Few Find It

            Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

            This is one of those passages that some love and some hate. Those who love it include the folks who are proud of the fact that they have made it, and all those others are going straight to hell and they can’t wait to tell those who are hell-bound. Those who hate it insist that no one is going to hell, so they ignore it. This is the passage that makes me uncomfortable when I hear reports that 40, 50, or even 60 percent of the population of a country claim to be Christian. It brings me back to the question of definition. What do they mean by “Christian”?

            Some people believe that if one is Western or American, one is a Christian. Others believe that if one isn’t actively something else, one is a Christian, or that if one’s parents or grandparents are/were practicing Christians one is also a Christian. For some, a Christian is anyone who doesn’t drink, doesn’t smoke, doesn’t swear, and doesn’t sleep around. For others, it’s anyone who goes to a “Christian” church. 

            Conversely, if you aren’t a member of a specific denomination, you aren’t Christian. If you don’t speak in tongues or do speak in tongues, or raise your hands in worship, or don’t raise your hands in worship, or otherwise follow their list of rules, you aren’t a Christian. If you wear the wrong kinds of clothes,  or if you don’t live according to their rules for Christians, you’re not a Christian – but they are even if they also fail to obey the rules. Oh, and perhaps the worst – if you ask questions they can’t easily answer or ask too many questions and don’t “just believe,” you can’t possibly be saved.

            The question of whether one is or is not something brings fandom to mind. Are you a football fan? I could never claim to be. I would watch and cheer, but, except for the quarterback, I couldn’t begin to tell you who was in what position or what they were allowed to do. I didn’t know what the various hand signals of the referees meant, I knew none of the stats of any team. I would go to my office during ads and get involved in genealogical research, and before I knew it, the game was over. I think I had two football-oriented t-shirts, but even though I lived in a dorm that was one of the closest to Beaver Stadium, I never attended a Penn State game or any professional game. And the idea of joining a fantasy football league?  Ugh. Was I ever a football fan? Looking at my life, would you believe I was a football fan – no matter how strongly I insisted I was one? Would you think someone was wrong to judge me as not being a fan?

            Of course, if I claimed that the fact that “my team” won a championship, or multiple championships meant that I had won those championships and that only those of us who had won such championships could be said to be a fan, I’m sure there are many people who dress up, put on makeup, eat and drink specific items or actually spend the game on the field would disagree about my having done anything or being anything even remotely resembling a fan. They might be wrong. They might be right, but I suspect the percentage of those who are fans of football are far fewer than those who claim to be. So what Jesus said shouldn’t surprise us.