Imagine a casual conversation with a stranger at the bus stop.
You're sitting across the street from a statue of Abraham Lincoln and you comment on what a transformational role he played in world history.
"Well, he was a good man and effective politician, certainly," comments the stranger.
"And much more than that," you clarify, sensing some reticence on the stranger's part. "Lincoln boldly stood for human rights and freedom, to the very point of his own assassination. All this, after persevering from very humble beginnings to become a wise leader and hold the republic together through a civil war. That's been affirmed by millions of people still paying their respects at his tomb for over one hundred years."
"As I said," the stranger repeats with no hint of cynicism or disrespect, "I believe he was a good man and politician. However, I don't think it's provable or important that he was assassinated. In fact, I'm sure another of his followers was actually killed that night at Ford's theater. It may even be one of them in his tomb. And really, whether he played a pivotal role in the civil war is much debated. Lastly, we'll never know of his family origins exactly - poor or rich - and I suspect his mother may have been rather promiscuous. That said, I do hold his father up as a man who knew how to raise a good child. Indeed, I hold his father in very, very high regard."
His father in high regard? After a conversation like this, I couldn't help but question whether we were talking about the same Abraham Lincoln. How could things so significant and well documented as his death by gunshot be deflected and reinvented? Not acknowledging the defining moments of the son, how could this stranger have any credible familiarity with Lincoln's father?
"If anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins," 1John 2:1
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form," Colossians 2:9
"I and the Father are One," John 10:30
Most people would consider my Lincoln story silly, because who would try to remake Lincoln - and his family - in this outrageous way? Isn't it demeaning, even insulting to Lincoln's memory, to think that labels like "good man" and "effective politician" could mask the intent to rob him of his true nature and accomplishments?
I regularly dialog with people - even friends and family - who very adamantly maintain that they pray to the Father of Jesus. "We all pray to the same God," they tell me, with the required exception that Jesus was merely an historical figure of merit. Sure, he was probably a good man and philosopher - maybe even a prophet. But that "Son of God, born of a virgin, crucified on a cross for sins, raised from the dead, redeemer of believers, stuff...certainly not. But does it really matter, they ask, if we can agree that he was a good man and philosopher? We can unite over our deep respect for his father, can't we?
I still love and enjoy people with whom I disagree, but I don't sincerely think we're talking about the same family.
What do you believe?
