Perhaps every generation should be judged by what kind of world it leaves for the next—including its theological legacy. To describe what is at stake, I think of my two daughters, twelve- and fourteen- year-olds, Leta and Ena. The future is theirs. The following dialogue began in some specific conversations I had with them, which I have expanded into a conversation between the Present and the Future of our beloved religion of Christianity (in my case, Evangelical, which means One Bringing the Good News):
Daughter (Future): Dad, does Christianity exclude people?
Father (Present): Every religion excludes people. But the gospel is different from all religion. It is the antidote to exclusion. It tells us that we are accepted by God through Jesus who was excluded for us and not because we are better than anyone. There is no room for arrogance.
Daughter: Dad, you just excluded other religions by saying they are not inclusive like ours. Maybe they have their own way of addressing human life, their own way of being one with one another and with God. Have you ever taken the time to find out what it means to live within these other faiths?
Father: No, I never had to do that. But I think your generation will have to. And when you do I’m confident you will find the gospel to be better news than any of these religions.
Daughter: How is Good News good for those who have never heard? In school, we’ve been learning about “control groups” in experiments. I was thinking, are people who have never heard about Jesus’ “Christianity’s control group,” existing to show the others how off the mark and futile they are?
Father: Our knowledge of God is always limited. Faith includes mystery, something we accept even though we don’t understand. We just know that God loves every person and we are called to preach the gospel to everyone.
Daughter: What about people who have been born in a far away place, where no one preaches the gospel, or what if our preaching sucks? Or what if they have very bad experiences with Christians or have very good reasons to reject Christianity? Is their role in history to be a human sacrifice for the glory of Jesus? Were these people actually created to …
Father: To die? My dear, God would never do such a thing, He would never create people to be condemned and rejected.
Daughter: Apparently, your God does. I connect the dots. According to the Christianity you have shared with me, God is either not creative, not powerful, or not interested in revealing himself to everyone. He is sort of a god. Just for us.
Father: No, God gives common grace to everyone. Everything true, beautiful, and loving in the world is from God.
Daughter: That just means God gives some people enough revelation to be judged, but not enough revelation to be saved, sort of like keeping them alive for the sake of the spectacle of showing how great Jesus Christ is.
Father: No, no, no. God is love.
Daughter: That’s a mystery, huh?
Father: Yes, it is, a mystery.
Daughter: It’s a bad mystery.
Father: How can a mystery be good or bad?
Daughter: This mystery is bad because it casts people with other worldviews as expendable. As objects. Objects to love and evangelize, but still objects. There is no reciprocity here. I am in charge of the things of God and they have no good news to share with me. They depend on me, but I don’t depend on them. An idea of God who loves us with love that excludes everyone else is not inviting to me. Is receiving such love desirable? Would such a God be worth worshipping? What would distinguish such a God from non-gods?
Father: I just know that God is love.
Daughter: Dad, you’re not listening to me! You are keep saying that God is love. For whom? I’m not talking about how God loves you and yours. I am asking you a question. How is Good News any good for them?
Father: Oh, dear … Why are you saying “your God”? Aren’t you a … a Christian?
Daughter: I don’t know anymore. I am weighing it right now. I don’t want to be a part of a religion that hogs God and argues for a vacuum of grace in the rest of the world. If Christianity precludes me from finding God in my friends, then I want to be with them. I know that your generation doesn’t want to hear this, but you have to hear it Dad. For us, accepting this version of Christianity seems more and more like a moral step backwards.
Father: Well … I don’t know what to say.
Daughter: I want to be a Christian, I really do, but your generation has left us with Good News that is pretty bad. Not only for those “who have never heard,” but for those of us who have heard it a thousand times. We don’t want to belong to a group that aspires to be in charge of God. Humanity does not have to be made in our image in order to be in God’s image. Dad, I hope you understand, I would rather be excluded like Jesus than exclude for the sake of Jesus. … Dad, you seem sad. I am sorry I have disappointed you.
Father: No, no, you haven’t. You have just opened a new door for me. But I have to grieve first.
