A reader asked me these intriguing questions:
How do you respond to the “saving souls trumps all temporal concerns” argument? How does one have dialogue with those for whom the ideology of personal salvation is everything, and view various “issues” as posing a danger to their personal salvation (or the personal salvation of others)?
Could you (in another essay, hint-hint) say something about certitude? Is it a Christian virtue? And if not, why has it become sine qua non of salvation (displacing, I would argue, God’s Grace!)?
Thank you for this — a very good question indeed. We can engage the Certain with the Scriptures, to begin with.
The desire for certitude in this life conflicts completely with Christian discipleship, because it is about anxiety, not confidence. It cannot be supported by any positive example in the Scriptures, or for that matter, the lives of any of the saints. “Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” This verse from Genesis (15:6) is a cornerstone of both Paul and James’ understanding of salvation (Gal. 3:6; Rom. 4:3; James 2:23) — in other words, really basic. Abraham trusted God, and that trust, that confidence, is what made him God’s Friend, as James says.
To the contrary, what does God accuse Job of (see chapter 38)? Certainty that he is…
