Seeing Clearly

I find it strange how we see only what we choose to see.

I had a conversation with a christian co-worker this morning about suicide. We were discussing the consequances of self-muder. He believes that Christians who commit suicide is outside redemption, therefore they won't make it to heavan. It is a totally new idea to me. I am convinced Christ's redemptive work covers all sins, including self-murder. It seems quite clear to me from the Bible that if a person is truly born-again, God will preserve them till the end. However I do realise I could be wrong. Perhaps my co-worker knows something I don't. It would be good to learn what it is. That's how we all learn and grow. By being willing to listen instead of becoming defensive.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that we were opposing ideas and not people. It was a sincere exchange of thoughts and views, motivated by a love for truth. You're probably thinking if it's really that important to know. Well, I guess it depends on each individual. If you have lost a loved one to suicide, then it would be crucial for your peace to know if he made it to heaven.

I found a piece from an apologetics site which I thought made a very good case for the argument of assured salvation even for suicide cases. It has all the Bible verses to back it up. So it wasn't just the authors personal opinion. I'm not into personal opinions, even if it's from the pope. I just want to know the truth as God reveals it. So I shared what I found with my colleague. To my surprise, he didn't see what I saw. What I saw as clear and logical seems to elude him.

Which brings me to my main point. Most of the time, we see only what we want to see. To be fair, I could be guilty of it as well. Am I dismissing something too quickly because it doesn't agree with my own views? Or did I do it justice by seriously considering my friends perspective? I think I did. I hope I did. But I could be wrong, because when you're blind, you're blind. Till something or someone opens your eyes.

It seems that such a condition is prevalent in almost all circumstances. Especially so in matters of spirituality and human relationships. We start off by having a preconceived idea of what we hope is reality and see everything else from that lense. We are too quick to dismiss anything outside our comfort zone. When we are faced with certain disturbing facts about someone whom we love, we either ignore or deny it because we are afriad it will shatter our hope. At most we shelve them away into our subconcious mind so that we don't have to deal with it. But it will come out of the closet eventually and devasted us in an even deeper way. We see only what we want to see. We are better at living in denial than to face the truth.

So it is with spirituality, we are afraid to let go of our assumptions for fear of the possibility that we could be wrong. We have been brought up to believe such and such and suddenly someone or something is challenging it. We see it as a threat to our cherished beliefs and get defensive. When this happens, truth is hidden behind the veil of our fears. It couldn't come forth because we are too afraid to remove our veil. It makes us vulnerable. Insecure.

But real security can only be found in truth. And the result is liberty. As Jesus says, "Know the truth and it shall set you free". And the way to it is to be willing to make ourselves vulnerable. No risk, no treasure. It works the same way for love.

rk