The Hall of Mercy
"I hope no reader will suppose that 'mere' Christianity is here put forward as an alternative to the creeds of the existing communions. . . It is more like a hall out of which doors open into several rooms. If I can bring anyone into that hall I shall have done what I attempted. But it is in the rooms, not in the hall, that there are fires and chairs and meals. The hall is a place to wait in, a place from which to try the various doors, not a place to live in. For that purpose the worst of the rooms (whichever that may be) is, I think, preferable. It is true that some people may find they have to wait in the hall for a considerable time, while others feel certain almost at once which door they must knock at. I do not know why there is this difference, but I am sure God keeps no one waiting unless He sees that it is good for him to wait. When you do get into your room you will find that the long wait has done you some kind of good which you would not have had otherwise. But you must regard it as waiting, not as camping. You must keep on praying for light: and, of course, even in the hall, you must begin trying to obey the rules which are common to the whole house. And above all you must be asking which door is the true one; not which pleases you best by its paint and paneling. In plain language, the question should never be: 'Do I like that kind of service?' but 'Are these doctrines true: Is holiness here? Does my conscience move me towards this? Is my reluctance to knock at this door due to my pride, or my mere taste, or my personal dislike of this particular door-keeper'
"When you have reached your own room, be kind to those who have chosen different doors and to those who are still in the hall. If they are wrong they need your prayers all the more; and if they are your enemies, then you are under orders to pray for them. That is one of the rules common to the whole house."—C.S. Lewis
I have a predictable habit of referencing songs and movies in my musings, and I often wonder if people find it a tiresome quirk on my part. And speaking of that, I have only one thing to say..."Here I go again."
I recall a particular scene from the 1971 movie Lawman, starring Burt Lancaster: Bannock Marshal Jared Maddox (Lancaster) arrives in the town of Sabbath. He was looking for a bunch of cowboys responsible for shooting up the town and accidentally killing an innocent bystander.
The townspeople would not tell him where the cowboys were because the rancher who employed them owned the town and everyone's livelihood depended on it. The following dialogue took place in the town's church:
"Is there something you wanted?"
"Can't say there is, minister."
"A man comes to the house of God; he comes to seek."
"I'm not a believing man, minister."
"Then why have you come?"
"A man doesn't see many churches like this in a town like Sabbath."
"The shape of the house of God is unimportant."
"That's not so, minister. The kind of church a man builds to pray in tells you a lot about the man. Further south, there are some fine old adobe churches...Mexican. They're cool and dark inside. It gives a man peace. They're made for kneelin'. This one's made for standin' upright."
"There is no easy comfort from God."
When the minister replied there was no easy comfort from God, he left out the very thing Maddox was hinting at... humility and God's mercy. When Maddox said this one's made for standing upright, he meant that the townspeople who lied to him were hypocrites that only came to church on Sunday to show their peers how righteous they were.
Maddox then asked the minister if he knew where they kept the record of deeds to the surrounding lands. The minister said, why do you ask me? Maddox replied that he figured a minister would be the one man in town who would find it hard to lie to him.
Lawman is a secular-framed movie, as the hero is a non-believer. However, I think that the film, songs, and literature of the late 19th and 20th centuries are the modern equivalent of the Old Testament. If you think about it, the stories are the same for us today as they were for the ancient people of the Book. It boils down to a tug-of-war between good and evil.
I wonder if we in the 21st century, are not like God's people in the Book of Judges, or have we devolved to New Testament levels of Christian persecution? Is the world crucifying Christ once again?
Truth is truth, whether in a story or real life...think about it.
