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| Photograph by Stephen Pohl |
There are many times in a discussion or debate when we become so intent on maintaining our correctness on a single point that we overlook the obvious: we miss the forest for the trees.
Recently, I was involved in such a Facebook interchange with some of a Calvinist bent. While discussing the choice of Jacob instead of Esau, one person wrote:
And then the fog settled in—literally.
As I was driving to work the next morning, considering the argumentation, the truth stood out plainly. On that foggy interstate, it became clear that I (and they) had pushed the metaphors too far so that they became absurd and mixed. Yes, Jesus spoke of sheep and goats at the final judgement (Matt 25), but this was a way of illustrating that he was separating the bodies and had the right to do so. And Jesus spoke of the sheep/shepherd relationship (John 10) to point out the caring relationship he has with the sheep, willingness of the sheep to follow his voice, and his gift of eternal life, as opposed to the Jewish rulers who were not listening and not receiving eternal life.
I had become so intent on winning that I had lost sight of the obvious.
While fog inhibits comprehension of the overall picture, important details can be made clearer upon drawing near and letting what is before us stand out. Take advantage of those opportunities and learn from them.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15)
Recently, I was involved in such a Facebook interchange with some of a Calvinist bent. While discussing the choice of Jacob instead of Esau, one person wrote:
So God's love does not depend on our faith. And He does not love equally. Therefore, those with saving faith have it because it is a gift from God because He loved us with a saving love where he did not love the rest with that sort of love.Considering this to be Reformed inanity based more on faulty logic than clear scripture, I took up the challenge to counter his thinking. Soon the debate went back and forth on whether goats could become sheep; and whether sheep are always sheep, but they are just lost for a time—all this based on John 10, 1 Peter 2, Ephesians 2, and Romans 9.
It is like the sheep and the goats. A goat cannot make itself into a sheep, nor can a sheep become a goat. God foreordained who would be sheep and allowed the rest to be goats.
And then the fog settled in—literally.
As I was driving to work the next morning, considering the argumentation, the truth stood out plainly. On that foggy interstate, it became clear that I (and they) had pushed the metaphors too far so that they became absurd and mixed. Yes, Jesus spoke of sheep and goats at the final judgement (Matt 25), but this was a way of illustrating that he was separating the bodies and had the right to do so. And Jesus spoke of the sheep/shepherd relationship (John 10) to point out the caring relationship he has with the sheep, willingness of the sheep to follow his voice, and his gift of eternal life, as opposed to the Jewish rulers who were not listening and not receiving eternal life.
I had become so intent on winning that I had lost sight of the obvious.
While fog inhibits comprehension of the overall picture, important details can be made clearer upon drawing near and letting what is before us stand out. Take advantage of those opportunities and learn from them.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Tim 2:15)
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