Forgetting Who The Judge Is

This week the world lost one of the funniest, most talented, and apparently to those who knew him, one of the sweetest men ever to grace our screens. Robin Williams.

It is the first time that a death of a celebrity has actually made me cry. I hadn’t realised how many movies of his that I grew up with and absolutely love. The fact that he lost his life the way that he did makes it even more tragic.

There is so much that needs to be said about the darkness of depression and how little it is understood. There is also so much to be celebrated and appreciated in the life of Robin Williams. However, as much as I considered sharing my thoughts on these topics, there is something else that has been plaguing me lately that I really feel I should share.

I found out about Robin Williams’ death over Facebook. For a couple of days, my newsfeed was full of updates from friends and news outlets sharing about his loss and the latest news surrounding his death. It was on one of these updates that I saw a comment from a Christian that I have seen and heard many times before when people in the public eye pass away. It went something like this – “It is a shame that he is now separated from God forever.”

Let that sink in for a moment. “He is now separated from God forever.”

Someone who never met Robin Williams has decided his fate in eternity.

I was 17 when Princess Diana died. I remember that day so clearly. First the news was that she had been in a car accident. Then we heard two people in the car with her had died. Finally the news came through that she had died too.

I remember how sad my mother was. I wouldn’t call her a massive Diana fan, but it was a tragic death and I recall many people being very emotional.

It was a Sunday and we had a guest speaker at the  evening service at church. It was customary to take the guest speaker out for dinner afterwards. It wasn’t surprising what the topic of conversation was. I will never forget what the guest speaker said. “It is sad that she is probably now in a place where none of us want to be.”

When I was 17 I was even more introverted than I am now. I also put people like this guest speaker up on a pedestal and would not dare to speak against them. However, I must confess that I was so shocked that this man was consigning to hell a woman whom he had never met, except through the media. Hardly a reliable source. Outwardly I was silent but inwardly I was screaming, “How do you know?”

I don’t understand why people who believe in the reality of hell and desire to save people from it while they are alive are so quick to send those same people there when they are gone.

Even if we did know Robin Williams or Princess Diana personally, can we honestly say that we know the state of their souls in their last moments? Do not mistake my meaning either. I am not trying to argue that they were saints. My point is that we do not know. No one can definitively say that they knew them as God did.

I understand that there are those that view suicide as a great sin. I also understand that there are those who disapprove of the way others chose to live their lives. I do not claim to be a great theologian. I am far from it. I take comfort in the fact that I do not know all the answers, but I am created and loved by the One who does. However there is one thing that I do know with absolute certainty.

I am not the Judge.

As far as I’m aware, there is only One who I need to give an account to for my life, and thankfully there is no one who has to give their account to me.

I am sure that there may outcries about sin and phrases like cheap grace bandied about. But believe me, I know that the grace that saved me came at a great cost and I do want to live my life in a way that pleases the One who paid it. I also hope and pray for others to feel the same as I do in that regard.

But I am glad that I am not God. And I am glad that you are not either.

I watch a lot of movies. For this reason, and I know it could be seen as a cop-out, I watch them open to hearing from God through them.

As I have been thinking about this topic, there are two scenes from movies that come to mind. The first is from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Gandalf tells Frodo that Gollum has been following them and one of the best moments of the movie play out for us:

Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.

The second scene is from the great 80s movie, Footloose. The town’s reverend finds people burning books and is horrified that his example has led to this behaviour so he intervenes:

"Whose authority are you acting on? Hold it everybody! Listen to me!  When did you all decide to sit in judgment? Who elected you to be the saviours of everybody's souls in Bomont? When you've burned all of these, what are you gonna do then? Satan is not in these books. He's in here! He's in your hearts. Go on home, all of you. Go and sit in judgment on yourselves."

I don’t want to fall into the trap of judging people who I see as judgemental. The majority of the time, these are good, loving people who are not remembering that only God knows the heart. So I will end with these three points of advice, which seems appropriate for a blog that sounds like a sermon: 

1.         Imagine for a moment what heaven and hell would look like if you got to decide where people spent eternity.

2.         Thank God that that is not your job.

3.         The next time you are ‘eager to deal out death in judgement,’ instead, ‘go home and sit in judgement on yourselves.’