Did you know that we, as Christians, stand accused of defending a God who is an elitist Country Club gate-keeper, or ego-centric warmonger, or dubious creator of evil who sets up creation to fail, or even homicidal maniac, xenophobic, sacker-of-cities, destroyer of people groups, and—at one point in time—the destroyer of all life except for three men, three women, two of every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal?
Now, I realize there is a growing number of people who make such accusations and have already determined in their hearts and minds to reject all discussions around Christianity. This post (and those to follow) are not for them. For them, what is evil seems good and what God says is good seems evil.
Case to prove my point: THE paragon of Christ-like virtues in my lifetime, Mother Teresa, is generally hated—vitriolically, seethingly—by this group regardless of the acts of selflessness for which she is well-known. She was the most perfect in her actions toward the poor, care for the individual, and servant to all, in my lifetime, but she is hated because she stood for the pro-life cause (and embarrassed them in her confrontation of it). If they hate her and she was pretty darn close to perfect, you and I have no hope of convincing them with our arguments or actions. Their only hope for a changed mindset is a confrontation with Christ Himself.
This post, and ones to come like it, are for Christians who need to wrestle doubts and arguments to final submission or to give an answer to someone whose pain prevents them from embracing Christ.
I'll deal with the first accusation above: elitist Country Club gate-keeper. It's probably based on the weird (and obviously wrong) concept that St. Peter mans Heaven's gates, keeping out the riff-raff. This usually shows up in a doubt or question like this: "Why would a loving God consider keeping out of Heaven the majority of the world's people?" Or, like a famous missionary once said, "How could God let so many people go to hell without hearing the gospel?" I've also heard the more sarcastic addition: "All because of a fruit?!"
So, I've dealt with the fruit part in this blog post dealing with the Creation story and the grand setup. It answers the question: IS GOD GOOD?
The simple answer for the missionary was to see that God had revealed Himself through Creation and our innate demand for someone to treat us well (the Superlative Standard) while refusing or unable to keep that same standard in our treatment of others. In other words, "all of man is without excuse."
However, in my experience, the answer to the gate-keeper accusation depends on the questioner. We have to become adept at engaging the heart behind the questions.
For The Broken-Hearted
I've been asked the gate-keeper question from several whose hearts had been broken over and over by being left out, bullied, abused, and neglected. For them, the answer is found in the following passages:
"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." - 2 Peter 3:9
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28
(It's also the answer for why it's taking so long for Christ to return, but that's another post for another day.)
The response for those who have been hurt this way is that God has invited all to come to Him. He prevents no one who would turn to Him for rescue. He also patiently waits for the right time to return to establish His full justice, giving plenty of time for everyone who will come to repentance.
The direct answer to the question is that God doesn't keep people out of Heaven. We keep ourselves out. The simple answer is that the person who wanted nothing to do with God, here, in this vapor of a life, will certainly not want to spend eternity with Him, in Heaven. The person who is unwilling to embrace God as God, here, on this earth, will certainly not want to spend an eternity worshipping Him in Heaven. Hell is simply God giving people what they wanted—eternally separated from Him.
Heaven "as a place we go when we die" is mentioned very little in the Bible. That's only recently become a focus. Jesus' main focus and the main focus of the Bible in regards to Heaven is the advent—or coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. (A good resource on this topic is the Heaven video by The Bible Project.) This is the "breaking in" of Heaven that is accomplished in both large and small ways by the Holy Spirit through us.
For Those Who Doubt God's Love
I have found that if the questioner's main emphasis is on the "loving God" part of the question, it is likely because they are either asking themselves if God is loving and kind because of the injustice they see around the world or because of the painful things that have happened to them personally. If this is the case, I have found the following responses to be what they need, sometimes in combination with each other:
For the logical personality: A logical explanation of the reason for free-will (to give mankind the option to choose God or self, instead of creating automated robots), the grand setup (see blog here) of Adam and Eve, mankind's continued choice of self-worship regardless of the consequences, and finally, God's plan to restore justice when He returns.
For the empathetic personality: A pastoral response to address their pain (and thus pointing them to the God who sees and the God who heals). It is important for them to know everyone has hurt others in pursuit of our own self-interests, but God Himself came to suffer and die in order to rescue humanity from themselves.
