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Posts Tagged ‘the Bible’

Why I’d Choose Aslan’s Country Over Heaven Any Day

Posted in Jesus, Scripture, The Arts, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 24, 2012 | 6 Comments »

A few years back, Dr. Jerram Barrs, a professor at Covenant Seminary, was speaking about the Narnia books at a Borders bookstore (remember those?). The store had been gracious enough to host the event and Dr. Barrs had drawn a large crowd, speaking about the Chronicles of Narnia and what they meant. At one point in the Q & A, a little boy stood up and said, “I don’t want to go to heaven! I want to go to Aslan’s country!”

I remember that story because that little guy’s desire was so right. In my favorite book in the series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Reepicheep the mouse has this lifelong wish to see Aslan’s country, the land where Aslan came from, where Aslan’s father reigns supreme. And at one point in the book, Reepicheep says this:

“While I can, I sail east in the Dawn Treader. When she fails me, I paddle east in my coracle. When she sinks, I shall swim east with my four paws. And when I can swim no longer, if I have not reached Aslan’s country, or shot over the edge of the world in some vast cataract, I shall sink with my nose to the sunrise.”

Christians tend to get very excited about heaven. And that’s great. I’m sure heaven will be fantastic. But it seems to me that we’re missing something. The Bible is very clear: heaven is not our final destination.

People really want to know what heaven will be like. People are so desperate to know about it that they write books about the afterlife. I completely understand this motivation. Some people even go so far as to say they’ve died, gone there, and come back to tell us what our home will be like. But heaven is not our home. Heaven is merely the threshold.

But this reigning “heaven-is-the-ending” philosophy has a few problems.

1.) It leads to an “I’ll Fly Away” escapist mentality. The rationale goes something like this: This world is not my home. God will scrap it anyway. My job on earth is to grin and bear it until I die and then the real party starts. To quote Colin Hay, “I’m waiting for my real life to begin.”

2.) If heaven is the final destination for a Christian, then the Christian has no meaningful reason to take care of the earth. Oh sure, we should be good stewards of creation and we’re commanded to care for the earth. But because our citizenship is in heaven, I don’t really have a reason to recycle or fight pollution or save the whales. Heaven will be litter-free and THAT’S where I’m going.

3.) It just ain’t biblical.

I’ve already written about how I think God is not going to scrap the world and start over with a new one. But whether you agree with me there or not, the real biblical story does not end with all the saints floating up in heaven. It ends with a new sky and a new land, renewed and cleansed from all sin and death.

And upon that new earth, the holy city, new Jerusalem, will come down out of heaven to be the dwelling place of God among humanity. That old hymn “I’ll Fly Away” should really be about leaving heaven to come back down to our true, eternal home: the earth.

This is what C.S. Lewis was trying to get at with the idea of Aslan’s country. A real place with real walls and streets and trees and running water. That’s where the saints will live out eternity. You can read all about this in the Book of Revelation, chapters 21-22.

In the end, heaven will come down to subsume the earth with “the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel” (Rev.21:10-11). We will live out eternity here, on the earth-renewed, in Aslan’s country, bathing in the glory of the Emperor-Over-the-Sea. And he will dwell among his people and they shall reign forever and ever.

That is why I will sink with my nose to the sunrise. Because that’s my real home: this earth, cleansed from evil, wrapped in the Light of the glory of God. The promise of Aslan’s country.

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Where’s the Hell?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 5, 2011 | 6 Comments »

Well, I’m taking another stab at the throat of regularity. I think it would be beneficial to try to keep a consistent blogging schedule. Even just typing here again feels sweet, like fresh air after an Adam Sandler movie.

When I was in high school, I loved our church’s youth group. All of my friends were there and we were all serious about becoming closer disciples of Jesus. There was a season in that youth group when we watched videos as part of the sermons. Our youth pastor would play for us videos created by a man named Rob Bell. You can check his short films out here. They were beautiful and provocative and in them Bell taught about Jesus, life, personhood, the world, etc. And they would have very terse titles like “Rhythm”, “Bullhorn”, “Dust”, and “Tomato”.

Pastors like John Piper weren’t churning out little spiritual indie films with such esoteric titles. But Rob Bell was. The artist in me secretly enjoyed them, even if I did find his black-rimmed glasses and bleach blonde hair a bit off-putting. What a hipster.

