Why do some “certain people” not want other “certain people” to be loved, recognized, and respected for who they are? Why are some “certain people” so ready and willing to condemn other “certain people” of sin while ignoring their own? Why have some “certain people” worked so hard to deny God’s grace and love to other “certain people”? The problem seems to be “certain people.”

Let’s begin with a short tour around the word “certain.” As an adjective it is used in two ways. One way means “without doubt,” while the other means “assured.” Think “I am certain I did not leave the door unlocked,” alongside “the outcome of the election is certain.” Very similar in meaning and usage, but subtly different. I can feel certain about an outcome that does not actually come true, but a certain outcome must happen. We have an awful lot of people who confuse their feeling of certainty with, well, certainty.

On the pronoun side, “certain members” indicate “specific or unique” and is used to distinguish between “us” and “them,” very clearly a tool for indicating difference. And difference can be very, very scary — for certain people. So here is the certain quandary certainty certainly causes: once something is certain, there is little or no room for learning, changing, or growing. And when we decide to accept certain (select) truths as certain (without doubt, absolute) truths all the while being certain (without doubt) about certain (select) questions, we find ourselves in the mess we have made of our faith today.

Let’s see what we are certain about. Which of the following do you believe are absolutely without doubt true?

God is love.

God condemns those who sin.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

God (creator of all) so loved the world that God (Father/Parent) gave God (Son/Child) for the redemption of all who believe.

God’s love is unconditional, but only for “certain” people who deserve it.

Other people’s sins are much worse that my own sins.

Believing in God but essentially ignoring God is holier than engaging deeply in the faith, but continuing to sin.

Christmas and Easter are good enough to make me a good Christian. I have better things to do with my Sundays.

Those who love the people I hate are bad people and will go to hell.

The judgment of God awaits all who believe differently than I do.

Hating people and calling it God’s love makes it okay.

I wish I could say that as this list progressed it became more and more outrageous. Unfortunately, there are some very ignorant and hateful people who agree with the petty, more judgmental, and decidedly unChristian (yet, sadly biblical) statements. Why is it that ANYONE would not want to extend God’s love and grace to all people. How broken and damaged do you have to be to want anyone else to suffer torment and wish them to hell? How evil – and this includes many “certain” people who call themselves pastors and preachers – do you have to be to use God and the Bible for your own selfish purposes, making God in your own hateful and damning image, instead of working for the good of all? Why consciously decide to take the most glorious and grace-filled tool in the Christian arsenal – the Bible – and weaponize it to do as much harm and violence as possible? Why deny the body of Christ in order to denominationalize, fracture, amputate, secularize, and compartmentalize the church so that you can call yourself the righteous winners while reviling everyone who doesn’t agree with you not only as losers but at Satan? There are not that many disqualifiers that make someone a “false prophet,” but many are “certain” that their false prophet doesn’t qualify.

If this were a mere aberration, it would not be concerning, but there are “certain people” laboring hard and long to make the Christian faith about one political party, one country, one set of divisive and violent values, one way of defining sin, one way of defining God, one way of getting rich, one way of invalidating the legitimacy and value of others, and one way of institutionalizing hatred, hostility, aggression, greed, and fascism. And they are using the Old Testament scriptures to replace the gospel. They are taking the primitive and premodern understanding of the world from Greece and Rome and Jerusalem to undermine God’s gift of wisdom and the Holy Spirit today. Certain people confuse grace with power to control, love with need to judge, and mercy and compassion with weakness. Cartain people are choosing to deny Jesus the Christ to make God’s Holy Church a secular social club.

If this is what you want, you have the right to choose it. It is sad, but it has been true since Jesus walked the earth that “certain people” chose to ignore him, deny him, betray him, discredit him, twist what he said, disrespect him, and use him for their own selfish purposes. This will never change. What would be really wonderful would be for us to eliminate all the uses of certainty, both positive and negative, and instead focus on the possibility that God actually IS love.