And, if you are talking with someone who likes to investigate for themselves, a reading of Job along with a gentle reminder that, like Job, we cannot set ourselves up as judges over either mankind or the God of the Universe—though we can and should discern a leader's fruit. (A good book to read for this is The Shack, which deals masterfully with the concept of judging both mankind and God. Another good resource is the Wisdom Series by the Bible Project, particularly the one on Job.)
For Those Hurt By Elitist "Christians"
In ministry to ladies over the years, I have also encountered those who ask this question because they have been hurt by elitists calling themselves Christians who have (secretly, gleefully) wielded the golden ticket to heaven as a blunt tool of manipulation. For these people, the answer is to ask for their forgiveness, sincerely, as an intercessor who is invested in seeing them come to a healed place.
Here's what happened when I did this most recently:
A young lady shared with me how she'd been hurt by a group of older ladies in her church who told her mom that she was dressing too risque (too tight of sweaters) and flirting with the boys. Her mom responded perhaps not quite the way I'd have suggested by purchasing her a new wardrobe and keeping her out of youth. She had been in a semi-leadership position and was removed from it. The message she received from this incident and everyone's actions sent her into a downward spiral of bitterness and performance for many years.
When she shared, I got on my knees, looked her in the eyes, and said, "I'm sorry that we, the church collectively, failed you. I, as an intercessor, stand in the gap for them now. I'm sorry for being manipulative, power-hungry, mean-spirited, and judgmental. I'm sorry for failing you by not protecting you and telling those women to mind their own eye-beams instead of splinters. I'm sorry for not protecting women better and raising boys who have a covenant with their eyes so that if you had to walk naked in front of them, they would not look lustfully on you. I'm sorry for the message this told you: that you are not worthy, not trusted, and do not measure up. Christ sees you as a bride, worthy, trusted, and His." It was exactly the message she needed to hear to forgive, which brings freedom.
For Those With Self-Shaped Morals
Lastly—and most recently—I have encountered a younger generation who have been educated with this question planted almost from birth. Having grown up with self-shaped morals, I believe this group of people who ask this question does so from a warped definition of love and justice. In their minds, love supports any behavior or action that does not break moral law. And, because morality is defined for themselves by themselves, morality is nebulous and evolving. Even societal "shared boundaries" evolve.
For these women, I have found success in defining love in tangible illustrations, emphasizing three main points:
Love puts boundaries in place to protect (like a mother who instructs her children not to touch a hot burner). Usually, they are very aware of instances in their own lives where broken boundaries caused pain.
Love is demonstrated by actions (or abstinence from actions): patient, kind, does not envy, is not boastful, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking, etc. Usually, they are very aware of instances in their own lives where actions or the lack thereof caused pain.
Then I re-introduce them to the God Who Is Love. Love Himself suffered for us, and suffers with us because love that does not suffer with us isn't love at all. Usually, they are very aware of instances in their own lives where the people in their lives who were supposed to love them failed miserably.
When we get to the root of this question with this group, it is usually a person who failed to love them and protect them or when necessary justice failed to be carried out.
This is when I also share with them that love requires justice or we cannot trust it. Actually, I use the word wrath, which is not a popular word in Christian circles. Mark Buchanan, in The Holy Wild, illustrates this with a story of when his father spotted a bully thrashing Mark outside his window. Mark had fallen under the blows from the bully, but they suddenly stopped. Mark looked up to see the bully—terror-stricken—hanging by his coat collar with feet off the ground.
"Don't you ever," {Mark's} father bellowed, "hurt my son again!"
Mark hadn't heard his father express before this that he loved him, but now he saw it demonstrated. Here was a love that Mark could count on to protect him, defeat his enemies, and make things right. He learned to rest in his father's love because of his father's righteous wrath or justice.
The topics of love, mercy, justice, and wrath could take many posts to unravel, but the above provides a good start because we can all identify with the need for this kind of justice—the kind of justice that makes sure Hitler doesn't get to spend eternity with the hundreds of thousands of innocents he was responsible for destroying.
Where does that leave us?
Answering and asking this question paves the way for a discussion of how our own hearts and our own actions have fallen short, requiring a Savior, and barring us from eternity with a God who cannot share space with evil.
This glimpse of our own hearts leads us to the fork in the road of either repentance or self-justification, which is exactly the place where Grace meets us if we let Him.
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Special thanks to Bonnie Wozniak, who knows the hearts of women better than any other woman I ever met. Also special thanks to my sister, Tamara, who has a pastor's heart and an apologist's brain.