He has written books like Velvet Elvis and Sex God. I can definitely see the appeal from a marketing standpoint. I’ve only read Velvet Elvis (not to be confused with Satin Elvish, my forthcoming book asking what it would look like if Jesus had come to save the Elves of Middle-Earth). I’m sure Sex God is an fun read.

So why am I bringing up old memories of Rob Bell? It’s because that crazy, fun-loving pastor from Michigan has once again parachuted into my world, carrying a painted goose, chanting, and dressed like an Iroquois medicine man. Such is the appearance of shock value.

All playful poking aside, Bell is coming out with a new book at the death of March entitled Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. I’m dying to get my hands on a copy. Justin Taylor, a superb blogger and editor at CrossWay, kickstarted a firestorm last week. It seems Pastor Bell is prone to theological wanderlust.

According to the promotional material, Rob Bell seems to think that an all-loving God would allow people to endure an everlasting punishment. In the end, love will win and all will come to God.

Is Bell a universalist? Does he hold that everyone will one day be saved and reconciled to God, regardless of their response to Jesus? It appears so.

Some would say that, right or wrong, Bell is doing Christianity a service. He’s questioning traditional theology and he’s making us rethink our positions.

Perhaps he is. But universalism fell as a heresy in 553 A.D. Does that mean that it is wrong? The Bible says yes. But according to Bell’s engaging book trailer, it’s much more interesting to say “maybe not”.

Will Bell help or hurt with this new book? Bad theology strengthens good theology. Wishful thinking refurnishes a biblical argument. Mendacious creeds reinforce sound doctrine.

And so, Rob Bell appears to be doing Christianity a service. He will help build up our immune system against heresy. Can’t wait to read the book.

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Jim Swilley

Posted in Jesus, Scripture, tagged , , , , , , on November 15, 2010 | 4 Comments »

That’s How You Start a Monday

This morning, my daily NPR informed me of another stunning story.  If you haven’t heard, a few weeks back Bishop Jim Swilley came out to his congregation that he was gay.  I’ve lost track, but this is probably the 74th pastor to do this in the last five years.  I’m a bit frustrated.

I don’t usually write angry blog posts and this will not be the first.  I’m not frustrated that Bishop Swilley is now a happy man, getting a good night’s sleep.  I’m not that frustrated that his ex-wife is the associate pastor at his megachurch. I believe it’s wrong, but dirty brass needs little inspection when the ship is going down. And you know, I’m not even so frustrated that he’s gay.  While it pains me, I realize that his orientation is merely a symptom.

I’m mostly just frustrated with how he justifies it all.

I’m sick of the tired arguments that attempt to legitimize a homosexual orientation.  Homosexuals deserve love and respect just like everyone else, but their attempts to justify their lifestyles do not satisfy.  Bishop Swilley’s view of Scripture is casual at best, and dangerous at worst.  His view of God’s truth is the indulgent greenlight for his behavior.

Please understand that this post is a reaction not against Bishop Swilley himself, but against view of Scripture and its authority in life.  It took tremendous fortitude to come out to his congregation and I’m saddened by the so-called “Christians” who would turn a cold heart to him or do worse.  That said, I’m more saddened by his approach to God’s Truth.

Following are just three of the problems I have with Bishop Swilley’s defense of his homosexuality.

First Problem: I Didn’t Ask for This

The bishop told his congregation that his sexuality was unasked for, “imposed” upon him.  He of course is asserting the position that homosexuality is a way one is born and not a choice.  Bishop Swilley insists that it was not a preference but an ontological certainty that he was gay.  He struggled with for decades.  He quoted Scripture, casted out demons, and fought against his own mentality to deal what he was feeling.  I can’t imagine the strain that must have put on a young man.  I sympathize with him.  It must have been a hard way to grow in the South.

Now, I’m not going to get into whether or not there’s a “gay gene” or whether or not it is a matter of choice.  For the record, I don‘t believe it is a choice, but that is not the concern here.  For the sake of argument, let’s say that it is a part of his nature.  Let’s say that he really was born innate tendencies toward the same sex. It’s who he is.

Does such a defense justify his desires?  Does it make his wants any less sinful than my own?  I was born with innate tendencies toward pride, lust, and covetousness.  It’s very natural for me to have those desires. That’s the way I lean as a human being.  But those are the desires that I must fight daily, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Why?  Because natural does not mean good.

