So knowing that I'll forget to write something down later, I would like to tackle this question now. =) Indo mode: on.
Jadi, pertanyaan yang lebih pentingnya tuh yah, what is salvation? Martin Luther King thought that the Catholic church teaches that we are saved by our own work. Hmmm, not right, buddy. Kita percaya bahwa, salvation is by grace through faith(Ephesians 2:8,9). Kita totally agree ama pernyataan firman Tuhan ini. Inti dari yang diomongin dari ayat alkitab ini ialah, kita gak bisa yang namanya work our own salvation, semua yang ada tuh adalah hadiah dari Tuhan.
So, what is it yang kita denger di gereja Katolik, the "Faith and Work" thing?
Apa yang kita percaya tuh, ketika Tuhan kasih kesalamatan itu, dalam konteks yang lebih luas lagi, which is our lifespan, gak cukup cuman buat sit down, relax and wait till we all die. Itu namanya males. Moreover, Paulus ngomong gini di Filipi 2:12, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." which points out bahwa ada jemaat di filipi yang ngira kalo udah sekali diselamatin, tetep diselamatin, jadi ngapain susah susah idup jadi kristen, lenggang kangkung aja udah, nunggu ampe Tuhan Yesus dateng lagi.
So, in summary: we are saved by grace through faith, in the really strict context that salvation comes only from God. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, in the big context of our own life, that without fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5), without faith and works, salvation can be taken away from our own self(as we all can hear and read in James letter).
Dengan background meaning of salvation, mari kita jawab pertanyaan ini,
"yang mana sih yang lebih bener, yang pergi ke gereja tapi tuh kelakuannya buruk, ato yang gak ke gereja (ato gak kenal Tuhan) tapi kelakuannya baek?"
Pertama tama, kita gak bisa nge-judge that person condition.
The fact: "dia ke gereja sesudah semalem sebelumnya dia mabok2an ato sex bebas."
The reasoning itu bisa dijabarkan jadi dua:
1. Gue dateng aja ah, buat nebus dosa gue, gue mau bikin Tuhan seneng (gejala gejala mikir dia bisa selamet gara2 ke gereja).
2. Aduh Tuhan, gue dosa lagi nih. Bummer (or whatever foul word is necessary here)! Gue mau berubah nih, udah ke berapa kalinya gue jatoh dalam sex bebas, gue jatoh dalam mabok2an... So, gue mau dateng ke gereja lagi deh minggu ini, Tuhan maapin gue yah?
Jelas dong yang mana yang dateng dengan motivasi yang bener (nomer 2) dan yang salah (nomer atu). Who are we to judge that person? Yang bisa kita lakuin cuman atu, doain tuh orang, semoga dia turn to the right way (which is the meaning of metanoia/conversion heart, btw).
Gimana dengan yang gak ke gereja tapi kelakuannya baek. Again, the best position is... to NOT judge. Who are we to know his/her own motivation?
Again, gue bisa think of two reasons:
1. Apaan sih Tuhan Tuhan-an ini? Gue bisa kok berlaku baek dan gak usah ke gereja! Ngapain gue ngikutin Tuhan? Coba tuh liat si X, si Y, pergi ke gereja tapi kelakuannya jelek. Liat nih gue, gak ke gereja and yet still doing good.
Apa yang salah dari pemikiran nih orang numero uno ini? Kesombongan. Mikir dia gak butuh Tuhan. Konon, si Lucifer tuh malaikat yang paling keren di surga. Bisa nyanyi yang paling bagus, bisa do better dari malaikat2 yang laen. But, dia jatoh dan jadi iblis gara2 dia sombong. Dia pikir, dia bisa nyaingin si Tuhan yang nyiptain dia. Sama aja batu bilang ke yang pemahatnya, "Eh elu salah tuh, gue yang mestinya kasih tau elu gimana caranya memahat batu yang baek dan bener!"
Again, be humble. Kayak Filipi 2:12 bilang, "...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."
Gue juga bisa point out bahwa dia justify kebaekan dirinya sendiri sama tingkah laku orang laen. Dan itu salah besar! Tolak ukur kita tuh bukan orang laen... tapi diri kita sendiri. Who am I ought to be Lord? Kalo gue udah selangkah lebih baek dari diri gue yang dulu, that's an improvement, however small it is, and you need to pat yourself in the back for it. Again, St. Catherine of Siena berani bilang gini, "if YOU are what you should be, you will set the world on fire!"
