God is going to change the way He relates to us, that He is going to take on a different posture and attitude towards sinners than what was displayed by Jesus while here on earth.

It is believed by most that on that day of judgment (with all sorts of dark connotations associated with that word), then God is not going to be nearly so merciful as Jesus was, but is going to be very nit-picky about combing through our records and history looking for reasons why we should be saved or lost. Most of these pictures are based on the concept of God arbitrarily reviewing the records of our behavior, our words, our thoughts and the way we treated others to determine if we are worthy of heaven or not. Then some person's version of grace and justice is applied to these scenarios depending on the opinions of those teaching it, and then the arguments commence once again.

But in my studies of the Bible over the past few years, I have been led to challenge every word and doctrine that I have ever been taught and to critically examine them in great detail. I have discovered that they have been hijacked and morphed into meaning something different than originally intended. As I have continued to explore their true meanings and applications I have begun to perceive an ever-increasing glory that I could never see before in the system of truth as revealed in the life and teachings of Jesus. The truth about God's attitude towards us and the truth about the judgment were some of the most liberating transformations for me that have ever occurred thus far.

What is becoming more and more clear to me the longer I look into discovering the real truth about these concepts is the element of fear. When fear is assumed to be the foundation of theology and God's dealings with us, then false ideas about God, about spiritual truths and about religion are guaranteed to be included. And this approach is nearly universal as far as I can see. Very few people are pursuing an understanding of truth based on the beginning premise that God is actually the embodiment of love as He claims to be. Either our definition of love is seriously altered from God's view of it to excuse or cover up our persistent use of fear as our foundation for belief, or we simply live in constant confusion about the inherent conflict between real love and the fear-based ideas about God that permeate most of our beliefs.

I would like to spend more time exploring the implications that present themselves in these next few verses about the doctrine of judgment, grace and how God relates to us. I know that what I am starting to see puts me at serious odds with nearly everyone else in religion, but my desire is not to primarily synchronize with religious leaders but to experience the real truth about God as revealed in His word and by His Spirit. As I do so I find myself longing to connect with others whom God is leading to discover the truth about Him so that I can synchronize as He designed for me to do with His body here on earth.