ChapterZero

I was just listening to an interesting broadcast on 105.7 FM (a Christian radio station) here in Houston; it illuminated the central problem I have with Christianity: the idea of election.

I have always believed in a God; I think that, the idea having been instilled in my mind at an early age, I will always believe in God. But in the past several years, I have started to question the basic precepts behind Christianity. Nothing like, ‘prove the existence of God’ or ‘Big bang explains it all’. On an everyday level, I have mastered the art of not even thinking about the conflict between my church-ingrained beliefs and my school-learned ideas. And when the conflict comes to fore, I can dismiss the whole thing by reverting a Jehovah-Witnesses like blend of the conflicting paradigms. No, my main problem with Christianity is the inherent unfairness.

Unfair not in the sense of all the rules, I can accept and understand those for the most part. But unfair in a personal sense. One of the basic premises of Judeo-Christianity is that every human being is born intrinsically evil; even a newborn babe, with no understanding of good and evil, has a tendency towards evil. That right there is an idea that I don’t particularly like promoting, but if God the Creator says it’s true, what does it matter what I think. I can certainly see how being human biases me towards thinking that something like that shouldn’t be true; but I’m objective enough to see and accept that just because I don’t want something to be true, doesn’t mean it isn’t in fact the truth.

My big problem comes in when you get to the issue of salvation. So all people are born inherently sinful of nature; the strongest inclinations of human nature are selfish and evil. I certainly buy that. So how is it possible for an otherwise human being to become a saint, a Christian? By the grace of God. The only way you can become a Christian is if God calls you out to be one. Since humans are so entrenched in evil, they are not capable of making that decision. That is where my problem starts.

After all, if God must elect you to be a Christian, then why does he only elect the people he does? Why doesn’t he elect everyone? After election, a person is guaranteed a place in heaven or on the new earth, because there is no way to lapse back into sin. So a bona-fide Christian would never need fear for their fate. That whole collection of ideas totally turns me off to Christianity.

According to that theological view, 1/5 of the world’s population is in abject poverty when God has the power to make earth a virtual paradise by choosing and making Christians of us all. Also, it doesn’t allow for human fallability; if you stray from the path once, you were never on it. And if you aren’t on the path, there’s nothing you can do to make things right. And yet, Christians generally look down their noses at the ‘heathens’. It’s all very two-faced to me.

Possibly relevant posts:

• The Childe Cycle (12/21/2008)
• Crime and Punishment (2/9/2003)
• is a family blog possible? (12/8/2001)