Judgment and the Tree

I find that there has been a basic misunderstanding in our Christian faith and our theology from the very beginning. Aren't you glad that thousands of years later, Mike Ege of all people, discovered this forgotten truth? I know, it's hard to believe, but I am going to try to offer a little theology lesson

Way back in the beginning of time, in the Garden of Eden, there was a tree. This was the one forbidden tree that mankind was not supposed to eat from - the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Everything else was permissible in that little kingdom of God there in the garden. When mankind decided to eat of the fruit of that forbidden tree, we sort of invented the ‘fall'. Here's the part that I think has been misunderstood - I don't think that our original sin was disobeying God by eating of that tree. I think our original sin was deciding we were wise enough and powerful enough to determine for ourselves, without God's wisdom, what was truly good and bad in the world. Because with the eating came the choice - ripped from the lap of God - to judge.

When mankind decided to eat of the tree, against the better advice of someone who loved them dearly, they changed history for the rest of us. You see, what Adam and Eve did was decide that it was no longer God's job to decide - from His mighty and powerful perspective - what was good and bad. They took that responsibility upon themselves. They decided, by eating of the fruit, that they were almighty and powerful and deserving to judge, for the rest of humanity, (and forever) what would be deemed as good and what would be deemed bad. The sad part is that they (and we) weren't very good at it.

And here we are, many, many years later, still judging. If there is one thing that Christians are known for, it is being judgmental. We have it down to a science after all these years. WE decide what is good and what is bad. Ask anybody who doesn't profess to follow Christ what there biggest hang up is with Christianity. They will tell you it is the judgment and hypocrisy of the followers of Christ. And I think they are right. We really are judgmental. What's funny is that one day we decide a thing is good, and then the next day decide it's bad. A few years ago, Rock music was seen as ‘of the devil'. Now many of our worship songs are from the choruses of rock music songs. We convert people to our faith with loving acceptance of where they are at and then we stack on them a long list of things that are ‘bad' to do. It is seen as ‘bad' in many denominations of the church to drink, smoke, cuss, miss church, and not read your Bible. In other denominations it is also bad to dance, go shopping on Sunday, go to movies, and wear anything less than your very best at church. (Not to mention chewing gum, drinking coffee, picking your nose, and watching Letterman).

With the same breath we use to decide what is bad, we decide what is good (in our opinion). Going to church every time the doors are open is good. Giving 10% of your income so we can continue to provide ourselves with pastors and padded pews and wonderful sound systems is good. Having a good looking, charismatic preacher is good. Having a great big multi million dollar building is good.

Stop for a moment. Is there any of us that possess such a corner market on the ultimate truth that we can, with any integrity, really decide what is ultimately good or bad? Do you think we are really that smart and together? Is there any one of us that likes being judged? So why has it become the hallmark of what we do as Christians? Why do we divide into denominations and split churches because we see another group of people as ‘bad' and ourselves as ‘good'? (Or translated into ‘spiritual terms', one group is doctrinally correct and the other lost in heresy.)

Let me suggest another way. Since we turn into judgmental wingdings when we try to own our little corner of the truth, lets not. Let's try doing the ONE thing Jesus said would help His cause - love. What if that was the only thing we did - actually take Jesus up on his "command" to love our neighbor as ourselves (and thereby love God)? What if we forgot everything else. If we could admit that we really aren't that good at perfectly understanding everything God said in the Bible, we would be freed up to love instead of arguing and condemning. If we could get over ourselves and how much we ‘do for the kingdom' and just simply love the people that come across our path, we could start being the body of Christ. If we could stop doing religious activities - completely - and just love our neighbor as ourselves, we might actually reflect His glory.

Maybe what we need as followers of Jesus is to decide as individuals and as ‘the church', to stop eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Let's face it - we are really bad at judging. Maybe we could surrender our desire to judge everything and everybody, and work on the loving part a little more.

There, that's the end of my theology lesson today. Thanks for reading.

© 2008 Mike Ege, www.OutsideEdgeCoaching.com