And then there's the other son...

I originally started writing this post as a response to a great comment from my last post, but then I decided it was so important an issue that I’d write it as an entire post. So this is where things become wonderfully complex: I am not a secular Liberal!

Think about the many conversations you’ve participated in that went something like this:

“Let me get this straight, you think you’re going to Heaven just because you believe in Jesus?”

“That’s right.”

“And you don’t have to do anything? You’re just saved by the grace of God if you believe in Jesus?”

“Yup.”

“So you’re telling me that you could be a sinner you’re entire life and then suddenly believe in Jesus, and you’re saved?”

“Right.”

“But…that’s not fair!”

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Jesus doesn’t treat us fairly; rather, he died on the cross to pay the price for our sins. All we have to do is believe and trust in him. Can you imagine if he did treat us fairly? I shudder to even think about it…

We’ve been given this amazing gift, and even we Christians still want to be treated fairly. There is a story in the New Testament that clearly illustrates this desperate desire of ours: the Prodigal Son. Usually when people talk about this story, they concentrate on the son who leaves & returns; but I want to focus on the son who stayed with his father. When the prodigal son returns from having wasted his share of the father’s fortune, the son who stayed cannot believe that their father would throw the prodigal son a party to celebrate & welcome his return. In fact, the son who stayed becomes so angry that he refuses to go into the party at all. After all, this isn’t fair! The prodigal son doesn’t deserve a party!

So, to wrap this back around to my last post about the Christian Coalition: “fairness” is a perfectly legitimate reason for secular conservatives to argue that what’s theirs is theirs and that they shouldn’t have to share anything of theirs with those who don’t deserve it. But Christian? I still don’t see it. Jesus never promised us fair (and thank God for that!), so I still don’t understand how fighting for tax cuts for the wealthiest among us is one of the CC’s top seven goals for this year. It may not be fair to share our wealth with the poor and the needy, but I believe it’s what Jesus would have us do.

I welcome your comments.