Geoff Ashley, of the Village Church, puts it this way:

“Even if one were born with an orientation toward homosexual desire, such a proclivity would not evidence the legitimacy of that desire. Sin has radically affected every aspect of our lives and permeates all of our desires and affections and we are daily called to repent and trust Christ for strength.”

Nature vs. preference is a moot point.  Sin is sin and it should not be excused even if it is simply a part of human DNA.  Humanity, in its entirety, is fallen and needs to be redeemed by the Gospel of Christ.

Fun extra: Bishop Swilley, in another interview with Joy Behar, quoted Romans 9:20 (“Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’”) to suggest that God made him as a gay man and that he should not question God’s wisdom in that.  Unfortunately (though I appreciate the appeal of such an argument), that verse is actually talking about salvation.  In the context of Romans 9, Paul is actually referring to God’s sovereignty in the purpose and destination of eternal souls, not in the way God that creates people.

Second Problem: Focus On Your Own Game

In his interview with NPR (which I would highly recommend you listen to), Bishop Swilley quotes Phil.2:12.  He expounded upon this verse by saying that ” your relationship with God is not my relationship with God and, frankly, it’s none of my business”.  Therefore, his responsibility should be simply to preach the Gospel and let the Gospel do its work.  A bishop should not meddle in the spiritual lives of his parishioners.  It is their own salvation that they need to work out with fear and trembling.

I have a problem with this because he takes that verse out of context with marvelous abandon.  Paul saying “work out your own salvation” is not an attempt to steer clear of interfering in the lives of people.  Actually, that whole verse is an attempt to get into the lives of those people in Philippi.  In the same verse, Paul commends them for their past obedience to his teaching.  Clearly, he felt that he (as a minister of the gospel) had the loving right to speak truth into their lives.

So for Bishop Swilley to quote Paul to insist that a Christian’s life is a private matter (including whether or not he or she is a homosexual) betrays a total, and perhaps willful, ignorance of the context.

Third Problem: Jesus and Homosexuality

At the end of his interview with CNN’s Don Lemon, Swilley agrees with the host that Jesus never talked about homosexuality.  Again, Geoff Ashley at the Village has written brilliantly on that subject.  I’ll let you read it in its entirety, but one of his points is that Jesus never mentioned homosexual because it was not a relevant issue in first century Jewish culture.  He also makes a great point about the foolishness of making an argument from silence.

Love and Disagreement

I have a deep and strong affection for the homosexual community.  I truly do.  I believe they are one of the most misunderstood, mocked, and persecuted tribes in America today.  They deserve nothing short of our utmost kindness and respect.

But that doesn’t mean that I need to agree with them where their views depart from Scripture.  My love for them is also expressed in my speaking the truth about Christ and about truth and about the intended role of sexuality in the world God created.  And I welcome civil and sincere discourse.

Here’s to hoping that the angry comments will not descend upon me like a squadron of TIE-Fighters.

Your PB from J for today: “This is true love.  Think this happens every day?”

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Desperation

Posted in Jesus, Scripture, tagged , , , , , , on October 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

The Rangers are playing good baseball now.  I won’t talk about how the Cardinals couldn’t beat sub-500. teams and piddled like puppies on the rug in September.  They played with all the vigor and strength of wet paper bags.  But that’s not important. I’ve already mourned.  What is important is that I’ve adopted the Rangers as my team for this postseason.  I figure, if nothing else, I owe them allegiance based on nationality. It’s good to be Texan.  And the Rangers are playing good baseball.

So why are they beating up on Tampa Bay?  Certainly, good pitching and good hitting are crucial.  But it’s deeper than skill. There has been a crushing dearth of postseason baseball for the Rangers.  They have never won a playoff series.  They have never won a World Series.  When a team languishes in the desert like that for decades, they create their own desperation.  That nympholepsy spurs them on to sharper and sweeter victories.  That is why they’re playing in October.  They’re a desperate team.  And desperate teams fight with white knuckles.

David fought with the same sort of passion.  He wrote a song (Psalm sixty-three) while he was hiding out in the wilderness.  He was living in caves with his thug buddies, blood and dirt warriors who knew how to slaughter men.  Whether David was hiding from Saul or his rebel son Absalom, he wrote psalm sixty-three while in the wilderness.

