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Salvation is Like a Seven Foot Invisible Rabbit It’s a great old movie, ‘Harvey’, staring Jimmy Stewart. Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, an eccentric who’s good friend is a seven foot rabbit that talks. Only problem is, Dowd is the only one that can see or hear his friend Harvey. This creates lots of problems for Dowd. Now just imagine if this were possible: Imagine that you had a friend that no one could see; no one else could hear, yet you could see and hear him perfectly. How would this make you feel? Among other feelings, I think it would make you feel special, but you would certainly have troubles communicating who and what your friend was. This, I think, is a great example of ‘faith in Christ’. No matter what I say about Him. No matter how passionate I am in my explanations, it is impossible for me to adequately describe who Jesus is to me. I may say to you, "he told me thus and thus today’. Or, "he is helping me in this way today". Or, "he did something very great in my life today". Still you might look at me the same way as if I said that Harvey the seven foot rabbit did and said all these things. Before I go on, let me say that I am not advocating or promoting purely unsubstantiated, subjective experiences. Every religion has it’s esoteric experiences. Voodoo has it’s emotional trances. Mormonism has it’s ‘burning in the bosom’. Pentecostalism has it’s tongues and interpretations. All these and and myriad more, claim legitimacy and authoritative proof to validate the “faithful”. Neither am I saying that ‘all personal experiences are somehow ok and right for the individual and we should not judge others experiences, because they are just as legitimate as our own’. No, no, don’t misunderstand me. What I am saying is, God can give you a mystical experience and I have to trust mine! I have to say this or I am not pursuing God with all that I am. Check this out, it just adds up:
Essentially, all religion is subjective; none of it can be scientifically proven to be genuine. This is not to say that all religion is valid; only that God is the one that judges its validity. But aside from it's subjective nature, pure religion must have it's source from God. And if the source is from God, I haven't any control over your experience. I may have an opinion about it, but ultimately, your experience is between you and God. Now, I know with good evidence, that God wants a relationship with his children (us humans), but we do not always want that relationship. We usually come to God with conditions. This is not allowed, but for some reason we think we can bring them. God has a perfect right to make his conditions; First, to give up our life and fall down before him in our hearts. Two, to simply trust his son, Jesus Christ, to arrange our entrance into life and relationship with God. Now ‘how’ this trust plays out is a long story. But I can tell you, not many will actually do it. Usually they hold back and hope that it does not matter. Now here is the problem, I can’t tell who these people are, these who actually put their trust in Christ. I only know who ‘I’ am. And I am not totally cognizant of my self either. But I know that God knows every man intimately. And he said that he would reveal himself to any man who wants to know him. So, what this adds up to is, ‘that it matters little what I think of your experience with God’. Nor does it matter what you think of my experience. What matters is- what God see deep down in our heart. Are we trusting his son, or are we trusting some amalgamation of beliefs that our rebellious heart finds more compatible? The tricky part: Elwood P. Dowd may just have liked being eccentric. He may have invented Harvey just to pacify some need deep in his soul. Though his belief in Harvey made him different, I am certain that it is not God’s intent just to make us different from the world. His intent is more complicated than that. I have found that my relationship with God does make me different; but here is the huge distinction, Harvey made Dowd different according to Dowd's own propensities, while Christ will make us different according to God’s ways and his character. This is never easy and there is a strong part of me that continually fights this change. But change I do, not just outwardly, but actually deep inside. And, by the way, this is how I know that my relationship with my invisible friend is genuine. To try to convince anyone of this subjective experience is futile, and a waste of time. The fact is, God does a better job, we only need to ask him to reveal himself to us, and if our heart is honest, he will. If you have any questions about this phenomenon, write me a note. pwrouzaud@gmail.com
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