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Category Archives: Culture

Where Was God?

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Shaking fist at GodWhere was God? Where is he now? These are questions I see reoccurring in social media and editorials concerning the recent school shootings. The obvious assumption about these questions, is that what happened in Connecticut was bad, and it was. It was truly awful. But why go so far as to get angry with God? One editorial reads:

If you believe in a God who is all powerful and all good, then covering up for the Almighty at a time like this is in my view deeply unfaithful. Today is a day to shake your fist at heaven and demand answers, and then to shake it harder when no answers are forthcoming. To do anything else is in my view to diminish the idea of God, and to cheapen faith in the process.

If you don’t believe in the existence of any god, then why does “bad things” happening matter at all? If “there is no God,” then, to quote Douglas Wilson, “s**t happens. Get over it.” The most hysterical practical claim of the atheist is “There is no God, and I hate him.” If you think that there is no God because of all the suffering bad stuff in this world, does that mean that there is a God because of all the pleasure and good stuff in this world? You see that argument is self defeating.

Either God is omnipotent or he is not. If he is not, then what happens doesn’t matter and can’t be traced back to him anyway. If God has no foreknowledge and no control over anything that happens then why are we mad at God? Are you mad at your neighbor when something in your life goes wrong and your neighbor had nothing to do with it? Then why get upset at God? He is just as innocent in the matter as you are.

If God is omnipotent and omniscient, then the things he can do and does are beyond our comprehension. But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t have a God who is both omnipotently omniscient and comprehensible. Either God is not omnipotently omniscient, and therefore comprehensible, or he is both omnipotently omniscient and incomprehensible. Either God’s all-knowingness exceeds our knowledge, understanding, and comprehensibility, or he is not all-knowing. And that’s the problem. People want to shake their fists at God for being omnipotent because he doesn’t get our permission before he acts. Those people act and think out of an inconsistent (incoherent?) assumption. Since when did God have to play by human rules? When did God have to to start answering to the human inquisition? God doesn’t ask for our opinion before he makes a decision, as his knowledge and power infinitely surpass any human, it is ludicrous to suggest otherwise.   

So we are left with only one conclusion: Someone who is omnipotent and omniscient has his reasons for doing things that are beyond our comprehension. And there is the real root of the problem. We don’t like what we can’t define, understand, or control. And so, rather than accept the omnipotence of God as incomprehensible, we want to stand in the face of God and shake our fists, like petulant children we demand an answer and a reason “Why” when God is under no obligation to respond. In such cases the answer often, aptly, returns from God, “Because I said so.” And whether we like it or not, whether we deem it satisfactorily or not, whether we judge it fair or not, such an answer from an all-powerful and all-knowing Creator is good enough.

Christian Patriotism?

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The following is a guest post by Rick Phillips. He has some good thoughts on Christians and patriotism. I would also add that while Christian civil responsibility is important, it is essential that the Christian maintain a sojourner mindset. The U.S.A., in fact, this entire earth, is not the home of the Christian. He is but passing through. Our true home lies in heaven. The Christian must never lose sight or focus of that. With that in mind, enjoy the guest post.

On July 4, our nation celebrates its independence with waving flags, picnics, and parades.  Some churches deck their sanctuary with red, white, and blue, and devote the worship service to the honor of the state.  Other Christians virtually ignore this or any other national holiday.  This raises the question, “How does Christianity tell us to think about patriotism?”

This question is quite personal for me, since I grew up in an intensely patriotic family.  Patriotic holidays were solemn occasions and the national anthem and flag were regarded as holy objects of veneration.  In many respects, my childhood was probably not typical of others’, since I was raised on Army posts during a war.  My childhood virtually coincides with the Vietnam War, a conflict which twice took my father away for a year and cast its shadow over our lives, both for good and for ill.  My father returned from Vietnam, but many of my boyhood friends’ dads did not.  I would guess that I attended more funerals by the age of ten than most people do in a lifetime.  As a result, these formative years instilled in me an intense patriotism, which played no small part in leading me into a military career like my father and grandfather before me.  I was commissioned on Memorial Day, a time when I was always proud to be an American, and grateful for those who laid down their lives for us all.

Another way in which I am probably not typical is that my conversion to faith in Jesus Christ, which occurred when I was 30 years old, required me immediately to recast my ideas of patriotism.  At first, I was tempted to reject the idea of patriotism altogether, since I had been transferred out of the world into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.  However, even though my relationship with Jesus greatly altered my attitude towards flag and country,  I soon realized that there is a Christian patriotism that believers should feel towards their country.
What are some guidelines based on biblical teaching that can help us to embrace a biblical idea of patriotism?  First, let me point out patriotic views and attitudes that Christians must reject:

1. Christians must reject a longing for national preeminence and power.  How well I remember the fiery passion of my youth, determined that America would be first in all things.  As a Christian, I no longer crave earthly glory for my nation, but rather God’s blessing .  As a Christian I embrace the principle of Proverbs 14:34: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

2. Christians do not accept the statement: “My Nation, Right or Wrong.”  A disciple of Christ must be loyal to God and his commands, even if it means speaking against his or her nation.  As a Christian, I am horrified by sins widely embraced in America and consider it my duty to oppose in lawful ways the wide range of evil that increasingly dominates our culture.   As a servant of Christ I am appalled both by the empty materialistic idolatry that often attaches itself to the political right and even more so by the pagan evil espoused by the political left.   In any case, my desire is for our political leaders to appeal to God’s Word as our founding fathers so often did.

