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| Baptized! (With Ferris State U students of Real Life campus ministry |
When I preached out of Revelation 14:6-13 - on judgment and eternal separation from God - I shared one reason people (even some Christians) find these verses difficult and unfair on behalf of God: viz., entitlement.
John Townsend, in The Entitlement Cure, defines "entitlement" as:
"The belief that I am exempt from responsibility and I am owed special treatment. Entitlement is: The man who thinks he is above all the rules. The woman who feels mistreated and needs others to make it up to her.” (p. 19).
The characteristics of entitlement are:
1. An attitude of
being special.
2. An attitude of
being owed, of deserving something.
3. A refusal to
accept responsibility.
4. A denial of one’s
impact on others.
The less entitlement in a person, the more a cry for God’s mercy and grace.
The less entitlement, the more compassion. The more entitlement, the more the attitude "I'm deserving, others are undeserving."
The less entitlement, the more like the tax collector in Luke 18:11 who cried out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
The less entitlement, the more one understands sin, its reality, and its consequences.
Townsend writes: “Whatever the cause of the sense of entitlement, the end result is that the person believes that he or she doesn’t have to play by the rules of responsibility, ownership, and commitment.” (21)
A person with "global entitlement" will find reprehensible any idea of a God who would allow people to suffer consequences of eternal separation from him.
Is sin a real human condition? I like what G.K. Chesterton says: "Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology that can really be proved."
The truth is that sin separates. Always. Sin separates us from other people, divides our inner self, and creates a relational breach between us and God. Such are the inexorable consequences of sin (or whatever word you want to use). The globally entitled person cannot see this.
The truth is that sin separates. Always. Sin separates us from other people, divides our inner self, and creates a relational breach between us and God. Such are the inexorable consequences of sin (or whatever word you want to use). The globally entitled person cannot see this.
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My two books are:
Leading the Presence-Driven Church
Praying: Reflections on 40 Years of Solitary Conversations with God
