Too Much?

How much is too much?

On more than one occasion I've heard people -- self-professed Christians, mind you -- who have said, "If that is what God is like, I want no part of Him." The occasions vary. Sometimes it's when they find out that the Bible is full of references to "the elect" or "the chosen" and they discover that, by whatever means, God chooses some ... and, by obvious implication, not others. Or maybe it's when they receive the full impact of the Cross, a bloody sacrifice to a righteously angry God. I mean, a God who wants to save and all that ... that's okay, but a God who needs to satisfy justice like that, well, that's just a bit too much. Too ... pagan. Or it could be something else. But the idea remains the same. There are lines across which God cannot go and remain in our good graces. They judge God by their own standards and if He violates them, He's out. He's gone too far. It's too much.

On more than one occasion I've heard Christians complain about the Bible. They'll be skipping along, humming a happy tune, secure in their beliefs and then, all of the sudden, they'll come across something like, "I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God" (1 Cor 11:3) and they come to a screeching halt. "Oh, no! That's not right!" they'll assure me. And there are a lot of these.

Women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church (1 Cor 14:34-35).

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands (Eph 5:22-24).

The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does (1 Cor 7:3-4).

Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet (1 Tim 2:11-12).

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment (Rom 13:1-2).

And that's just a quick sample. Some have the very same response in the text that many have today to the text. For instance, Jesus said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matt 19:4-6). He went on to say, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery" (Matt 19:8-9). Now, we don't know the response of the ones to whom He said it, but we do know the response of His disciples who were listening: "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry" (Matt 19:10). Because, you see, this was just a little too hard, a little over the top, a little too much. And there are lines across which Scripture cannot go and remain in our good graces. Many tend to judge the Bible not by what it says or means, but by the standards of the day or the standards of experience or culture and, when Scripture violates those personal standards, Scripture is wrong. It has gone too far. It's too much. It's out.

So what is "too much" for you? For me, personally, I don't want such a thing. I don't want to say, "You can go this far and no farther, God." You know, the ultimate oxymoron: "No, Lord." I don't want to determine what is and isn't true in Scripture based on my feelings or perceptions, but based on what it says. I don't want to draw human lines in the sand to dare God to cross them in His character or His Word. I don't want there to be "too much" for me when it comes to God and His Word. But that's just me.