Like the Rangers seeking a World Series title, like David seeking water in the arid hills, psalm sixty-three speaks about a blood-earnest wanting.

The impetus for that lust is God’s relationship to the poet.  Because God is his God (verse 1), the poet will seek, thirst, and faint for God like a dusty throat in the desert (verses 1-2).  God’s supremacy over the poet generates a serious pursuit of pleasure.

A thirsty man is deadly serious about seeking water.  He understands his relationship to water.  Water has supremacy over him because without water, he will die.  And when he finds it, it will be a life and a pleasure to him.

A thirsty soul is deadly serious about seeking God.  But a thirst must be recognized before any desperation is felt.  And God must be acknowledged as the only source of satiation.  Only then will a man be devoted in his lust of the Devine.  God has supremacy over him because without God, his soul will die.  And when God is found by him, the lovely source of true delight will be a life and a pleasure to him.  And that man will thirst no more (John 6:35).

Recognize your parched desperation.  Have the courage to look for water.  Drink of Jesus and never again wilt for the ungrasped life.

Go Rangers.

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Milquetoast

Posted in Scripture, tagged , , , , on September 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Casual To a Fault

I’m a very laid back man.  That is my natural disposition.  I’m casual about a lot of things.  This helps and this hurts.  I don’t battle with stress.  I don’t freak out about big or small things.  I most likely won’t suffer from high blood pressure when I’m older.  That helps.  But I also have to double my efforts to be disciplined in my schedule and my time.  My casual living can easily slip into laziness if I’m not careful.

Add to this proclivity, I have developed a severe aversion to religion.  The minute someone enforces a dress code for church, a ritual for prayer, or a posture for worship, my hackles rise and I start to snarl.  It’s hard for me to love religious people.  I’m all for Jesus and people who love Jesus, but it’s difficult for me to be gentle and compassionate to people who like to “play church”.

Therefore, I live in a tension when it comes to my personal spiritual life.  When I do my devotions (if you’ve grown up in church, it’s called your “quiet time”), I have it regularly as I can.  I get up early (only due to my schedule; I’m a night owl by nature).  And I go about it casually.

So often, I read the Bible like I read a Ray Bradbury book or a magazine.  Then I’ll scribble down some cluttered thoughts about what I read and then I’ll go about my day of commuting, teaching, and studying.  I think I’ve figured out my main deficiency in this casual encounter with Scripture.

Gravitas

I don’t take every sentence seriously.  I know that because, if I did, I’d have a lot more fear of the Lord, a lot more love for people, and a lot more hatred of sin in my life.  The poet who wrote Psalm 119 had the same struggle.  Verse thirty-eight: “Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.”

He begs God to give His word more weight, more establishment, and a sharper edge.  Why?  The implicit understanding is that God’s word does not find establishment, does not take root in the poet’s soul.  If it did, then he would have a reverence for God.  If the Scripture took root in his soul, he would be in awe of God.  If he took the Bible seriously, he would take God seriously.

Since the poet is asking God to make him take the Bible seriously, it’s safe to assume that the poet wasn’t taking God seriously.  And both God and the poet got sick of it.

The problem wasn’t that the author didn’t long for God’s word (v40).  The problem wasn’t that he didn’t think God’s word was good (v39).  He wanted to obey God’s word until he died (v33).  He even found delight in the Bible (v35).  But it didn’t produce a fear of God in him.  It didn’t produce a respect, a reverential awe that makes a person take life and sin and love and money and words and thoughts seriously.

Yes, he found refreshment in the Scriptures.  Yes, he knew them to sweet as honey to his soul.  Yes, he wanted to obey God’s word.  But he also saw a lack in himself.  He realized that he didn’t take every word in the Scriptures seriously.  And he asked God to change the way he read the Bible, to read it with more gravitas than casual enjoyment and moderate obedience produces.

Please Listen

John Piper has said these things very well.  Here are his answers to two important questions.

What if God’s people took every sentence in the Bible seriously?

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/ask-pastor-john/why-is-it-important-to-take-the-sentences-in-the-bible-seriously

Does the Bible lend itself well to casual reading?

How do you fear God?

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Who Has Soul Possession?

Posted in Jesus, Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 27, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

Acid or Aliens?

