True Love

The Cross is a symbol of relief, but only in the sense that it's first a symbol of judgement. A lot of people seem to think the sacrifice of Christ is simply carte blanche approval of the individual who acknowledges it, and a lot of these people teach this in Christ's name. They see lives as broken pitchers that need to be repaired and filled up with "love," not as dirty jars that need to be cleaned inside and out and filled with the Holy Spirit.

How this doctrine has managed to find its way into Christianity may be argued. I would suggest it's a combination of divorcing the "God of the Old Testament" from the Jesus Christ of the New (they're one and the same), and the Arminian and semi-Pelagian doctrines that have infiltrated the Church so thoroughly and so destructively. Be that as it may, the problem still stands, and even conservative Christians seem increasingly unwilling (or maybe simply unable) to confront it.

Christ crucified and resurrected is indeed our greatest hope, but it is also our greatest indictment. Our sin condemned Him, and our sin required so great a compensation. On the Cross, Jesus Christ suffered true hell: separation from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He became sin on our behalf and was wrenched from the Triune Godhead as punishment for evil he'd never committed, evil that we inherit and perpetrate as Sons of Adam.

Church people have been making a big noise lately about the need for Christians to "love" other people, as if those people won't become Christians unless those already in the fold are nice to them and don't judge them. This is trash doctrine of the worst kind. Of course I'm not advocating nastiness or boorishness; far from it. But if we simply wink at sin in an effort to "get people saved," we've actually helped condemn them to Hell, and possibly ourselves as well.

The Gospel is that we're stained with sin and need deliverance if we hope to gain entry into God's presence, holy and uncompromising as He is. The new gospel states that we're all just people in need of affection and earthly blessing in the form of warm hugs and happy times. Garbage and nonsense! We are bound to show each other our sin in order to illuminate our need for salvation through repentance. Anything less is not love of any kind, but hatred, a willingness to ignore the truth and deny those we seek to reach any of the real blessings true faith entails.

Maybe it's fear that brings this kind of thinking. More likely it's simply a lack of faith, a denial that the sacrifice of Christ is sufficient to save, or that we're not really in need of eternal rescue from the pit of Hell. Whatever it is, it's not true love. True love is truthful, true love condemns and judges in order to bring about repentance and reconciliation. God's presence isn't crowded with imperfection and sinful people: it's filled with people He's made perfect through His Son, brought alive through death, and purged finally of all shame before entering Heaven.

But what about the sinners and whores Jesus hung out with? some will say. Well, what about them? The case is clear: Jesus spent His time preaching to the lost, calling them not to continue in their old sins but to abandon their earthly lusts, repent, and follow Him. The call hasn't changed. If we accept the Cross as our savlation, we must also admit the unfathomable burden of our sin, the need to turn from it, and the necessity of Christ's true love to save us from lies, hypocrisy, and all the other sins that twist His Gospel into a humanist manifesto without power and ultimately without love.