Here’s some questions for you. Does God forgive Satan? Does Jesus Christ love Satan, just as he commanded us to love our enemies? These questions came to mind after a live debate I had with a woman at my gym.
The above were my immediate thoughts following a debate I had with an elderly woman (late 60s) at my gym. It wasn’t planned, but we struck it up and sat in the lobby to hash it out. I didn’t know much about her past prior to this conversation other than she claimed to be Christian. But she’s cool, a gym regular and past a certain age, so I’ve been able to have random chats with her without worrying about “making her feel uncomfortable”.
It began with her inquiring about my being a bachelor (a common topic of fascination). I gave her some details and she said, “Rock. Instead of looking for a wife, maybe you should look for a friend first? Just someone to get along with.”
I smiled and explained, “Yes ma’am. That’s the plan. When I say I’m looking for a wife, that’s just the end goal. It’s really my way of saying that I’m not part of today’s hook-up culture. A lot of my peers do want to get married, but first, they want to get laid. Whereas with me, marriage comes before sex.”
As we continued, I explained how I have matched with some lovely ladies but it’s important that they have the Christian values I’m looking for. (which is why I agree with Jack’s sentiments of “Choose your woman carefully and vet like crazy for all characteristics you’ll need in a wife”)
She suggested that maybe I could teach her my knowledge of Christianity…and I did my best to steer the conversation away from that. I would love to teach and help “mold” a person…but also, I know most of my peers would hate that. I told her that the few “Christians” I have matched with were too much into Feminism and LGBTQ for me. This doesn’t mean they aren’t Christians. But still, no thank you.
Here’s when the conversation turned into a debate and her criticism began to flow. She did, as many have done, and tried to get me to let go of Christ’s standards in favor of today’s more modern culture, saying “Times have changed,” and “You have to consider when the Bible was written. It was for a different time.”
I cited the scriptures of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 as the reason why I don’t condone certain lifestyles. And even though times have changed, you’d be hard pressed to convince me that God’s feelings on certain behaviors have changed as well. (Leviticus 18:22)
I explained that while I do believe husbands are to be the heads of the households, they’re supposed to love and honor their wives with understanding as the weaker vessel (1 Peter 3:7)…she even stopped me here and gave me an appalled look as if to say, “Did you say weaker vessels?!” and I smiled with caution and said, that’s what the exact scriptures say. I even added that I personally believe men and women are equal in value, but different by nature.
This woman disagreed with the notion of wives submitting to their husbands and even showed a saucy attitude at the idea of her late husband ever thinking of leading her. She said, “I really think marriage should be a partnership.”
I didn’t cut her off to interject a point, but I too view marriage as a partnership of sorts. I just believe we have different roles in this partnership. And deep down, I don’t think I respect those who are so concerned about hierarchy (or who’s the prize) when it comes to a relationship involving love, where you choose to spend the rest of your life with a person. I didn’t get a chance to say any of this to her.
However, I did tell her, “I know it sounds oppressive to women to say Men are to be the heads of their household. But these are instructions from God. One could just as easily say it’s oppressive and a burden to the men who don’t want the responsibility of leadership, and would rather have his wife make all the decisions and take charge as the head.”
She wasn’t buying that. And more than anything, she stressed that we should not judge! She says it isn’t her place to judge, that Christ loved everyone so we should too. (This is a strawman argument, I never said I hated anyone)
She invoked the “he who is without sin” and “judge not lest ye be judged” quotes. And said, “we don’t know if people are born gay. If they are, who are we to say they shouldn’t get married or that they can’t have sex.”
I explained, “Okay, take myself for example. I’m a heterosexual man. I was born attracted to women. But I’m still a virgin. Just because I can have sex with women, doesn’t mean I will if it means going against Christ’s teachings. The point is, we don’t have to act on our inclinations. And if I’m to love my neighbors as Christ commanded us, what kind of neighbor would I be to encourage, condone and act like there’s nothing wrong with behaviors and lifestyles that the Bible clearly tell us will lead to their destruction?”
We didn’t have enough time to continue after that. We thanked each other for the convo and joked about picking it up later. But during the conversation, something happened. Before she asserted that we shouldn’t judge, ever so proudly, she said “I do have gay friends and I’ve been to gay bars and I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
In that moment, I understood what was happening. By hearing how I lived my life, I inadvertently put her to shame. That wasn’t my intention. In fact, I think when it comes to the elderly who claim to be Christian, I half expect them to be proud of me. Instead…she did as many in my own generation have done and tried to Shame ME for adhering to the Scriptures. This was surprising.
She literally said something to the effect of, “I only pay attention to the New Testament. Those Old Testament guys were off their rocker”.
