"Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures, nor the power of God?" -- Mark 12:24
It is one thing to be wrong about something. It is quite another thing to BE wrong. (Period.)
Wrong opinions and perspectives can be changed given the right information. Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent during Super Bowls and election seasons to change our minds; to help us make the "right" decisions.
But being wrong - on the inside - wrong of heart and mind, wrong of soul, is a far worse condition.
A group of religious "experts" came to Jesus in an attempt to trick him, to expose him. Their question was silly on the surface - seven brothers dying one after another, having customarily married the same woman... who will be her husband in heaven? However, their own question revealed the motive. It exposed their hearts. These men were from a group called the Sadducees. One of the hallmarks of their sect was that they believed and taught that this life was it. No heaven, no hell, no resurrection. Nothing.
It was not however, their opinions that condemned them. It was the condition of their BE-ing.
The term Ontology was often used both while I was in seminary as well as in undergrad secular philosophy classes. Ontology is defined as the nature of being. It is the who we are - truly, deeply; underneath external appearance, opinion, etc. It is our BE-ing.
Paul warns his protege Timothy about wrong BE-ing:
For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient
to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control,
brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God, having an appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
-- 2 Timothy 3:2-5
Jesus once said that it is not what goes into a person that condemns - i.e. what we eat or drink. (And it is sad that religion focuses so heavily on such things.) It is instead what comes out the defiles. Out of our mouths (and in our actions and attitudes) flows our heart's condition. And by our words, attitudes and actions our hearts are revealed and exposed - for better or worse.
Our BE-ing is revealed.
The good news? Grace trumps wrong BE-ing! Grace is always the more powerful. As Jesus told the uptight, religious, treacherous Sadducees, the scriptures reveal the powerful grace of a God who can (and desires to) change our BE-ing.
Christ accepted people where they were. He still does. But he never allowed them to comfortably remain where they were. He still doesn't. His desire is to transform our BE-ing.
God, help me to BE...
For now...
D
