There’s No Bouncer At The Gate Of Heaven
I’m sitting in church on Sunday, listening to a familiar gospel. The disciples have caught someone casting out demons, and, like good schoolboys, they report to the teacher that they “forbade” the man “because he was not following us.” Jesus wants none of it. He tells the boys to lay off the poor guy, who is doing a good thing, adding, “He that is not against us is for us.”
The disciples embody that worst human tendency: to claim exclusive possession of the truth, condemning anyone who is not “following us.” They actually want the unauthorized healer to stop helping people and making them whole. What matters most to them is not who is being healed, but who is a member of the “true” faith.
This classic story contains the seeds of one of the oldest arguments in religion. Is our faith the one true faith? Or is God also present and working in other expressions of faith—ones that seem foreign to us?
Transaction vs. Transformation
There are many ways to address that age-old question, many philosophical and theological arguments that are beyond my paygrade. For me, the question comes down to this: If your relationship to faith is primarily transactional, you’ll be more likely to make exclusive claims—I belong to the one true faith. Whereas, if your primary relationship to faith is transformative, you’ll be more likely to see God at work in many different faiths. What do I mean by that?
Transactional faith says, I have to do something (pray a certain prayer, believe the right doctrines, get baptized, belong to the true church) in order to get something (acceptance by God, salvation, a place in heaven). And if it all comes down to that transaction—pulling the right lever—then it’s very important that you get it right. Because if you pray the wrong prayer (or aren’t sincere enough), omit one important belief, or—worse—pray to the “wrong” God, the transaction won’t go through. When the critical factor is getting it “right,” we need the assurance that we are safe inside the fold, and we can tend, like the disciples, to condemn anyone outside that circle.
Transformative faith, on the other hand, says, I don’t have to do anything. It’s already been done. The grace, mercy and blessing of God have already been given to every last person on earth. Thank God, I don’t have to get this right, because in the paradox of heaven, we are saved by our falling short, by our failures, mistakes and unbelievable screw-ups. The only thing that matters is a life transformed—how that happens is always a mystery. And when we look around and see deep peace and lifelong compassion in a Hindu or Muslim friend, we just rejoice in the fruits of the Spirit we can see. When we sit in an AA meeting and see a chorus line of crazily-resurrected formerly-dead people, we don’t need to check whether they have the “right” higher power, it’s good enough just to see the beauty of wholiness.
Nearly 800 years ago, Thomas Aquinas confessed that “Every truth without exception—and whoever may utter it—is from the Holy Spirit.” If it’s true, it’s transformative. And then, Jesus reminds us, it doesn’t matter what camp it comes from.
It’s funny you mention A.A. – in my first year this guy said his Higher Power was “the metal chair” he sat on because he had endured too much to believe in the Bearded White Man in the sky but didn’t want that to be a deterrent to his sobriety (HP kinda dominates the 12 Steps). I really try to look at “religion” on a person to person basis, meaning if he or she seems friendly with a good heart that’s good enough for me – I assume they have their reasons for choosing their God.
That’s a good story, and I think I’ve heard others like it—people whose image of God is so distorted and strange that they can’t surrender to it. So a metal chair is as good as anything when you’re in extremis and need that HP.
There is a human instinct to try to simplify or codify mystery. Jesus did not help demystify faith; he made it even more mystifying. To some who came to him expressing belief only in God, he declared them saved. But then he seemed to make an exclusive claim with “no man comes to the Father except by me” and “I am the way, the truth and the life.”
God being God knew that these statements were going to create confusion and generate claims of Christian exclusivity for thousands of years, so one has to assume God was not concerned with ending confusion or rechanneling human instinct when confronted with mystery.
Only about 2,000 words of Jesus are recorded in the Bible which is equivalent to two or three NYT oped pieces. Yet from those sparse words mountains of creeds and dogma have grown. And in its quest for certainty and uniformity, the church has executed thousands for the crime of heresy (some estimate millions).
So for me the test of faith is a simple one: does the path lead to light and life or darkness and death. Yet in saying that, I recognize that some people will find that kind of faith unacceptably vague and unsatisfying. They need something more concrete to give their life to. I don’t understand why, but God has chosen to seemingly endorse both approaches. It can be maddening and mystifying to humans but for some odd reason he has chosen to leave us in that state. I will never understand that mystery so I have chosen to embrace it rather than fight it.
Well, you’re right that in the Bible we find BOTH the open and universal vision of God present in all people, no matter if they’re Jews or—unbelievably—gentiles, AND the exclusive claim that salvation comes only through one true way.
That’s—I think—because both are in some sense true. (But only if you can sit with the paradox long enough….)
I can’t speak for others, but Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for me, and only Jesus. I could no more be a Hindu or Buddhist or Muslim than a man in the moon.
So I sit with that very exclusive conviction…and then also there comes a realization that others are having the exact same experience…inside a completely different tradition. And somehow that’s freeing and glorious.
Like you….can’t explain it!
David, I have written down “transaction versus transformation” in the margins of my Bible. Since God is Grace manifested, there is never a transaction. Transactions are worldly. Transformations are not possible on our own, so our egos fight against this. All humans and religions struggle with this. That’s why your insight is so powerful!
I’ll also paraphrase our priest, who addressed the unity of all forms of religion, whether it be Christian denominations or world religions.“We are not the right one.
We are all One.”
Thank you so much for this invaluable reflection and the follow up comments!
Right—Grace doesn’t work via transaction.
And love that quote—We’re not the right one. We are all One.”
David, another gem! Love that distinction between transaction and transformation. As I read your piece I found myself saying: I want to stay open to all my friends and family who see things differently. And I want them to stay open to me.
And then I thought of these lines from Markham:
“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In!”
If openness to the “other” was easy, everyone would do it—so it’s work.
And—that Markham is a classic.
Love this David. Read it three times to let it all soak in. A simple message with a profound impact. Shifting a view point from the superficial to the substantial in a way I had not quite thought about before. Thank you!!
Right—when we move from the superficial to the substantial, we are a whole lot more likely to recognize the divine in others.
Love what you wrote, as usual. God created us all & our differences. I believe He wanted us that way! How dull if we were all alike! Jesus said “love one another as I have loved you- John 15:12-. No exceptions, no if, or buts. Loving is accepting. It isn’t easy,but it is worth trying!
Worth trying indeed!