I was driving around today and saw a display of doors painted in the colors of the rainbow stating that “God’s door is open to all.”, and then I saw “.,.Realm of God being a welcoming place of grace for all”.
Clearly the problem with both of these is the word “all”. Unless both sentences use the word “all” to mean something other than what “all” usually means, we have people advocating that God’s door is open to and God’s Realm (I love the dodging of the more common term “kingdom), welcoming to people like Donald Trump, Adolph Hitler and everyone else encompassed by the term “all”.
This is something that I’ve seen before. When we see the rubric “marriage equity for all”, and drill down, we find that “all” really means “some”.
This is an example of wanting to seem more inclusive than one really is,
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5 comments:
"wanting to seem more inclusive than one really is"
Insightful. Since the goal is to stop people from saying that God has a different opinion than they do, it should seem obvious that they are not being actually inclusive in their demands for inclusiveness, but they don't seem to see it.
As with so many things under the gospel of grace and those who promote and advocate for it, here's another instance of you not understanding the point.
Indeed the realm of God is open to all. However, we must keep in mind but this invitation to all is within the context of Jesus and God's repeated admonitions for watching out and siding with the poor and marginalized.
Within that context, those who are part of oppressing the poor and marginalized need to repent. We need to side with and stand with the poor and marginalized and, if that requires us to stand against the rich and powerful and oppressive, then we must do that first of all.
All are welcome, under the Umbrella of Grace and Justice and that Grace and Justice begins with those who have traditionally been kept out and pushed to the margin. The poor and marginalized.
So when we see God in the Bible or Jesus in the Bible or others talking about the universal welcome, we need to keep in mind that welcome is so specifically Universal because it's speaking specifically to those who have been traditionally left out or left behind. Within that context, the poor and oppressors are still welcome to join, but they're welcome to leave their wealth behind and leave the oppression behind and they are expected to.
It is hard for a rich man to enter the realm of God. Jesus said. Context is everything. This is what it seems to me that you were missing.
All are welcome. But it's not a cheap Grace. The oppressors are not welcome to come and oppress. All are welcome to join together Under the Umbrella of Grace and justice.
Stan, of course you’ve hit it on the head. The goal is to seem inclusive without actually being inclusive.
As you’ll note in the second comment the overarching point is that “all” doesn’t really mean “all”. It’s like a bait and switch, “all”, y’all are “welcome” as long as you adhere 100% to our hunch about what “the gospel” means. As the comment shows explicitly, the word “all” (used by the same writer as the comment), really means “all who agree with my hunch”.
You’ll also note that the demonstrated version of the “all” inclusive doesn’t address sin, other than the “one special sin”. It’s pretty much about performing certain actions in a way the meet the subjective standards of those who set them. It’s an inclusion that’s based on humans judging the actions of other humans.
It doesn’t sound like good news to me.
Why in the name of all that is truly holy would anyone capitalize “Umbrella”, “Grace” and “Justice”. I’ll ignore the apparent contradiction between grace and justice for now.
Craig, you need to keep in mind that the standard method today is to define words as one intends them and then apply that definition without reference to the recipient. For instance, "grace" to you and me means "unmerited favor," but to others it means "accepting without discernment or judgment." "Justice" to you and me means "what is right," but to others it means "meeting basic needs like healthcare, food, clothing, shelter, etc." So when YOU read it you see something entirely different than what others might intend and it will be a mystery what they intended.
Of course you're right. Co oping terms is a well known tactic of folx trying to appear christian, without actually being Christian.
I find it a bizarre attempt to impute gravitas or authority to the terms by capitalizing them as if they are nouns or names. Hell, we're talking about someone who doesn't usually capitalize God, but apparently wants to elevate three random words to deity.
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