Tortoise theology

You know that story about the tortoise and the hare, with its famous ending--slow and steady wins the race? Forget it. I'd kill to be that hare!

It's great to be disciplined and to compensate for one's inherent challenges with perseverance. That's how I do theology--I plod.

Look at that blasted rabbit. All he needed was just the slightest bit of self-regulation, a little tamping down on the cocksureness, maybe a dram of Ritalin, and he had it made. Talent, lightening speed, and Bob's your uncle. The job is done with lots of time left for the Blue Jays game. 

It's never that way with me. I see this problem and that obstacle. I fret. I sweat. And worst of all, I bore everyone to sleep with my methodical, dry, academic approach. I'm nodding off as I type this.

If you don't like it--I don't either. So go read someone else's blog. 

Still hanging in there? Thanks Mom. Here's what I'm labouring with as regards this born from above business. Keep in mind my fundamental conviction that all of humankind is, by default, part of the Kingdom of God unless an individual decides to opt out of the relationship. I've explored this at length in earlier posts. But can I hold to that position with integrity as I study certain key biblical passages about spiritual re-birth?

In some cases, it sounds like being born from above (or born again) is meant only for those who make the decision to request it, such as we saw in Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus in John 3:  

Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.” ³ Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” ⁴ “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. ⁷ You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’.......¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Sounds like a conscious decision, doesn't it. So does this from John 1:

¹⁰ [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

On the other hand, you get a very different take, by the same biblical author, in 1 John 4:7:   
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Everyone who loves. Unless St. John means that only Christians are capable of loving, this passage has a much wider application that just those who have made a conscious decision to believe something.

All very confusing to this tortoise. Much more mulling needed.