by Jesse Steele
Motives?
Jesus: Calvinists want…?
Carl: …a God who is reliable while Arminianists want God to hold people responsible.
Jesus: And what’s the conflict in that?
Carl: The only conflict would be confusing them as being the same issue because we use similar-sounding words to describe the two discussions.
Jesus: One more question before we are done for today.
Carl: Okay?
Jesus: Why do you think confusing the two different heart-questions is such a problem?
Carl: I don’t get Your question.
Jesus: So, one congregation wants me to be seen as reliable and the other wants to see me hold people responsible for their actions.
Carl: Yes, we’ve established this.
Jesus: Why would such a simple confusion create such a huge conflict?
Carl: Hmm… yeah. I mean, that does seem to just label both groups as “crazy.”
Jesus: Neither group is crazy. That’s why I asked. I AM not one to paint my Church to look crazy when they aren’t. The only thing crazy about my Church is my crazy love for them.
Carl: I don’t know, Jesus. Why does such a simple thing cause such a big debate?
Jesus: So, are you ready for a simple answer from me?
Carl: As opposed to “helping me figure it all out?”
Jesus: Sometimes a simple answer from your Teacher is just what you need.
Carl: Okay, I’m ready, because I don’t think I’m going to figure this one out.
Jesus: Deal.
Carl: So, why do the different groups have such heated debates if their heart-motives don’t have a conflict?
Jesus: My people are so passionate about what they think of me that sometimes they get carried away.
Carl: [eagerly] Explain that. There are many ways to get carried away. What do You mean?
Jesus: I mean, when one group believes something, they exaggerate that idea so much that it sounds like they are disagreeing with everyone else in the room, and more often then not, they don’t disagree at all.
Carl: Okay, I guess I can see that.
Jesus: Many preachers do it all the time. Not all, maybe not most, but a good number of them.
Carl: Do what?
Jesus: It’s as if some of my people can’t make a point in a book or sermon unless they accuse someone else of being wrong.
Carl: But what if someone else is wrong?
Jesus: That’s another issue. But someone doesn’t always have to be wrong for you to have a good point.
Carl: What do we do then?
Jesus: Just make your point. Don’t talk about other people unless they relate to your own point. And someone else being wrong doesn’t always relate to a point on which you are right.
Carl: But don’t we need to help people see the difference between the good guys and bad guys?
Jesus: Let them ask you for help if it’s important enough. Don’t let counterfeits distract you from explaining the real thing. Don’t use counterfeits as a basis for explaining the real thing either.
Carl: Okay?
Jesus: If you try to describe every single bad person in the world, you’ll never have time to speak the Truth.
Carl: So, shine the Truth and don’t spend our sermon time cursing the darkness?
Jesus: That’s kind of what I mean. You can describe some of the bad ideas out there, but only if you need to. It’s best to stay focused on the real thing. Keep your eyes on me.
Carl: How, then, does that relate to why different groups debate stuff they don’t really disagree about?
Jesus: When my people discover something about me, they are extremely excited. They really love me—a lot. It helps them to help other people learn something that they didn’t know before. Sharing their knowledge about me helps their families, their friends, their businesses, their congregations… teaching people helps everyone in many ways.
Carl: And, isn’t that good?
Jesus: Yes. But their new “discovery” about me turns ugly when they expect everyone else to be just as excited about the same thing. Different people are learning different things.
Carl: That’s true. You did make us all different.
Jesus: And that’s why I said, “Be happy with those who are happy and sad with those who are sad.”
Carl: Didn’t Paul say that?
Jesus: I inspired him.
Carl: True.
Jesus: Yes, I AM.
Carl: So, we should take time to understand each other?
Jesus: Yes! When you begin to see how reliable I AM, don’t shout it so loud that you undermine other people who are happy about knowing that I hold people responsible.
Carl: Then, even if we get the topics confused—we still won’t get in a heated debate about it!
Jesus: Life is much easier when you don’t take yourself so seriously.
Carl: But I need to take my studies seriously…
Jesus: Exactly. You are studying, you are learning, you don’t know everything, and other people might already know stuff you don’t. Other students are taking different classes than you. They are not wrong just because your Teacher gave you a different homework assignment.
