Opus 2025-525: Divine Poker

I really enjoy in depth discussions of theology and belief.  I guess a better way of saying it would be I love to argue about the things of God.  A lot of people are put off by that.  They don’t want to be forced to accept the there are people who disagree with them.  I think there’s a great fear that they might find they are wrong and they don’t want to change what they believe.  Of course that’s my biased view.  I could be the one living in a world of illusions.

For some reason, the Lord turned my thoughts to playing poker.  I quit playing poker years ago when I realized that I enjoyed it so much that I was on the verge of addiction.  I didn’t play it that long, but I played it long enough to sense it’s seductive power.  So although I remember enjoying it, I never can remember which is a stronger hand, a flush or a straight.  If you know instinctively, then either you’re not addicted or you played too much poker in your life.

I was thinking about the rounds of betting.  Everybody has to ante up, put in your chip or you don’t get to play.  You have to have skin in the game.  Then if I remember correctly, you go around and people have an opportunity to raise, see (meet someone else’s raise) or fold.  This goes on until everyone who is still serious is not willing to raise the bet anymore and then you compare your cards.

In poker at this point, you have one winner and everybody else loses everything.  If you’re having a theological discussion, it’s totally different because you might have a winner, or someone who thinks they’re a winner, but in addition to that everyone gets to keep everything that was thrown out in the pot.  If your mind is turned on, and your heart is open, everybody wins.  You may not like what you hear, but if the scripture that is offered is quoted accurately, you have the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to speak to you and cause you to grow spiritually.

One of the reasons I think that people don’t like to disagree on theology is because they don’t like to be made uncomfortable.  If your theology is right, if you are genuinely trusting in Jesus, as you should, then you lose nothing except the chance to grow.  If your theology is flaky, then you may need the offerings that others are putting out there.

So don’t look down on people who disagree with you theologically.  It will challenge your faith. It will cause you to grow.  And it might even get somebody saved.

Want to argue about it?

homo unius libri