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Rather than thinking about material things, such as window screens or movie screens, we can look at the kind of screen that involves the selection of people according to whatever criteria the screener has in mind. Just as screening sand through a mesh of the correct size keeps back all other materials that had been mixed with the sand, screening for people by some of their qualities separates out everyone else. The purpose of the process is exclusionary.
Does God screen us? For example, are we screened so that those who love others receive blessings and those who are selfish do not? Or does God sift us so that those who do good for others and maintain their own dignity pass through, and those who cause harm to others and to themselves remain behind? How we might answer the question depends upon our image of God. Those who are certain that they know how God behaves toward us can often find support in both Scriptures and in the traditions of the religious faith that is theirs. Others may not be as sure, and from the same Scriptures and religious traditions continue to ponder the mystery of God’s mercy and judgment without coming to an either/or conclusion.
Thinking about how God behaves concerning us can lead to the amusing idea that we, who hardly know ourselves, and who certainly do not know everything about even the person who is closest to us, can make pronouncements about God’s intentions. However, no matter what we presently think God might or might not do about screening us, we can start any search into the mystery of God with the most secure certainty of God as Love. How sick a religious faith would be if it imagined God wavering between love and meanness the way we do.
When we make the move from our minds into our hearts when pondering God’s relationship with us, peacefulness becomes the criteria for judging whether a thought about God’s behavior enhances or disturbs the graceful, sensitive awareness of God’s guiding action in our spirit that gives us certainty. We might not receive answers to questions that are more from curiosity than a heartfelt need to know. We might find, for example, that our concern is not so much about whether God screens us, as to know with a soul-satisfying knowledge that God loves us.
While we can readily accept God as having the final say as to everyone’s destiny, we will likely become uncomfortable at the thought of God being exclusionary. If peace of heart is restored by dropping the whole idea of God as “screener,” that will settle our question without a direct answer being truly required or given to us.