CLOSING ARGUMENTS

Lamentations 4:1-5:22; Hebrews 2:1-18; Psalm 103:1-22; Proverbs 26:23

“How the gold has lost its luster! Even the finest gold has become dull. The sacred gemstones lie scattered in the streets! ...The people who once ate the richest foods now beg in the streets for anything they can get. Those who once wore the finest clothes now search the garbage dumps for food.”

“So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.”

“Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies. He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!”

“Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot.”

It is always interesting to sit in on closing arguments in a case where good attorneys are involved. That is where the gloves come off and the lawyers actually get to say all the things they have been thinking throughout the trial. Sometimes, one actually hears the truth. There are fleeting references to the facts. But ultimately, the process is all about counsel trying to win the jury over to their perceptions and interpretations of the facts, and those may or may not have anything to do with the truth. Closing arguments are all about spin.

How like religion that can be! We argue our way through it, spinning it to suit our own needs and desires. Today’s theology tends to be whatever we say it is, and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong. We sell cotton candy Christianity and a God who tolerates and forgives anything because these ideas – however little they have to do with Scripture – are marketable. They are attractive to our tolerant society. We talk of the Prosperity Gospel because it is what people want to hear. The facts, however, paint a very different picture. Again and again, the Bible warns of the terrible consequences of our bad behavior. Christians do not get to throw out the Old Testament, or the more judgmental pronouncements of Christ, just because they do not jell with our image of a “loving God.” Folks, people are going to be condemned, and we need to take care those individuals do not include us. There will be judgment. We had better begin living like we know it. This is not to say we can earn our way to heaven, or that we have any hope of being truly perfect. It is to say that if our faith is not changing our lifestyle, Christ is quite likely to step aside at the Final Judgment and let the full force of our wrongdoings fall directly upon us. From what I read in the Old Testament, there is no chance that will be a pleasant experience.

Attorneys have a method for dealing with unsubstantiated argument. First, of course, we fight – if we are wise – with the facts. Unsuccessful lawyers typically underestimate the sensitivities – if not the brains – of jurors, assuming they just don’t “get it.” Wise counsel instead takes the time to digest, summarize and analyze the facts with the jury, even at the cost of their own rhetoric. In my experience, most jurors want to do the right thing. Like the rest of us, they just need a little help along the way to make it happen. Christians are not so different. When we do not deal with the cold realities that God does judge and right living matters, we sell seekers a false Gospel that counts for little and almost always leads to disillusionment in the end. We should not be afraid to explore our faith in all its dimensions, right down to the things we may feel are inconsistent with how we feel about God, et al. We may, in fact, learn something.

Second, attorneys repeatedly remind jurors that nothing they hear from the mouths of the lawyers is evidence. It is not to form the basis of any part of their decision. (One could justifiably wonder why, if that is the case, we allow argument at all. I actually don’t know the answer to that. Maybe it’s just because we enjoy doing it so much….) The decision of the jury must be based solely on the evidence from the witnesses and documents presented to them. Our faith also needs to be based on the facts as we know them.

There it is. Our theology needs to be based on the evidence, too, and not on anything someone else tells us to believe. Dictated faith is no faith at all. Any religion that depends on interpretation rather than personal experience and knowledge is destined to fail us in the clutch. Ideas are great motivators, but ideas uncoupled from validating actions eventually die. We would not, for example, claim freedom as the prize it is if we did not have the experience of imprisonment (of one kind or another) and grace (of one kind or another). We will never hold onto the ideals of Christianity without the experience of a personal relationship with the Spirit.

There is, simply stated, no need to ever argue about Christianity. Those who argue either do not know or have forgotten the facts. We do not need to “spin” Christ. We need only to present what we know from experience and let the facts speak for themselves. The wise ones will accept our evidence. The foolish ones never will, and no amount of spin will ever cure their blindness. Let’s leave it to Jesus to be our “Closer.”