3. Christians are not nationalists who despise rival nations.  As a believer in Jesus, I look on Christians of all races, tongues, and nations as brothers in Christ, and I consider non-Christians of all nations as fellow sinners in need of my loving witness to the gospel.  My chief desire as a believer is that stated in Psalm 67:3, “O God, let all the peoples praise you!”

Based on the above principles, there are some people who would say that Christians have abandoned patriotism altogether.  This is not true, however.   Christians should not turn a cold heart away from their nation.  In fact, celebrations like those of Independence Day provide a good start for developing a Christian patriotism:

1. July 4 reminds us that we are part of a nation, with a great history, wonderful privileges, and important responsibilities.  We are all indebted under God’s grace to the sacrifices of others and in God’s providence we are part of a great historical legacy of freedom and blessing that is worth celebrating.  Recognizing our debt to prior generation and the blessings we have received as Americans should produce gratitude to God – a gratitude that serves as a good basis for Christian patriotism.

2. July 4 reminds us that God has sovereignly placed us in this land and under this government.  I praise God to be an American, precisely because of what Independence Day represents.  As I have traveled on other continents and had personal interactions with government tyranny and injustice, I have learned once more to bless the sight of an American flag.  Yes, Christians should frankly admit and oppose the evils of our nation, but we should not fail to be grateful for the many good things our country does and represents.  Moreover, when Romans 13:1-7 commands us to honor and obey civil authorities, Christians should do so from the heart, with love and fervor for the blessings of the land in which God has placed us and with sincere loyalty to all public servants who are seeking to do good.

3. July 4 reminds us to play our part today in the civil life of our nation.  When God addressed the Jewish exiles living in Babylon, he told them to “seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jer. 29:7).  Christians rightly think of any earthly home as a sort of exile, longing to arrive in the kingdom of glory with God.  But we should be involved in the society and life of the land in which we are living.  This means that we should be civic-minded as a church and as believers, exercising all kinds of gifts and opportunities to be a blessing to the nation and city in which we are living.  In America, this calling involves participation in the political process, opposing evil, and promoting truth and righteousness.  Especially when there are political leaders who openly seek a biblical agenda of godliness and civil well-being, they deserve the special support and prayers of God’s people.

So maybe Christians can be patriots after all!  Indeed, we can be, and we should celebrate our national heritage with thanks to God and with prayers for renewed faith and needed repentance.  In fact, the best kind of Christian patriotism is that which offers a loving witness to the Savior, the great King Jesus Christ, who alone can give true freedom to anyone.

An Ironic Conversation

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As I sat sipping my coffee in stunned silence I could not determine which was more ironic, the conversation that was being had, or the lack of the awareness of the irony in the conversation being had by the people having it.

Few things in life I enjoy more than a strong cup of coffee and a good conversation. Not chit chat. I hate chit chat. Nothing will propel me into a state of Kierkegaardian boredom faster than chit chat. So as I sat in a bookstore sipping my painfully weak and under-brewed coffee listening to 3 pastors, an accountant, and teacher discussing suffering in the Christian life, my interest was peaked. Anything, even chit chat, was a welcome distraction for me from my awfully brewed cup of coffee.

When I, unannounced to the rest of the group, joined the conversation, the teacher was telling the story of a woman in an impoverished country. She was a starving woman and her body made no attempt to hide it. She ran along the side of a grain truck begging for a cup of grain to feed her starving child. “Please, please give me some grain. In the name of Christ give me some grain” the woman shouted to the truck in vain. For the truck did not stop nor did it give any indication that it even heard her cries for help.

“It was in that moment that I realized I didn’t know what real suffering is. I don’t know what it means to suffer as a Christian” said the teacher. “We have an idea of want, but we don’t equate it with true need. Want is just a desire we have, we don’t think of want as something we actually need. We think of want as something we demand” said one pastor. This was an encouraging sign. Recognizing that the American Church has no concept of what it means to endure biblical suffering brought a seriousness and soberness to all present.

However, the group wrapped up their conversation with a quick prayer and began the process of disembarking. In that process a sub conversation began. “How was your tournament?” asked one pastor of another. “It was awesome. I love playing the courses in North Carolina.” The sober mood evaporated. What followed in its place was a jovial and lighthearted discussion on the best golf courses in the area and how each pastor wished he had more time to devote to the game of golf.

I sat in stunned disbelief. Had the lapse of 45 seconds really erased their memory? Had so short of a time truly removed the sober attitude in which this group had contemplated true Christian suffering? Is it possible for the human heart to experience conviction and so easily dismiss it? What of the starved woman and her child? Perhaps these pastors were hoping to encounter such a person on the back nine.

Whatever you make of this conversation, one thing that is inescapable is the irony in which we can talk about suffering on the one hand, and completely dismiss its practical place in our lives on the other. Perhaps it is our consciences that feel validated simply talking about suffering and then moving on. As if talking about it is “duty” enough. But talk doesn’t help the starving woman and her child. For God’s sake, stop talking and give someone a cup of grain in the name of Christ.

CyberChimps