Annihilatory Continuum

I was studying in my organizational behavior book for my exam tomorrow and one of the points the book covered was the intensity of conflict. Now, to give a little background, the book creates these really unnecessary, unhelpful charts that have boxes or graphs and such with very much useless information in them. The one about conflict went a little like this:

Exhibit 15-3 Conflict-Intensity Continuum

Annihilatory conflict......... Overt efforts to destroy the other party
I
.........Aggressive Physical attacks
I
.........Threats and ultimatums
I
.........Assertive verbal attacks
I
.........Overt questioning or challenging of others
I
.........Minor disagreements or misunderstandings
I
No conflict...........................No conflict

First, the word continuum just makes me think of Back to the Future and how the flux capacitor was the gateway to the space-time continuum.

Second, at the highest end of this continuum we have annihilatory conflict, which means, you annihilate your enemies. I like the word annihilate, it rolls off the tongue so nicely. Maybe I'll make it the word of the day.

I like how they state the annihilatory conflict is the overt effort to destroy the other party. As in annihilate, right? Total destruction.

No conflict = No conflict huh? genius.

The chart just uses two of the best words ever, annihilatory and continuum....made my day happy, among other things.

Under Fire

Warning to Pay Attention

Why really do we serve God? Hebrews declares the sufficiency and supremacy of Christ over the Old Covenant. Over angels, Moses, priests, the tabernacle, and the blood of animals. And through this, we face the danger of not knowing his power over our salvation. Warnings are strewn throughout the book, the peril of ignoring the Word, the peril of unbelief, the peril of an immature faith, the peril of deliberate sin, and the peril of refusing God’s Word.

When the angels commanded the carriers of the Arc not to touch it, and one did, he died instantly. How much more is Christ over the angels:

“For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son; today I have become your Father”?
Or again,
“I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
In speaking of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds, his servants flames of fire.”
But about the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”

(Heb 1:5-9)

So to disobey the commands of Christ, of Jesus, how much more will we be judged:

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

(Heb 2:1-4)

So to fall away from God, to disobey the teachings of Christ, is a scary thing. This man, our Savior, who is so much more powerful and higher than the angels, who can even fathom to disobey? Even disobeying the angels resulted in instant death; what then will happen if one disobeys the Lord?

Those Who Fall Away?

But what if one hears the Word, believes the word and falls away?

I’ve heard two views:

1. The first is from the group that believes once one is saved, one cannot lose that salvation. Thus, they approach this dilemma as “well then they weren’t saved to begin with. Because no one that is saved can fall away like that:

"And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

(1 John 5:11-12)

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

(John 10:27-30)

2. The second view is from the opposite belief, that you can lose your salvation if you fall away from the truth:

Peter said, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of god and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

(Heb 6:4-6)

And what does fall away really mean? Can man really decide what is falling away, and what is not? “Judge not less you be judged (Matt. 7:1),” right? How can man look at another and declare his or her salvation? That is not our place. We do not know the heart of man, and thus, cannot judge it in any manner.

So have they just stumbled, or have they fallen? It is a sin they are able to repent or is it falling away and “impossible to bring they back to repentance? Do we really have the right to answer these questions? Can they repent, and do they even want to:

“If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”

(2 Peter 2:20-21)

Yet, we are still supposed to approach God with confidence in our salvation, not fear :

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

(Heb 5:15-16)

Does having these two contradictory ideas a chapter apart make is appear that their must be a balance between the two? I think so.

Fear

But this still instills some fear in me…fear enough that I feel I need to worship out of requirement, and I don’t want that.

I do not want to worship my God out of fear. I’m not talking about a healthy reverent fear out of respect and honor, I’m talking about full out, “I’m afraid I will bring the wrath of God if I don’t follow all the rules” fear. I want to worship Him out of love, the love I have because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) But is there a balance just as there is in confidence and falling away?

What About All These Questions?

It is good to question God, question his word; Paul did it all the time. If the Bible is truth, then it can stand up to questioning, and if it’s not, well, I haven’t seen it falter under fire yet. So what's the answer? I guess we'll find out...