kata Drew

Drew,

Thanks for your thoughtful reply, but I am still not convinced. I accept that the ways of God are a mystery but isn’t it partly that we are too ignorant and too stupid to understand his ways? I suppose what I’m saying is that he doesn’t want to be mysterious and we would know more about the mystery if we opened our eyes? Should we know where God was in that Amish atrocity a little while back in Pennsylvania, or in the 9/11 massacre? I’ve heard it said that the devil is still a powerful force in the world and influences people to do evil things? Do you think this is right? Wasn’t he just a “bogey man” invention to frighten people into doing as they were told, usually by the church?

You pose the question “Is it OK to question when struck with suffering? ” Do you think God minds when we question what he’s doing? Is it alright to be angry at God for letting some really bad thing happen. I’ve heard of famous and devout Christians being angry at God, but I can’t remember any names off-hand. Will he forgive people who are angry at him?

Jack

Jack,

I cede your point that the ways of God are a mystery partly because we are too ignorant. The question then is, Ignorant of what? The answer to that is: the Bible. Paul gives some very appropriate words for this discussion to a young pastor named Timothy. He says, “continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work ” (2 Timothy 3:14-17). In other words, to the extend that we are ignorant of the Scriptures we will be ignorant of God for in the Scriptures God has chosen to reveal himself, pulling back the curtain to allow humans to catch a glimpse at what he is up to. Furthermore, while it’s necessary to point to the Scriptures and affirm their sufficiency for informing humans about what we need to know, it’s also necessary to affirm that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are God’s ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9).

A Latin axiom sums this up nicely, “finitum non capax infiniti”, or the finite are not capable of the infinite. That is, because God is infinite we finite humans are unable to totally grasp him. If we were able to totally grasp who God is, then he wouldn’t be any bigger/better than us and therefore not God. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be mysterious, but rather that we’re only capable of so much. Fortunately, God has condescended to provide us sacred writings which provide us with the knowledge of how to be saved. Had he not come down to us in Jesus and the Scriptures, rest assured we would not have been able to reach up and demand anything of him. “Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth” (Psalm 135:6).

Let me also add that it’s is really easy for us to assume that we have comprehensive knowledge of a situation and quickly judge a situation as completely senseless. For example, image that you were walking through a big building and came to a private room where men dressed in all white were holding down a man and sawing off his arm. Your reaction might be to turn around and run as quickly as possible to call the police so that they can come and stop these madmen from injuring this poor man. You assume you have full knowledge of what’s happening and quickly judge that this man is being tortured. Would it inform your decision if you knew that the men dressed in white were surgeons and that the man losing his arm was in danger of losing his life from gangrene that could spread from his arm to the rest of the body? You would still cringe at the sight of pain, but you would understand what must be done.

This is a simplified example which we can easily and readily understand with just a little bit more knowledge. There are those acts, however, that cry out for justice and it seems almost impossible to see any good that could be accomplished through them, or why God would allow such events to take place. You mentioned two examples: the Amish schoolhouse shootings and September 11th. What possibly could God see in permitting the Amish schoolhouse shootings? I think there is no better place to look for such an answer than in Scripture and how Jesus responded when confronted with a similar conundrum. Luke 13:1-5:

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

I want to cite for you at length John Piper’s commentary on this passage of Scripture in relation to another tragic event in the family of the Amish schoolhouse shootings and the tower of Siloam, the bridge collapse in Minneapolis on August 1 of this year. Note:

“Jesus implies [in the above passage] that those who brought him this news thought he would say that those who died, deserved to die, and that those who didn’t die did not deserve to die. That is not what he said. He said, everyone deserves to die. And if you and I don’t repent, we too will perish. This is a stunning response. It only makes sense from a view of reality that is radically oriented on God.

All of us have sinned against God, not just against man. This is an outrage ten thousand times worse than the collapse of the 35W bridge. That any human is breathing at this minute on this planet is sheer mercy from God. God makes the sun rise and the rain fall on those who do not treasure him above all else. He causes the heart to beat and the lungs to work for millions of people who deserve his wrath. This is a view of reality that desperately needs to be taught in our churches, so that we are prepared for the calamities of the world.

The meaning of the collapse of this bridge is that John Piper is a sinner and should repent or forfeit his life forever. That means I should turn from the silly preoccupations of my life and focus my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection on God and embrace Jesus Christ as my only hope for the forgiveness of my sins and for the hope of eternal life. That is God’s message in the collapse of this bridge. That is his most merciful message: there is still time to turn from sin and unbelief and destruction for those of us who live. If we could see the eternal calamity from which he is offering escape we would hear this as the most precious message in the world.”

