Today I want to focus on a different MBTI attribute, the Judger/Perceiver distinction. Judgers tend to be control freaks. In any competition, they want to win (and make the other guy lose, which is contrary to the Second Great Commandment). They also don't like to apologize: "Don't apologize, it's a sign of weakness," is a line in several movies and novels. Perceivers are always adapting to new information, and apologizing for previous mistakes. One person actually told me I was "the sorriest person I know." I don't think the line was original with this person, I heard something like it in a movie. It's what Perceivers do. It's not a bad thing -- even if it's a sign of weakness. The Apostle Paul bragged about being "weak." Jesus and John and Peter all told people to "Repent" (do things differently). That's a Perceiver thing, not a Judger quality.
The important thing with Judgers is that they are in control. Top executive positions in organizations everywhere are filled by Judgers, because they want to be shot-callers. Perceivers are willing to let them, so the only competition for these top positions are other Judgers. Some of the Disciples were Judgers, and they were constantly bickering about who would land the top spot. Jesus told them in no uncertain terms -- several times -- that his Kingdom was not to be run that way. The leadership should be by people who served (like slaves, as he demonstrated in one very visual example). Maybe the Twelve understood and ran things that way, but the Reformation threw all that away. Now anybody with a dominative impulse and a little charisma can get himself the lead pastorate of a large church, with hundreds or thousands of people to control. Jesus would be appalled.
There will be Judgers in Heaven, but not as many as they think. There
will be Feelers in Heaven, but not as many as they want to believe. Feeler-Judgers
have an especially tough go of it. Virtually every senior pastor in the
country is a Feeler-Judger, but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes on
Judgment Day. There will be liars and thieves and sex perverts and murderers
who get into Heaven ahead of them. Jesus said so. Not because the liars
are still lying, but because they chose to "stop sinning." The homosexuals
in Heaven will be the ones who chose to stop sinning. The control freaks
in Heaven will be the ones who chose to stop sinning. It's called "repentance"
and it's really hard, so hard you need God's help to pull it off. From
what I can see, it won't be many of them. God isn't into forcing people,
that's a Judger (or Calvinist) thing. God wants everybody to "come to repentance,"
but if He must force you, it's not repentance.