The great evangelical fear: being more generous than God!

It is truly a strange and terrible thing that at times in pastoral ministry, when I found myself facing the death of a truly good non-Christian, I was aware of checking myself in order not to respond in the situation in a way that might be ‘more generous than God!’ Note, it was always God, never Jesus. Being more generous than Jesus seemed just too impossible, but God the Father was apparently made of sterner stuff!

There I was, filled with a deep sense of what my heart really wanted to burst forth with, namely that the arms of God were wide open to this dying one and that it mattered not a toss what he (or she) did or did not believe, what mattered was the way he had at a deep level lived his life. In my occasional more lucidly honest moments I knew the scary truth was that if God had boomed in my ear, ‘OK it’s up to you, you decide if this person should be with me in heaven or go to hell’, there is no doubt in my mind that I would have, based on the knowledge I had of the person, happily sent them off into heaven. But I could not bring myself to let my heart speak its truth and say these things, because I had a doctrine that said that this could not be so. It told me that God was not as generous as I was! Even I saw how ridiculous such a thought was. Me more generous than God! Yeah, right!

I countered the irony of this impossibility by saying things like ‘Oh, it’s not a matter of my being more generous than God, it’s all to do with God’s having more truth about the people in question than I have.’ Which of course was true, he did have. He knew all their undoubted imperfections, big and small. I could see that, if there was some huge dark secret which made this departed one in truth a devious evil soul, my lack of information would cause me to think much more kindly towards them than was ever warranted. Yet I also knew that the likelihood of such a thing being so was, in most cases, virtually nil. So I was left with a salvation theology which said that God sent people to hell whom I would happily have sent to heaven! This of course left me in the hugely nonsensical struggle of often feeling more generous than God and what’s more, if I had had the honesty to face it, more generous than Jesus as well.

A final encouragement

The views expressed here are held by an increasing number of Christians prepared to ask the hard questions of our evangelical traditions. If you find yourself being persuaded that the things being argued for in these articles have enough truth to be seriously considered, then you are not alone! The tide is slowly turning, and in fact you may find yourself in very good company. Consider the words of these two greatly respected advocates of a wonderfully broad and generous salvation.

The famous Christian author and apologist CS Lewis shows his own beliefs on this question in his Last Battle (in the Narnia series). In a powerful and deeply moving passage Lewis captures the amazing wisdom and loving fairness of the big hearted God we serve.

The scene depicts an encounter between pagan warrior Emeth and the Lion, Lord Aslan (Jesus Christ). Emeth is sure he is about to be destroyed by Aslan, who will know Emeth has spent his life in service to Tash (Satan). Instead, the Lion welcomes him. When Emeth protests and laments, “Alas, Lord, I am no son of Thine but the servant of Tash,” Lord Aslan responds, “Child, all the service thou hast done to Tash, I account as service done to me.”

Lord Aslan goes on to explain that everyone who acts with cruelty (evil), even though they may invoke the name of Aslan, serves Tash. Equally, everyone who ‘keeps his oath’ for the sake of goodness, even though he thinks he serves Tash, has done the good thing on behalf of Aslan, and will indeed be rewarded by Aslan.

When Emeth, feeling constrained to speak the truth at the finale of this powerful and insightful scene, says to the Lion, “Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days,” Lord Aslan replies. “Beloved….. unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek.” (3)

The second advocate is Jesus Christ. Here is his only teaching regarding exactly what salvation criteria the great Last Judgement will be based on!