And man, that really blew my mind. As a Christian, I know there are some Hebrew and Israelite laws that don’t apply to me, but the wisdom, the understanding of God’s character can be found all throughout the Old Testament. We’re talking about the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Psalms, the lessons of Elijah, Elisha, and Isaiah. To hear how she completely disregards all that…it was most disappointing.
Throughout all this, I’m maintaining the composure of a light-hearted James Bond…but in that moment, I did feel like I was sparring with Satan or one of his demons. Because it does seem like a wicked thing to do, to try and get someone to turn away from the Bible when, by her own admission, she barely knows what’s in it.
In just hearing how I CHOOSE to live my life…and worse, that I could quote Bible verses to explain why I lived this way…I believe she felt I was criticizing her. It reminded me of when Luke Parker told Hannah Brown on the “The Bachelor” that he believed sex should be within marriage…and Hannah responded with, “Well I’ve had sex and Christ loves me!”
THAT “choose” part is important to point out because if other Christians are more liberal in their views, that’s their choice. But after having read the entire Bible twice now, I can’t claim ignorance or that I was “misled”. God will see right through this and recognize that I rejected the Bible for my own selfish desires. Meaning, if I believe a Pastor who says it’s okay to have sex outside of marriage, it’s because I was looking for a reason to reject what the Bible says. He didn’t mislead me. I wasn’t tricked. I was looking for an excuse.
…
So, a couple of things right off the bat. Because I notice how Convenient Christians like to use the “Judge not lest ye be judged” and “He who is without sin cast the first stone” as a shield against shame.
“Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged” was mentioned by Jesus in a lesson about hypocrites (Matt 7:1-3). I’m not a hypocrite. I fully expect to be judged by the same standard of right and wrong that I judge others. And I think that makes perfect sense because I’d have a greater understanding of what’s “right and wrong” through my reading of the Bible, as opposed to those who don’t.
This is why I embrace the criticism of my being “too judgmental” according to today’s modern standards. I’ve learned to take that as a compliment.
That being said, just because I see a person doing something bad, it doesn’t mean I conclude they are bad people overall. But yeah, if God says that stealing is wrong and I see someone stealing…I think it’s ridiculous for someone to tell me, “Nope! Don’t judge! Don’t have an opinion on whether that’s right or wrong.”
Because here’s the deal…and I think this I why the wicked really hate Bible-practicing Christians. When you read the Bible, absorb it, and apply it to your life…identifying what’s right and wrong becomes second-nature. It’s just instinctive. Even when I can’t fully articulate why something is wrong when I see it, that internal trigger goes off.
And no, I don’t go out of my way to call out every bad deed. At the same time, you’d be hard pressed to find me nodding along and applauding bad behavior just so no one thinks I’m “judging them.”
This point right here…I think it’s a huge problem. A lot of people are afraid of being accused of being too “judgmental”. We’re so concerned with being seen as “tolerant, cool, and accepting” of everyone, that we completely disregard how God feels about certain behaviors.
“He who is without sin cast the first stone” was said as Jesus Christ addressed a crowd that was literally about to kill an undisputed adulteress with stones. (John 8:1-11) But notice, did Jesus rebuke them for identifying how she has indeed sinned? Did Jesus say she was innocent or that adultery was now acceptable? No. At the end of this incident, Jesus Christ tells her “Go. And from now on sin no more!”
That’s why you’ll never see me meting out God’s punishment for bad behavior. That’s not my place. But if Christ is my Lord and Savior, my king as I claim…well…I choose to live a life that’s pleasing to Him more so than humans.
In 1 Corinthians Chapter 5, the Apostle Paul explicitly talks about how we SHOULD judge, especially those who claim to be Christians. In Verse 11, he says, “But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.”
This doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to refrain from treating them with love and respect. But we are encouraged to use discernment and refrain from sending the implicit message that we’re accepting of behaviors and lifestyles that God disapproves of.
Now, I get it. It’s not fun being judged or criticized. But that’s not what I was doing during my conversations with this elderly woman. And when they do hear how I choose to live my life, what I get are “you’re too conservative in your beliefs” or “you’re too rigid” in your understanding of the Scriptures.
I even had an uncle who’s supposed to be a pastor tell me, “Rock, you don’t talk about the Bible with the ladies on the first date, do you?” And he laughed about it. As if the notion was absurd and I’d be foolish to talk to a woman who claims to be Christian, you know…about Christian things.
No lie, with one of my girlfriends…the first time we talked over the phone, we talked for four hours about God and Christianity. And we ended the conversation with her asking me to say a prayer for the both of us. I’ll never forget that cherished moment. It was beautiful.