Ezekiel is a strange book.  Various perspectives have grappled and claimed it.  The literati enjoy it because Ezekiel eats the scroll God gives him, symbolizing the prophet’s intense love of the written word.  When LSD was the cool thing to do in the 60s (not to be confused with the LDS), Ezekiel was thought to have been prophesying while on a bad acid trip.  Even those persecuted UFO “experts” have taken the spinning wheels in the book to be an ancient account of alien contact.

To be honest, I always put off reading this part of Scripture.  When I read through the Bible, there are some parts that I absolutely love.  The Old Testament sacrificial system is beautiful.  The stories of David’s mighty men remind me of the movie 300.  Jesus with a tattoo and a sword in the book of Revelation inspires awe.  But Ezekiel has been full of visions and slanted jargon to me.  It’s like that kid on the bus who smelled like cat litter in fourth grade.  You just kind of avoided him.

A book in which God tells Ezekiel to bake a cake over human feces as a sign of impending doom for Israel is a bit over my head.  In fact, Ezekiel’s life becomes a breathing illustration for God’s sermons to his people.  God even kills Ezekiel’s sweet wife to symbolize the destruction Israel’s own sin will bring upon the nation.

Can God Play His Part Fairly?

Such bizarre and tragic things make one wonder if God has the right.  Does he have the right to “play God” with his people?  Does he have the right to do as he sees fit with those who are not his people?  If a person is not a Christian, does God have a right to affect his or her life?  Or does he have to respect personal space?

In Ezekiel chapter 18, God says emphatically, “All souls are mine.”  He then goes on to describe the soul of the righteous and the wicked.  The point of the chapter is that the soul who sins shall die.  And God has the right to judge it to be so.  Why?  Because all souls are his.

The person living apart from Jesus Christ, living their own life the way they see fit belongs to God.  They may not be justified before a holy God, but their soul does not belong to them.  Their soul belongs to God.  Therefore, a holy and fair God does with it what seems right to him.

Now already, I’ve turned people off.  If God has fair use with your soul, what’s to keep him from using it to play some cosmic game of roulette?  Does he delight in arbitrarily deciding which soul becomes righteous and lives and which soul stays wicked and dies?  Does he enjoy killing the soul that knowingly defies his sovereign and loving will?  No.  He does not.  And there’s nothing arbitrary about it.

In the very same chapter, God expresses his tender longing for the wicked. “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” (verse 23)

Then God goes on to explain how he is just.  He deals with people as they deserve.  If a righteous person starts to do injustice, he shall die for it.  If a wicked person turns from wickedness and does what is right, he shall save his own life.  “Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die (verse 28)”.  God then goes on to beg the wicked to repent, turn away from sin, and choose life.

So, a strange book sheds light on a strange reality.  The wicked can turn from sin and become righteous.  And they will live.  If they do not, their soul dies.  That’s the reference about hell (a subject no sane or compassionate person enjoys).  But whatever God chooses to do with a person’s soul, he has the right.  Because all souls are his, whether they’re aware of it or not.

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Consider the Tears in Your Eyes

Posted in Scripture, tagged , , , , , , , on September 25, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

An F-15 flyby shocked me from my dreams this morning.  There was a bright flash followed by the roar of monsters that shook the floor.  This went on for a heavy minute.  Brilliant light punctuated by sound and fury.  Then, as quickly as it came, the onslaught slipped into a lull and I thanked God I had survived.

As I wondered if it was safe to go outside and check for survivors, I began to hear the rain tapping a foxtrot on my windowpane.  If it’s raining, it’s much too slippery to conduct a search.  I could hear another air raid a few miles off in another town.  I love waking up to a storm.

Rain Falls Down Like Sorrow

Rain falls like tears, but with much more elegance than the human eye can boast.  There is a verse in the Hebrew hymnal that goes like this: “You have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

That word “tossings” has been translated as wanderings or misery.  It refers to the shifting circumstances of life.  Life on this ball is no static line.  It is a sound wave, etched up and down, now rising high and now staggering precipitously.  The word here is the Hebrew word “nod”.  It’s derived from the same land of Nod, east of Eden, where Cain limped after God cursed him with vagrancy.

Ashamed of the Rain

In aggregate, the upheaval and sorrow of life don’t make for best-sellers in the Christian bookstores.  Any book that has the line “my tears have been my food day and night” won’t be found in “the victorious Christian living” section.  In fact, most Christians seemed downright ashamed and guilty of the dark night of the soul.  We would like to shuffle it under the carpet and stand over it with a smile.

