God Did It!

There is a current of thought in Christian circles about God's sovereignty that says everything that happens is God's will. There is a problem with that. There are several problems, actually.

First of all, if everything that happens is God's will, God does not seem to be very picky. God would apparently be alright with the genocides going in Sudan, Rwanda, and Syria. God would apparently be fine with the slaughter of Jews, homosexuals, and mixed-race peoples in the Holocaust. God would apparently have been fine with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, slaughtering Christians under Nero, Domitian, and Caligula, and the killing fields of Pol Pot. God would have been happy enough with the Jim Crow laws, segregation, slavery, and the lynching of innocent blacks to cover up for the misdeeds of whites in the South. God would be fine with abortion, incest, rape, murder, and a host of other things we classify as sin.

Sin... wait a minute... isn't there something in the Bible about sin? Why, yes there is. The Bible defines sin in various ways, but essentially as doing something that is outside or beyond God's will. It goes on to call various actions sinful, condemn the performance of said actions, and clarity that God indeed has a will that humanity routinely violates. Hence, not everything that happens is God's will.

Secondly, the claim of absolute sovereignty would place all human action and decision under God's direction and purpose. That would call for us to have no need to study the Bible to discern God's will, as all our actions would automatically be in concert with and directed by God. The proponents of this theology would hardly espouse such a way of life. They are quick to point out what we ought to be doing. That simply flied in the face of the theological motif promoted.

Thirdly, to press God's sovereignty to the absurd sense that every action, decision, and thought is directed and indeed caused by God makes God into a very strange being. God instills in one the desire and indeed the requirement to kill, maim, violate, oppress, and rape, while telling us to do good, be kind, and to love one another. If any human being were to act in such a manner, we would consider them deranged. Such a God has no claim to any allegiance, no character deserving worship, and no unity of thought and purpose. Such as God cannot claim holiness in any sense.

Fourthly, the Bible simply does not describe God's authority and sovereignty in such a manner. The Hebrew faith is much more dynamic than the absolute character of Greek philosophical thought allows. Hebrew faith speaks more of faith in God's sovereignty as hope and possibility for which we must yearn. It is the expression of God's rightful place in the universe, as yet unrealized due to the issue of our own sin, our rebellion against God.

Fifth, though related to the above points, casting God's sovereignty as so complete ignores all human responsibility for our actions. We are wont to criticize, blame, and condemn people for things like abortion, but this kind of theology actually blames God for abortion, rape, incest, sexual abuse, murder, violence, greed, oppression, slavery, and every other kind of base, vile, and worthy human action. It absolves humanity of any and all responsibility. It actually keeps us from needing to rely upon God as whatever we do or fail to do becomes God's will and design.
Not only do we not need such a cop-out answer, we don't get one. God is not responsible for my actions, thoughts, and decisions. I am. God calls us to act responsibly, to speak responsibly, to relate to one another responsibly, and to do so freely. Casting our responsibility upon God is bad theology. It is a canned response with no validity or value.

God did not do it, I did. You did. We did. When we make God out to be in absolute control of everything, we are simply excusing ourselves and trying to blame God. Whether we do that consciously or subconsciously, it is the same thing. If you have read this far, it will henceforth always be a conscious decision to blame God for our own doings.

—©Copyright 2017 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gospel Is Not Conservative

Image
Fundamentalism and conservativism are intrinsically averse to change. They are tied with conserving a status quo or moving back to a former era. They seek a safe place, a respite from change and transformation in the world around them. They are threatened by new ideas. They fear that the foundations on which they base their lives will be uprooted, causing their view of reality to fall apart. Growth depends on change. Life requires change. Survival depends on responding to changes in our environment. It requires new ideas. It requires new answers to old questions, as well as new questions with even newer answers. Jesus was by no means conservative. Jesus challenged the status quo. He fought against the groundwork of much of the religious thought around him, as well as the structures erected to empower its values. He called out those who benefited from social, religious, and political power. He demonstrated God's love, forgiveness and grace to those deemed una...
Read more

God in the Hands of Angry Sinners

Image
Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” set a very poor direction for much of Christianity in the Colonies. His Puritan tradition presented God as an essentially angry deity whose desire was to condemn and torture. Grace or mercy existed simply in regard to how long God waited until calling down judgment upon sinners. That is not good news. It never was. Such is not the message of Jesus whom the gospel writers claim as good news. They echo the words of the celestial messengers declaring Jesus’ birth as good news of great joy to all peoples. Rather than look to Jesus as the clearest example of God’s identity, character, and will, that tradition surrounding Edwards began with an altogether different understanding that could not account for what Jesus actually taught. The Puritan perspective began with angry sinners and projected that upon God. Anger begins with fear, uncertainty, discomfort, and the inability to control one’s environment, ot...
Read more

Our Language of Choice

Image
I woke up this morning and decided to be a woman. I really like the idea of earning less money on the job. I like the idea of being passed over for promotions. I like that I will be held more accountable for the care of my home and familial responsibilities than any of the men around me. I’m looking forward to having my expertise ignored. I like that I’ll more likely be treated as a lower-level assistant to male colleagues than an actual colleague. It should be a good experience to live as more of a target for domestic violence and abuse. It will be so freeing to let go of my bodily autonomy and place it in the hands of men who will not understand me. With so many voices in our society shifting back toward the attitudes of 70 years ago, I am really looking forward to setting aside all trappings of male privilege and power to live as a second class citizen whose voice and opinions are essentially irrelevant. Just look at all the advantages women have! They get t...
Read more