My point in mentioning this, is that it does pay off to just be yourself from the start. Not everyone will accept you, and I do frighten off a lot of ladies…but I also have found those who were prepared from the get-go to embrace me.
When I get the whole “you’re too judgmental”...it really does light a fire in me, like this competitive spirit of determination…to not give in, to remain defiant and resist this world.
Seriously, it strengthens me and makes me want to go harder than ever to keep rejecting all these modern immoral trends. I had a great workout after that debate. Rebellion is just in my blood. Doubting me has always lit a fire. Ever since I was seventeen, I’ve been like this.
“Rock, you’ll never lose weight!”
Watch me. Ended up losing 178lbs in four years.
“Rock. If you take six months off from college, you’ll never come back and you won’t graduate.”
Watch me. I took six months off to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, came back, and graduated as one of the top writers in my class.
“Rock, you gotta play the game to win. Every story has been written, there’s nothing new under the sun.”
Yeah…we’ll see about that. Goes on to create brand new stories and self-publishes over twelve books.
“Rock. The Bible was written for a different time. The world has changed. You’re too rigid in your beliefs. There’s no such thing as a perfect wife. You gotta lower your standards. You gotta take more chances. You gotta let go of the Bible teachings because the times aren’t like that anymore.”
Till the day I die, I’ll continue to fight this fight. Whether I’m right or wrong, I’m prepared to die on this hill. This is called conviction. It’s how I CHOOSE to live and I guauran-damn-tee you I’ll have no regrets so long as I’m doing what’s good in God’s eyes to the best of my ability.
But here’s something I am a bit concerned about. Those first two questions…“Does God forgive Satan? Does Jesus Christ love Satan, just as he commanded us to love our enemies?” (Matt 5:43-45)
I wondered about this because part of me fears that maybe…just maybe, my hatred for Satan is greater than my love for God. And if so, is that good?
It’s easy for me to hold up my Rebellion towards this world that’s run by Satan, the great Puppet Master because I hate Satan for all he’s done. He lied to Eve, he tempted All Mankind and because we fell for the temptation, because we CONTINUE to fall for temptations…we are all going to die.
I blame him for the reason why humans get cancer. I blame him for the evil that exists, that little kids are shot up in school, that we have wars, that there’s pestilence and natural disasters where a building can crush thousands in an instant…So yeah, I hate him. This hatred is converted to rage and unlike the cliches, the rage doesn’t blind me. It produces an intense focus, a heated drive, and dogged-like determination.
When faced with the temptation of “if you abandon your religious beliefs, you might get what you want in this world. Look at all these other Christians! They’re indulging and partaking!”
Last May, I went back to my hometown and saw an elderly Christian friend who I’ve known since I was eleven. His name is Brother Moses. I know he’s going to die soon. Seeing him in that debilitated state made me so angry. I wish him, and my parents, and all my friends and family could live forever.
But no. Knowing that they are all going to die makes me angry. This anger feeds into my motivation and defiance to resist temptation.
In my defense, I do think that the reason why I hate so strongly is because I love so strongly. I’m sorry. I know that might sound stupid. When I saw Brother Moses struggling with Parkinson’s, I was almost in tears as I confessed how much I hated this world. And he smiled and laughed, saying, “I hate it too.”
I love Brother Moses. I love my parents. I love the people I work with. I even love the immigrants coming across the border. My heart sinks thinking about surviving family members of mass shootings and bombings in the Middle East.
And I love God. As a human, I can’t imagine the amount of disappointment, grief, and sadness he’s had to endure since the day Adam disobeyed him in the Garden of Eden. He saw Cain slew Abel. He saw a multitude perish in the Great Flood. He saw the 400 years of bondage Abraham’s descendants endured in Egypt. He saw as his servant David ordered Uriah to be killed in an attempt to cover up adultery.
He saw centuries of his chosen people, the Israelites, forsaking him in favor of false gods created out of wood and stone. And despite all this, how undeserving and wretched we are…he gave his only begotten son Jesus Christ who died for our sakes, so that we might have everlasting life if we believe. How can I not honor, love, fear, and respect our Holy Father after all he’s done for us?
But still…I can’t deny the angst in my heart. This lack of forgiveness towards Satan and the fact that I am angry with him. I worry about it being the thing that keeps me out of the Kingdom of Heaven. I don’t break any laws or hurt anyone. I just use the angst as fuel to stay driven and to strengthen myself, to strengthen my faith.
I could rely on “positive energy” for that, the compliments, encouragement, support, and love from others…but I’ve found that the effects of positive energy are fleeting. It doesn’t last long and you can’t rely on it being there unless you’re blessed with good companions. I guess that’s why it’s a good idea to immerse yourself in a community? Lol, I am working on that.
Thanks for reading!
Stage In The Sky 