free will

Who is stealing from whom?

I’m not sure what’s going on in Christian music today, but on my journey to visit my Mom on Sunday, I heard two very different songs about thieves. As catchy as both the tunes are, both are poor theology. 

I’ve heard these songs for awhile now and every time I’d hear either one, something just didn’t seem to make sense in my brain. Usually I listen to Christian radio when I’m driving, so I’m not fully concentrating on the lyrics, as there are too many other drivers around me that I need to pay more attention. The first song, by Tauren Wells, is Take It All Back. The refrain sounds quite powerful, both in the music as well as the lyrics:

I’m calling the angels down
I’m storming the gates of hell
Tell the devil he don’t own my soul
I’m taking back what the enemy stole
I’m raising the battle cry
I’m holding the banner high
With the power of the Holy Ghost
I’m taking back what the enemy stole

The song evokes the age-old battle with Satan that is a result of our sin, which is often portrayed as chains or shackles that bind us. And in many spiritual ways that is true. But it’s also a choice. Can the opportunities to sin appear to be something good rather than evil? Absolutely! However, it is still a choice that we make and we are responsible for our words, actions, or the lack thereof. The lyrics of the song imply that the Devil has stolen the person’s soul, basically taking what did not belong to the Devil and certainly without the consent of the person. Sin separates us from God. It’s only when we turn back to Him, when we repent and lean on His mercy that we can receive the grace God wants to shower on us. The Devil cannot hold our souls unless we give him permission to do so. Satan will try and trick us and think that we can’t escape, but we can call on the Triune God for help — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We can call on our guardian angel or even St. Michael, the Archangel, in our battles with the tempter. I know the song wouldn’t pack the same punch if the lyrics were, “I’m taking back what I gave up.”

The other song is equally catchy, but has even worse theology! The song by Crowder is Grave Robber and the refrain for this one is: 

I got stolen by the grave robber
Picked me up from that rock bottom
Washed my soul in that Holy water
Brought me back to life 
One more stone rolled away
One more sinner been saved by grace
This dead man, he ain’t dead no longer
All because of that grave robber 

In the first song we had the Devil stealing a person’s soul. In this song, we have Jesus stealing a person from themself! What?! Jesus is not going to force you to choose Him, and He certainly will not take you against your free will. He wants a relationship with you. Jesus will give us life in abundance, and He rejoices when a hardened sinner repents and turns to Him. Jesus gave us the parable of the Prodigal Son, so that we can know that God is constantly seeking for us and at the first sign of our return, He is there to bless and celebrate us. This song, however, makes it seem like Jesus is just snatching up unsuspecting people and forcing them to believe in Him. While it’s true that we cannot save ourselves, our salvation does rely on our participation with God. If we turn away from God and want nothing to do with Him, He will continue to love us and seek a relationship at any small, micro possibility that can open us up to Him. A thief or robber takes what is not His and without permission. Since God created us, technically we are His. But God has also given us free will and will never force us to turn to Him. We may be required to make a choice for His will or our will (sin), but we always have a choice. 

Just because a song is on Christian radio does not make it a good song, no matter how much the tune sticks in your head. Neither the Devil nor Jesus is a thief. We have free will to choose. It’s up to us to choose a relationship with God and to do His will. 

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What a gift!

Christmas is the gift-giving season; from the December 6th feast of St. Nicholas to the celebration of the Epiphany a month later on January 6th, there are many opportunities  for giving. The term gift is used so much, but what does it really mean?

As a word, gift has been in the English language since the 12 century. According to Merriam-Webster, a gift is “something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation.” While that definition does make sense, there are a lot of words in that definition that could also be broken down a bit further. In seeing the word voluntarily, I immediately think of the word volunteer, which shares an etymology, although the words developed at slightly different times. Some of the definitions include: proceeding from one’s own choice, intentional, and uncoerced. However, I think my favorite definition of the word is: done of one’s own free will. Digging deeper into the word transferred, definitions like to convey or to pass seem to fit within this definition, but I was surprised to see it can also mean transform/change as well as to print or copy from one surface to another.

This season there may have been gifts we really liked and others that we may, or perhaps have already returned! Many of these may have been part of a gift exchange, where one person gifts another and receives a gift in return. While I would hope we don’t expect gifts from others this season, it’s almost hard not to expect some sort of “compensation” or gift in return for one we give another. However, our gift giving is supposed to be a reflection of God’s gifts to us: our life, our free will, and His Son as our Savior. 

God does not make us do anything, but He does ask us to participate in bringing His Kingdom to our world. He has given us the free will to say “Yes” or “No,” each having its own benefits and challenges. If we say Yes to God, He will reward us, either in this life or the next, and most likely both! However, doing God’s will may make life a bit difficult, since the culture encourages us to do the opposite. If we say No to God, it may seem that we’re in control and writing our own life story. It may even feel like we are succeeding, but in the end, we are living away from God and not taking the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. We also risk saying a final No to spending our eternity with Him. If we are mirroring God’s gift giving, it can transform and change us. We’ll be thinking of those receiving our gifts,  as we intentionally selecting the gift specifically for each recipient. As God has bestowed precious gifts to us, so we can convey meaningful gifts to each other that bring us all closer to Him.  

The gift we all celebrate this season is Jesus, God’s Son becoming man to be our Savior and repair the damaged relationship mankind has with God due to original sin. Jesus is a gift, freely given, uncoerced and without expectation of compensation. The choice is ours to either receive and accept The Gift or refuse and ignore it.