"Acceptance" is to willingly to receive an idea or person. "Rejection" is the opposite. It's a refusal to willingly buy into an idea or to receive a person. There may be no "in-between". It's not pragmatic to reject something that a person wants to accept, or to accept something that a person wants to reject!
"Want" is the key word. That's our willingness to make a decision. The decision doesn't necessarily benefit the one with the dilemma, but it can and most likely is self-satisfying. However, some look short-term and others long-term. It's easy to choose selfishly for the short-term because people expect circumstances to change for the long-term! That's the proverbial "They want their cake and eat it too!"
Let's take an example: The idea that God created the world. The average person will evaluate that idea and believe one way or the other. They will either accept or reject the proposition that God is creator. There are factors which motivate the acceptance or rejection: 1) We base decisions on what we're taught. 2) People go along with the majority, but others are so independent that they intentionally do the opposite! 3) People use reason to decide. 4) Other people accept what others say by faith. 5) Something in our personality makes us agreeable or disagreeable. 5) A combination of any and all of these.
I accept the creation for scientific reasons, for statistical reasons, for anthropological reasons, because I was taught that and because I have faith in God. Emotion has little influence on me, other than I believe because I want to please God! Acceptance offers hope. Rejection offers nothing!
Others reject creation because of science, because of anthropology, because they are taught that and because they have faith in science.They are emotional because they want to be right.
Using the same categories people come to different conclusions! However, there is one aspect where I accept and the skeptic rejects! Statistics can never support evolution! Statistics reinforces creationism. If one rejects the creation, all this universe and all it's order is merely by chance. For those of us who accept creationism there was a plan and chance had little to do with it! Throwing out everything else, I accept creationism because statistically life this complex is infinitely impossible! Someone had to make it happen and that someone is claimed by God to be him and there is no other explanation!
These thought processes occur for any position we take or every person we allow into each of our worlds! If you are my friend, I use criteria and accepted you and you did that too since friendship is a two-way street. We quickly recognize non-friendships when one fails to respond to our advances to be friends. To show that we are befriending we do various things. We want to be with the person and talk. We like to share interests and most of the time we have similar beliefs and lifestyles. We most often want to be with people with whom we're compatible! Society throws in some taboos too. It's more acceptable for friends to be of the same gender and the same marital situation. We can miss many sound friends because we just can't violate that societal norm!
Now for the most practical application of acceptance vs.rejection: We're given a choice in life that determines our future for eternity. Scripture tells us how to have eternal life. We are called only to believe in Jesus as our savior because he died for everyone and to love him for doing that! What we are to do for eternal life is to accept Jesus and what he did! It's idea-centered and person-centered: Jesus did it. That's the person we must accept. What did he do? He died for us. That's the idea which must be accepted. All we have to do to live forever is to believe Jesus died for us all! Simple, huh?
Then why do people reject either the premise, the person or both? Some believe in Jesus, but that he didn't really die on the cross let alone be resurrected! Others don't believe that Jesus is God's son. They don't believe in the person. Others believe that there are other gods who can save. Others believe in Jesus, but that they can have eternal life just by being good. Whatever reasoning they have, and that's their free-will to decide, it's heretical. If anyone rejects Jesus or what he did, they reject eternal life... and they even know that! Most people only believe that they molder in the grave!
Again, there are factors which influence whether we reject or accept Jesus. For me it's because there must be something beyond this life. The answer to that is heaven and I want to go there! I use scripture which tells me that if I want to be "saved" it's only through Jesus and no other. Since events bear out his truth, I choose to accept him! My mind is open because of what I was taught, where I live, because of Jesus' miracles and ministry and because there seems o be no other way to have eternal life! There are no other gods who claimed to have died in place of me!
That's why I accept Jesus, but why doesn't everybody? Many are taught deceptions because of their geography. However, because most have heard of Jesus they must reject him out of pride. They want to be masters of their own fate and do what they want to do! However, they realize that because of their unbelief they sentence themselves to eternal punishment. Oops! Proud people reject the premise of hell!
People who reject God use the excuse "A loving God would never send me to hell!" This is about as close to failing either to accept or reject as can be. It's irrational! How could one reject God then tell others about what God does! In effect they are hoping they're wrong and that God will give them eternal life although they disbelieve. They want the benefits of acceptance with the liberty of rejecting.
So simple yet people make it so confusing. They fail to see pride that they take in stride. Before they can feel sorrow and repent, pride must be set aside. With pride aside then in heaven they can abide. It all makes sense! Reject or accept. The choice is yours.
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