Carl: Okay, I feel like You’re lecturing me.
Jesus: Good. Because I AM.
Carl: Life is easier when I don’t think that other people’s learning must either be the same as my own or else they are bad students.
Jesus: …or bad Christians.
Carl: One preacher said, “I am not the oil in the engine. I’m not the ice that chills the glass.”
Jesus: There is none beside me. You stand beside your friends a whole lot better when you know that you stand with me, but not beside me.
Carl: We get so excited in expressing our own discoveries that we accidentally invalidate the ideas of our fellow Christians.
Jesus: Do you know the term “hyperbole?”
Carl: Yeah, that’s when we exaggerate an idea to make a point.
Jesus: Hyperbole is useful in telling a story or giving an illustration. But it creates a problem when Christians use hyperbole to describe their beliefs. Yes, I AM in control of your future, but that doesn’t mean I have gone so far as to take away your own free choice, even though talking like I do may make you feel more secure in me for the moment.
Carl: Yeah, if someone else hears a person say that You are so reliable that You overcome our free will, they may think that You don’t plan to hold people accountable for their choices.
Jesus: And just because I hold people accountable for their own choices doesn’t mean that I’m not strong enough to protect their futures from evil.
Carl: So, these debates are really about how we over-express our own ideas, not about the ideas themselves.
Jesus: Don’t get me wrong. Your ideas are often good. But don’t use them to disagree with opinions that don’t even relate to your own point.
Carl: And don’t act like someone else has to be wrong before I can be right.
Jesus: Yeah. If you start thinking that you are only right if someone else is wrong, you’ll think that Satan is my equal opposite. Actually, Satan doesn’t even stand a chance. I don’t curse Satan every time I teach you something new, so you don’t need to either.
Carl: Wait! What’s this got to do with Satan?
Jesus: The “goodness” of Goodness is not based on Wrongness being “wrong.”
Carl: So just say what I think… I got that. But what’s that got to do with You and Satan?
Jesus: People act like I’m evil for not eliminating Satan right away. I AM bigger than him. I don’t curse him at every turn, so you don’t have to either.
Carl: Let me guess… we Christians curse each other even when Satan isn’t around because we don’t know how to be right without making someone else wrong?
Jesus: And you fight with each other because you don’t know that I AM so much bigger than evil.
Carl: Our wimpy fights with each other are caused because of
our wimpy view of You?
Jesus: Yes.
Carl: And because we think You are wimpy for not wiping-out Satan, we think of ourselves as wimpy…
Jesus: …so…
Carl: …then we make our own opinions sound a lot bigger than they are because we are insecure in whom You created us to be. We are like little dogs who bark extra loud because we are extra scared… We won’t be scared when we are confident in Your power over Satan.
Jesus: See. You figured that out without me giving you all of the answers. I have revealed a lot of obvious truths.
Carl: So… I don’t mean to change the topic, but why don’t You just get rid of Satan anyways?
Jesus: We’ll get into that another time.
Scene 3: Second Focus of Wesley
Carl: Perfection!
Jesus: Yes, I AM.
Carl: Oh! Jesus! You’re here.
Jesus: Always. Weren’t you referring to me when you said, “Perfection?”
Carl: No, I was referring to my paper that I’m working on with my classmate, Wesley.
Jesus: You and he are classmates, I know.
Carl: You know that?
Jesus: But I also know that your paper isn’t perfect.
Carl: It’s not?
Jesus: Have faith in me.
Carl: I worked so hard on it. Besides, how would You know?
Jesus: I watched you type it all last night. You revised that thing twenty times!
Carl: You saw all that?
Jesus: There is nothing I don’t see.
Carl: Just when I thought I had it all figured out, You come along…
Jesus: Perfect!
Carl: I already said that!
Jesus: [in a very childish manner] I said it first… before any humans walked the earth… five whole times. Na na nana naaa.
Carl: You’re acting like a child, this is a seminary.
Jesus: That’s right, not a cemetery. You must be like a child or I’ll never make any sense to you.
Carl: Can we talk about my paper?
Jesus: You want to talk about yourself.
Carl:
