What Happens When You Put Gas in a Diesel Car?

During our fourth or fifth trip to Spain, my wife Annette and rented a car at the Madrid airport and over the next two weeks drove to nine smaller cities north and west of the capital city.

As we were eating dinner one night, we met two Catholic nuns who were completely frazzled. Like us, they were motoring through the countryside in a rental car, but they made the fateful mistake of filling their vehicle with gasoline instead of the diesel fuel it required. As a result, their car became totally inoperable, and in addition to bringing their trip to a dead stop, they faced a potentially huge repair bill.

I’m taking a hard turn here, but stick with me. What follows will tie into my story about the nuns.

In my last blog post, I reported that a high official in a large Christian denomination expressed strong opposition to the recent Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade. Let me repeat one of her comments:

The right to choose is part of our God-given inalienable rights. As a Christian, the creation story says it’s the right of every human being to have choice – that God gives us choice. GOD DOESN’T EVEN MANDATE WORSHIP. GOD DOESN’T EVEN MANDATE OBEDIENCE TO GOD. Human beings have the right to make these decisions for themselves, and women shouldn’t have to jeopardize their lives because they make such a decision (emphasis added).

One thing that pops out like a flashing neon sign is the way she appeals the creation story to justify choice. The story of how God created the world appears in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. In the very next chapter, Genesis 3, we read how the serpent lured Adam and Eve into disobedience by asserting that God is deceptive, selfish, and not to be trusted. Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden? . . . God knows that when you eat from [the tree in the middle of the garden] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God . . .  (Genesis 3:1, 4).

Do you catch the irony in this church official’s logic? She appeals to the creation story and celebrates the fact that we have the “God-given inalienable right” to make choices, including the right to defy God.

But the entire point of Genesis 3 is that Adam and Eve’s horrendous choice to disobey set into motion all the calamities, destruction and heartache that have plagued the world ever since. There is an obvious parallel between her logic that we don’t have to submit to God and the serpent’s enticement of Adam and Eve to rebel against him. Should a person whose job it is to represent Jesus and God actually be applauding people’s ability to walk away from God? What the author fails to recognize is, although we are not required to worship and obey God, we were designed to do so.

There are two things I hope you take away from this post:

1. Not everyone who claims to represent God necessarily gets the message right. First John 4:1 says, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” It pains me to feel the need to criticize a church official. The purpose of my blog has always been to offer positive encouragement to my readers. This is the first post that includes critical comments about anyone, but I believe her position is seriously misguided.

2. Back to the nuns. Just as their car was designed to run on diesel fuel, so, we were designed to love, worship and obey God. The sisters certainly were free to put either gasoline or diesel into their car. Unfortunately, they unwittingly chose poorly, and the consequences were disastrous for them.

When it comes to your choices, the best way to avoid shipwrecking your life is through choosing to remain faithful to our loving God. May God empower us to grow in our worship, obedience, and trust!