Author’s note: This post is yet another snippet from a manuscript in the works that will eventually become a book. I hope you enjoy!
Back in the mid-80’s, a movie came out that quickly became a family favorite! So popular was this movie that it morphed into a cult classic that continues to grab fans of all ages to this day! The movie? The Princess Bride! I don’t think it received an Oscar or any other major awards, but it did garner the prize for perhaps being one of the movies with characters, scenes and lines most likely to endure time! Of course, those are merely my thoughts on this outstanding flick!
I recall the first time I saw the movie in 1987 with my daughter who was then five years of age. We laughed, cried, cringed, gasped and hoo-rayed together throughout the entire screening! We had a blast! Every now and then, we retreat to favorite scenes and lines from the movie which takes us back to that very special time in our lives. Once again, we laugh, cry, gasp and hoo-ray together – only now as adults. What fun!
The characters were all so rich and transparent – so unlike most movies. The dialog was intelligent and humorous yet within the reach of every age level. Very few movies encourage reading nowadays, but this one certainly did! Who can ever forget the final scene of the movie when “Grandpa” is about to leave? He picks up the well-worn volume of The Princess Bride, puts on his sweater, dons his hat and says his goodbyes to his grandson. As he is about to open the door and leave, the grandson says something like, “Grandpa, do you think you could come over and read it to me again tomorrow?” A wry smile forms on Grandpa’s face and he responds, “As you wish!” Wow!
One particular exchange has stuck with me for quite some time now. Vizzini, a clever man perhaps a bit too enamored with his own wit, continued to say, “Inconceivable!” each time someone did something he thought to be impossible. Finally, Indigo Montoya responds with, “You keep saying that word. I do not think it means what you think it means!” Don’t you love it? The idea that a word used routinely in a particular way may not mean exactly what we think it means?
I often reflect on the word, “saved” in the same manner! Now I know! I have probably raised some hackles! Fluffed some dander! Stirred the pot! Some might even be thinking, “Waaiit just a minute! Them there’s fightn’ words, son!” But, please! I ask you to hear me out before you tune me out!
Remember, this series of posts is about the confessions of a recovering Bapticostal! These are my confessions and I am the Recovering Bapticostal! You don’t have to agree with me! Heck! You don’t even have to like what I say. I just ask that you hear me out and think!
If you recall in a recent posting I relayed how one hot Sunday afternoon at around five and one-half years of age, I responded internally to the invitation of a Powerful Spiritual Presence and opened my life to it. My parents then guided me through what they called the “sinner’s prayer” and declared thereafter that I was “saved.” Now as a young child the words, “sinner” and “saved” had very little meaning to me. I had heard them thrown around the church in both Sunday School lessons and sermons all my young life. I had heard about the dreadful and terrifying fate that awaited all who were not “saved” and struggled to understand the darker side of this game called “faith.” Finally, I settled into a kind of contentment knowing that whatever “the experience” I had was called by others, I was certainly glad that it had happened to me! I felt connected to someone or something much greater than I and that connection created a sense of purpose that would grow as I grew.
It didn’t take long for my contentment to be shaken and shattered a bit! Two to three years down the road, we found ourselves living in Galveston, TX. Often, special “revival meetings” would be held and PK’s (Preachers kids), EK’s (Evangelists kids) and MK’s (Missionaries kids) would all get together to hang out! I remember one particular evening after church when the PKEKMK pack was running around outside the front of the building and we all began conversing about our “God Experiences!” I recall almost every single kid saying something like, “I’m baptized in the Spirit! I spoke in tongues!” On and on this conversation went, emotion feeding on itself like the energy of a small tornado.
Finally, the question came to me – “Mark, what about you? Have you been ‘Baptized in the Spirit’ yet?” Well, no I hadn’t, but I certainly didn’t want to be different. I stumbled and stammered and finally said quietly, “No. I’m just saved!”
Amazingly, they all laughed and snickered! I felt embarrassed and ashamed. I remember feeling the heat flash in my cheeks as I turned and walked back inside. As the laughter faded behind me, I sat on the steps just inside the main door and put my chin in both hands. “Just saved,” I had said – as if that were some second class experience – the kindergarten level of spirituality. Where had I gone wrong? What kept me from being “chosen” as they had said? What was I missing? Would I always be designated to the back seat of spirituality? That experience stayed with me a long time. (I will share in a later post how I was freed from that predicament – and it won’t be what you anticipate – promise!)
SAVED! What an odd word to use in order to define a deeply personal spiritual experience. The more I used and heard it used in the ensuing years, the more convinced I became that it did not mean what people thought it meant.
- In many Pentecostal circles you could get saved and then become “unsaved” only to have to be “saved again!” I guess that is where the “baptizing in the Spirit” – as defined by those who did so in my early years – came to the rescue. That experience served as a type of leak sealant – keeping the “saving experience” locked safely inside! Boy was THAT confusing!
- Baptists believed in “once saved – always saved” which caused a lot of Pentecostals and others as well to spend many sleepless nights! One could profess being saved and then do what they pleased – no consequences! That was confusing too!
- Some believe that there will only be a few saved and no one really knows who they will be so everyone has to work really hard to prove their spiritual worth.
- Some believe that unless you are “born again” according to a specific litany of steps – “sinner’s prayer;” public confession of Christ; baptizing in water – then you are not saved.
- Still others believe that unless you are a part of their brand of Christianity, then there is no way you will be saved.
- And here is at least one rallying point for all the warring interpretations mentioned above – only Christians can be saved – anyone who is not a Christian is doomed! (Remember, there are those fanatics in non-Christian belief systems who feel the same way about Christians – please note I said fanatics – world’s crazies – Christianity has many of these as well).
Whew! What a mess! Oh, by the way – the interpretations listed above are only representative of the many definitions that abound out there! No wonder we fight; call each other names; seek to elevate our “brand” of religion over another; cast doubt on the legitimacy of another’s professed faith because it does not fit our narrow, often “other prescribed” definition; sometimes seek to eliminate those we perceive as a menace to the perpetuation of our way of living.
I could go on forever here and realize that it may seem like I am. I will do my best to cut this shorter. Saved? From what? To what? From whom? To whom? In what way? For how long? For what end purpose?
Perhaps, “saved” should mean “saved from ourselves” – our myopic; narrow-minded; self-serving; self-gratifying; pugilistic; sometimes pompous; oft times pedantic; many times judgmental; always unfulfilled view of spirituality.
What ever happened to the Scripture that says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? What might happen if you and I were to truly present ourselves to that Spiritual Presence that seeks communion with OUR spirit – present ourselves without guile; without pretense; without pride and just allow that Presence to envelope all of who we are and teach us what “saved” really means? I wonder?
Until next time – Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
