I was deeply moved years ago when reading Robert Johnson’s memoir Balancing Heaven and Earth. One of the passages I marked heavily with asterisks recounts the contents of a vivid dream Johnson experienced one night. I included that passage in my book Ruthless Trust. I believe these words are now a fitting, living tribute to my good friends. Some have criticized that the passage breaks all rules of orthodoxy. It’s probably helpful to know that one of the rules of the Sinners has always been “There are no rules.” A prosecutor presented all of the sins of commission and omission that I was
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it’s this flippant treatment of theology and orthodoxy that, unfortunately, robs his ministry of important truth. there are a great many rules, and the most important one is that Jesus died for my sins so I would not die in them—which ought to compel devotion and obedience to His call to take up the cross and follow Him.
Brennan did a good job providing the starting point: God loves you as you are, and not as you should be, because none of us are as we should be. the problem is that he stayed there and encouraged everyone else to do the same: don’t focus on your sins, don’t focus on the rules; just be you because God loves you. what could have been a profound call to fellowship and honesty in brokenness became an excuse to stay in the pigsty, gnawing on corn.
as for the quote he cites: “but he loved” is a flat-out rejection of Christ’s sacrifice, and very dangerous ground to tread.
