I am in the Club she shouted and everyone clapped and acknowledged her elevated position. You see there are those who are in the club and those who are not, and no one else. She belonged to something bigger than herself. In fact, the club claimed a grand master that determined who was in and who was not so belonging meant specialness at least to this grand master. The club also claims a bright future somewhere off in the future for members and a dismal future for non-members. The club claims once a member, always a member. This claim comes with a few side rules because the club itself has rules for members. Keeping the rules is proof of membership, breaking the rules is okay as long as one comes back to the rules. If one does not come back to the rules, it is ruled that they were never a member of the club, only a pretender. The grand master determines who upon the earth will hear of the club and so have a potential of joining the club. Some club members believe that the grand master actually chooses who will become members and forces them to do so. Nevertheless, the effect is the same, a world divided into members and non-members. Although the club has existed for many years there are many people who never heard of the club and never had a chance to join or more accurately either by circumstance or direct pass over are non-members. These people have a dismal future regardless of their present life.
I am sure by now the reader has guessed that the club described is Christianity and the grand master is God. Lest you think I am writing to diminish a view of God, I am not. I am writing to diminish a view of Christianity because it is flawed and needs to be diminished. Theologians will claim that the club is the result of Biblical scholarship but I claim that even if one takes the Bible as God’s message to man, the club is the result of a flawed interpretation. Specifically, the club is a result of a place-of-privilege interpretation of the Bible. The next paragraph outlines a brief example speaking to place-of-privilege interpretation.
When instructed on Bible interpretation one is asked to consider the context of the text, what the text is likely to have meant to the readers or hearers of the time, and what the text means to us today. So let’s consider one such text. “And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life, he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” (1 John 5:11-12, NASB). This text sounds very much like a description of club membership and indeed it is interpreted that way. But let’s ask a question. John wrote this text after Jesus died and before his own death, that we can say for sure. Now was it John’s intent that only those (in the whole world) that believed on Jesus had this life. In other words, was John saying that those in the next town over, or the next country over, or the next continent over, are condemned? Was John saying that we are members of a club defined by knowing Jesus and everyone else are non-members? Was it John’s intent with this text to develop a theology that excludes the greater mass of mankind? Indeed, what John is saying here might apply in that sense to those that are in his context, but does it apply to the greater mass of mankind? Jesus himself seems to have taught something else. In the sermon on the mount Jesus said “Many will say to Me on that day ‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in Your name and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’” (Mat 7:22-23). From this text we see that Jesus considers it more important that He know the person than the person claim to know him. Could it be that the criteria for being in the Club with a capital C is far different from what we think it is, and perhaps this criteria encompasses all of mankind and not just a narrow set of persons that have heard of Jesus?
Specifically, did the writers of the Bible inspired by the Holy Spirit intend to bring a message that sends the masses of mankind to hell? Some would say yes, that is exactly what is intended, and praise the Lord we are members of the club. These club members claim that God chose by his grace out of the sea of humanity those who would be members and created them for this purpose. He also chose those who would be non-members and destined for hell for this was his purpose for them. Some who are members of the club don’t like the idea that God would choose people for hell so they claim that people have a choice. But they also claim that people have to make a choice for the club so they need to know about the club. Hence, the vast masses of mankind are again assigned to hell according to these club members.
Today if you are a member of a club you usually have some kind of membership card. Whenever, you attend a function or go to the associated gym you show the card and you are let in. Where is the membership card for the Club with a capital C? Like I said before, there are certain rules that one adheres to e.g. accepting Jesus as savior, attending church, being baptized, participating in communion, being a good person, etc. We might even include prophesying in Jesus’ name, casting out demons in Jesus’ name and performing miracles in Jesus’ name. But that is getting too close to Mat 7:22 and who knows if Jesus knows them?
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