2. Gue tuh lagi nyari kebenaran. Gue mau tahu sih apa sih yang mesti gue lakuin buat achieve this main and supreme being of who I am? Gue ngerasa kalo gue diciptain buat something BIG, something grand. Bahwa gue tuh spesial. Bahwa setiap kali gue stand up dan berani buat do something right, there is a great feeling that I am a step closer to the truth. Di mana sih kebenaran itu? Di mana sih something yang gue cari cari itu? Gue pengen menemukannya!
Kalo orang ini dalam state ini. He's actually a follower of Christ, an unknown Christian, karena dia itu mencoba buat mencari apa sih kebenaran itu. Alkitab kita bilang, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me." (John 14:6) Karena kebenaran itu sendiri adalah Yesus. Quote dari Pope John Paul II ke anak2 muda is really really appropriate for this:
It is Jesus in fact that you seek when you dream of happiness, he is waiting for you when nothing else you find satisfies you; he is the beauty to which you are so attracted; it is he who provokes you with that thirst for fulness that will not let you settle for compromise; it is he who urges you to shed the masks of a false life; it is he who reads in your hearts your most genuine choices, the choices that others try to stifle. It is Jesus who stirs in you the desire to do something great with your lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow yourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit yourselves humbly and patiently to improving yourselves and society, making the world more human and more fraternal.
Setiap kali orang ini do good to others, dia melakukan itu untuk Yesus (whatever you do to the least of my people, you do it for Me). Even kalo misalnya ada evangelist yang datang dan entah kenapa ada yang namanya the block of full and total ignorance (the emphasize: fully and totally), dia gak percaya sama Tuhan Yesus, there is a possibility bahwa dia tuh masuk surga karena dia gak bisa ngelihat sebenernya siapa sih kebenaran itu dan itu sama sekali bukan karena dia MEMILIH untuk menolak kebenaran. Again, ini bener2 tricky and fully rich in theological meaning of salvation, so if you don't get it, feel free to ask question.
So, in the end, which one is better? Which one will go to heaven in the end? It is not US (and thank GOD for that) to judge who shall go to where (heaven or hell). But, it is our duty to live our lives according to what God wants us to do and to be, and that my friend, will set our "world" (family, friends, community, city, country, world) on fire.
So, happy birthday, hope you enjoy the long and philosophical/biblical thought on your question!
Atun
PS: this whole thought actually comes from my own personal experience dealing with family and friends who are really close to my dear heart. So, all these reasoning comes from my experience, if that makes it stronger. It's not easy to stand up for the truth, and yet, this is the truth like it or not. If we don't like it, the truth won't (or can't) change BUT our attitude can. So, it is our duty to conform to the truth of the Light of Christ and His gospel, since that's what we are called to be. To be a witness of Christ.
3 comments:
Bener sih Tun...
But well, dari pandangan gw yah... Semua orang itu sama dan berharga di mata Tuhan..even orang yang blom kenal Tuhan. Karena itu ada istilah cinta agape...Cinta yang tidak mengenal batas kepada semua manusia.
Dalam hal ini, mnurut gw, orang yang blom kenal Dia tapi berbuat baik (given intention dia emang baik, bukan ngedumel kaya contoh nomor satu nya eloe), itu pasti dipandang baik di mataNya daripada orang yang udah kenal Dia tapi idupnya ancur...
Remember the story of The Good Samaritan? That's the best example and evidence on how even people who don't know Jesus sometimes can outwit we who know Him personally.
Do you think I ever did something that set the world on fire?
Art: Gue gak berani buat bilang siapa sih yang bener ato salah since I do not have enough proof to say one itu pasti lebih baek than the other. I will leave the judgment to God and rest assured that He will give the best verdict as to which one is better. =)
Vodka: Not yet. ;)
I love this quote from the blog that I pointed out just now:
"Fr. Dajczer writes:
Francis never criticized anybody. He believed that if evil is all around, it is he and not others who must first be converted. If such great abundance of wealth and debauchery is rife...then it is he who must become radically poor and pure. Saints differ from those who create heresies because heretics want to convert others but do not want to convert themselves, whereas saints turn all the cutting edges of criticism towards themselves, they strive to be converted so that the world can be better. [...]
It was he, Francis, who had to be radically converted, and history proved that he was right. For when Francis was converted, when he became so 'transparent' to the Lord that the image of Christ could be reflected in him, Europe then began to heave itself up from its fall."
So let the image of Christ become transparent to you first... =)
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