God’s Not Like That… Is He?
Sometimes, God needs to offend us to break through our misconceptions. For me, it meant being offended by the scandalous grace of God!
The 1989 film, Dead Poets Society was a riveting story about an unconventional teacher, played by Robin Williams, breaking norms at the fictional, elite private boarding school, Welton Academy. That teacher, John Keating, seeks to lead a group of young men out of the laboratory of analysis and into the landscape of art.
In the opening scene, Keating has his strait-laced students begin reading from their textbook on poetry. The textbook author epitomizes the analytical, providing an x-y chart for determining the “greatness” of each poem. It’s all very scientific. It’s all very quantifiable. And it totally misses the point of poetry!
Then Keating instructs his students to do the unthinkable: RIP OUT THE PAGES! [Watch the video before proceeding]
Having spent my fair share of time in stuffy classrooms and academic institutions, I am still stunned by this scene. I can’t overstate the level of OFFENSE this event would have brought to a school such as Welton Academy (though the filmmaker goes on to illustrate it ably).
The very thought of ripping pages from a published book would be abhorrent. I can remember as a young person feeling slightly violative simply by folding over a page to mark my place (and stopped doing it in my late teens). Books were treasures. I loved the smell, the texture of the page, the sense that I was holding history in my hands. Ideas that could change the world were contained in those pages. To rip them out… VERBOTEN!
But John Keating knew something that all good teachers realize: Sometimes offense is the only avenue to enlightenment. When a society or school or even church has erected a structure of human “rules” and “regulations” around Truth, that structure can become a limiting force. It can come to be mistaken with Truth itself.
Just think Jesus and the traditions of the Pharisees.
Sometimes, offense is required to awaken us to what really matters. Sometimes, offense is the only thing that will cause us to step back and reevaluate our perspective and priorities.
I learned this myself as the Holy Spirit was walking me through a season of growth. I don’t think it had been intentional, but for more than two decades of study, I had allowed my own structure of ideas to be built up around Truth. These ideas, derived as conclusions and arguments to explain Scripture, had become confused with Scripture itself.
For me, the problem centered on my understanding of the Father’s love. Over the years, I had come to be convinced of certain doctrines and ideas that made it very difficult to believe God could love me, or really like me all that much. These doctrines, while appealing to my logical/philosophical mind, had a highly negative effect on my heart.
Into that season, the Holy Spirit exposed me to other perspectives. In particular, a Bible teacher who spoke boldly of God’s unconditional love. My mom had recommended this teacher to me, so I subscribed to his podcast.
Let me be honest about my first reaction: YOU CAN’T SAY THAT ABOUT GOD!!!! That was what I thought.
This teacher, upon first listen, seemed to be saying that sin was no longer a barrier for Christians. God wasn’t primarily caught up with my misdeeds or wrongfully motivated actions. God was always happy to see me. The Lord delighted in my progress and didn’t approach me with scales in hand, treating me favorably if the scales tipped one way and unfavorably if they tipped the other.
YOU CAN’T SAY THAT ABOUT GOD!!!! I thought.
It’s not an exaggeration to say I was offended. This man sounded too at ease. He sounded too relaxed. He sounded too… happy. Clearly, I thought, he doesn’t take God’s holiness seriously enough.
But I kept listening.
And then, one day, he said something very simple. It was something like, “Listen, if Jesus really did take the punishment for all your sin. If he accepted all the shame and guilt. If all God’s displeasure at your sin was poured out on Jesus, how much is left over for you?”
It was like the moment a puzzle comes together. The pieces all fit into place. I could see the picture. So very simple. The answer, of course, is “Nothing.”
In that moment, I realized that the problem was my own, not the teacher’s. It was not that he took God’s holiness too lightly. It was that I had failed to take Jesus’ work on the cross seriously enough!
That was one of the key steps on my journey into the Father’s love. In that moment, I realized I was no longer a defendant in the courtroom of God’s justice. I was a child, invited into the living room of the Father’s family. My Father was now walking with me into growth, with even greater love, care and support than I would give to my own children.
Beware what offends you. It may be a sign of man-made religion. Offense is the posture of the Pharisee, defending his system.
Of course, I do not mean that we should simply drift along and treat every idea as valid. However, I’ve come to learn there is a vast difference between a Spirit-led sense of caution and a flesh-driven kind of offense. One retains peace and love, with a desire for growth. The other recoils in disgust or defensiveness, feeling as if we are personally being attacked.
For me, reckoning with God’s love was scandalous. It seemed too good. It seemed too free. It seemed too unconditional.
But then, that’s how God’s love really is!
A comment that shocked me, “no one goes to hell because of sin, they go because they do not believe into the gift of Salvation” . That ruined some old belief systems. Ken