Print
Some questions are unanswerable. We can make a guess at the answer. We can assemble evidence that may point to a certain answer but, in the final analysis, there is no way of answering the question with absolute certainty.
In my last entry I noted the expression, "the point of no return", and how such an expression used in, say, the aviation community can be used to illustrate spiritual truths. Putting together those two concepts, try this question. "At what point in his life did King Saul pass the point of no return?"
Here was a man whose life began with such promise but it ended in witchcraft and suicide. He made a series of choices that led to such an end. Which one marked the point of no return?
Was it when he presumptuously offered the burnt sacrifice prior to combat rather than wait for Samuel, the priest, to do so? (1 Samuel 13). But surely all of us are guilty of impatient presumption at various times in our lives.
Was it when Saul only partially obeyed the Lord so that instead of destroying all the Amalekites, he kept alive King Agag and the best of the possessions of the Amalekites? (1 Samuel 15). There are those who would say that partial obedience is tantamount to disobedience.
Did Saul pass the point of no return when he first threw a spear at David? (1 Samuel 19). Saul had become passionately jealous of David and his jealousy had now resulted in murderous intent and action. He now attacked the man who was God's chosen one and who would one day replace him on the throne of Israel. Was this the moment?
Did this pivotal moment of passing the point of no return happen sometime out in the wilderness when Saul obsessively pursued David to hunt him down and finally kill him? (1 Samuel 21-27). By this time Saul's behaviour was like that of a psychopath. He could think of nothing else but the death of David. He was now fixated on that one goal.
Or did Saul cross that line when he consulted a medium and reached into the "dark side" now that the Lord had become his enemy? (1 Samuel 28). Saul had outlawed all the mediums and all who consulted the spirits of the dead. Yet now he is acting in a way that is a complete denial of his previous convictions.
I guess the truth is that the question is unanswerable. It seems to me that passing the point of no return - in the spiritual realm - is more of a process than an event. It may be possible to pinpoint that PNR in the world of aviation but in the realm of the spirit it is not finally possible to be that precise.
Judas Iscariot is another Biblical character whose life equally demands consideration as I wrestle with this question about the point of no return.
I'll leave that until my next entry.