I have to admit that I have often thought that Jesus was merely side-stepping the question people really wanted to know amidst (seemingly) senseless tragedy. What people really want to know is why does such and such happen, but Jesus spins the event around and poses a penetrating proposition to each of us that unless we repent, we will likewise perish. The tragedy becomes a teaching moment and a moment in which to point people toward both their sinfulness and exhort them to throw themselves upon the mercy of God in whom alone rests salvation. Jesus turns the question around not to avoid answering it, but to shake the listener awake (the megaphone we talked about in the previous email) and address the more pressing issue: the eternal destiny of those who are still alive and the necessity to repent or perish. Jesus was capable of explaining to his listeners the mystery behind the events that took place, but he didn’t; rather he ultimately pointed people to God. Therefore, seeing that I am considerably less capable than Jesus, I will do the same.

Finally, you ask if I think God minds if we question what he’s doing. I think he minds if we question in an attitude of pride that questions because we think we know better than God. This is foolishness. The one knowing little questioning in pride and mockery the One knowing all! However, if the one knowing little, questions in an attitude of submission and humility, I believe it pleases God to see faith seeking understanding. It should bring one closer to God through prayer and studying the Bible. Also, considering Piper’s comments above, what right does the one knowing little have to question the One knowing all? I would be very careful about being angry with God for anger toward him could be a sign of rejecting him altogether, which is the only unforgivable sin.

Hey Drew,

I was impressed by your last email. While I was reading it I had a feeling that the words were true and revealed to me something of the real nature of God. I am not sure that I can trust my feelings, though. I may feel differently tomorrow, after I’ve had a full meal and a good night’s sleep?

I have to apologise for taking so long to reply to you. I took a vacation in Mexico. That was a moving experience. Have you been? There is so much poverty. When you walk around some of those shanty villages and see the children in rags, playing in the gutters amongst so much human detritus it makes you wonder, if there is a God, why does he let his children suffer so? We, in the rich countries, use so much and chuck away so much stuff. Wouldn’t a just God make the world more equal? Or maybe we should just accept things as they are? Doesn’t it say somewhere in the Bible that the poor will always be with us? If so, then what’s the point in trying to help them if we don’t stand a chance in eradicating poverty like Bob Geldoff, Band Aid etc were pushing for? Should we just put them out of mind and carry on living our lives regardless?

Jack the confused

Jack,

Without a doubt, suffering, poverty and pain are three of the most gruesome, hard-edged realities that a Christian with trust and belief in God must face. “Must face” because they tear at our hearts and cry out that something isn’t right in this world. Indeed something isn’t right in the world and that is sin and its effects. Whether you are Christian or not, these realities should strike at the heart, for this is the human reaction.

C. S. Lewis said that pain and suffering are God’s megaphone to the world. Through these our attentions are seized and our hearts are rapt. They cry out that something isn’t right and we (should) begin looking to God.

God’s megaphone should awaken us to the reality that this world is in need of something else, or rather, Someone else. This world is in need of having its sin problem put to death and that comes only through submission to God. That only comes through changed lives as a result of meeting Christ who has created us and yearns for us to stop striving in vain against him, but turn and be healed.

Christ is our need. God’s megaphone screams this need to us.

Why does God let any human suffer, is an extremely difficult question. We can be sure that God takes no pleasure in our suffering and that it is a means to an end that is largely a mystery. Is it OK to question when struck with suffering? This is the human response. But, also when struck with suffering, we should be equally struck by our need for an outside solution, who is Christ.

Shane Claiborne, the most unique homeless-preacher-monk-man you likely will never meet, says he’s often confronted with the verse you mentioned where Jesus says that the poor will always be with us (Mark 14:7). Note his helpful response:

Almost every time we talk with affluent folks about God’s will to end poverty, someone says, “But didn’t Jesus say, ‘The poor will always be with you’?” Many of the people who whip out this verse have grown quite insulated and distant from the poor and feel defensive. I usually gently ask, “Where are the poor? Are the poor among us?” The answer is usually a clear negatory. As we study the Scriptures, we see how many texts we have misread, contextualized, and exegeted to hear what we want to. Like this one about the poor being among us, which Jesus says in the home of a leper and after a poor marginalized woman anoints his feet with perfume. The poor were all around him. Far from saying in defeat that we should not worry about the poor, since they will always be among us. Jesus is pointing the church to her true identity–she is to live close to those who suffer. The poor will always be among us, because the empire will always produce poor people, and they will find a home in the church. (P. 160)

It is a job of the church to alleviate human suffering and give a home to the sick and the impoverished. A home in both a physical and a spiritual sense. A physical home in helping to provide for basic human needs: food, shelter, and safety. A spiritual home in introducing people of all ethnicity to the Christ who came to restore all things in a world that groans and waits eagerly (Romans 8:22-24) and who cleanses the sin soiled soul.

We can take comfort in trusting God because he is just and he promises that justice will be restored when Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead. This imperfect world is groaning for the day when Jesus will return and punish the wicked and restore the fallen creation; until that day, the church (believers/Christians) must fight against sin and its effects, always sharing the hope that lies in Christ.

Faith seeking understanding,

Drew