But the psalms are full of honest screaming.  The saints ask and accuse and argue and beg of God.  It hurts so bad to be a human and the poets of the Bible see it through tired, red eyes.  They are not too proud or too embarrassed to cup their hands and show their tears to God to tell him where it hurts.

Consider the Tears

God notices the pain of his children.  He’s a good daddy.  God, like a compassionate scribe, keeps remembrance of where and when and how.  It matters when it hurts.  And as with the sparrows, he is mindful of our tears.  Not one falls to the ground without his knowing it.  He bottles them because they matter to him.

Consider the tears in your eyes. They neither live nor bear the image of God. And yet your heavenly Father cares for them.

Are you not of more value than they?

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Whatever Seems Good

Posted in Scripture, tagged , , , , , on September 24, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

In the river of God’s delights, I am just a waterstrider.  I’m slow and I skim and I straddle.  There are those who dive deep and dance in the ecstasy born from the undertow.  They are the river otters.  They understand depth.  I understand how to swim without getting the top of my head wet.  They understand joy.  I understand survival.

What Seems Good

I’m under no illusion that my faith holds a candle to the greater sinner saints who have gone before me.  I read 2 Samuel 15 this morning. If you’d read the book (or if you’re familiar with Faulkner titles), David has a son named Absalom.  Absalom, after a chain of slaughters and heartache, seduces the hearts of the nation and drives his father King David out of the capital.

As David and his supports are leaving, he crosses paths with a couple of priests who are transporting the ark of the covenant.  In verses 25 and 26, David says something remarkable to them.

“Carry the ark of God back into the city.  If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.“

David essentially says that there are two outcomes in his life that God could ordain.  Either it pleases God to let him survive this coup and returns him to the throne in Jerusalem or God is not pleased and those things don’t happen.  Is David suggesting that God might let him die?  In context, quite possibly.  But even if he is, David sees it as “what seems good” to God.

Let Us Play the Man

I’m a sucker for the wartime narratives in the Old Testament.  I can’t help but see them cinematically in my mind as a type of Civil War reenactment, but with swords and more Jews.  In 2 Samuel 10, David is fighting a campaign against the Ammonites and the Syrians (countries I instinctively identify with Mordor and Isengard here).  Joab, David’s commander, and Joab’s brother Abishai are about to face off against these two great armies at once.

You must remember that earlier in this book, at a different battle, Joab and Abishai’s brother Asahel gets killed.  He was literally run through with the blunt end of a spear.  These two men have been through some serious trauma (let alone the psychological effects of close combat warfare).

As death leers up at them through the enemy ranks, what does Joab say to his brother Abishai?  “Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him.“

Again, Joab recognizes that if God decides to let an arrow pierce Joab’s heart or a sword cut down Abishai, then the Lord has done what seemed good to him.  They’re main concern was to be of good courage (or “play the man” as the King James has it).

The Distinction

So what if God had decided that he wanted to let David and Joab and Abishai die?  What if God had decided to let all those Israelite soldiers by slaughtered?  Would God be morally culpable?  Could there be a blame weighty enough to lay at the feet of a sovereign deity?

There seems to be a confusion about God and what is good.  We tend to think that God ponders a decision by considering two options in front of him: the right thing to do and the wrong thing to do.  And, because he is good, God will always choose the right thing to do.  This is farcical and demeaning to the concept of omnipotence.

Psalm 119:68 says of God that “you are good and you do good”.  That does not mean that God, because he’s a good God, will do the right thing and make the right choice.

First, you must start with the truth that God is good.  He is the definition of goodness.  He is the standard of goodness.  The goodness of God the Creator judges the goodness in creation.  The reverse is never the case.

Because he is good, he does good. This doesn’t merely mean that God cannot do evil because he is bound to do only what he is.  This means that when God does something, it becomes good. God never chooses to do the right thing.  There is no right thing until God chooses to act.  And whatever he chooses to do, that becomes the right thing.  God has done it and so it must be good.

Whatever Seems Good to Him

If God chooses to kill me for the greater progression of the gospel, that would be good.  It terrifies me to type these words because I don’t like it.  Can I say with Hassadah (otherwise know by her Persian name Esther) that “if I perish, I perish”?  Can I play the man and say “let God do what seems good to him”?  Our God is in the heavens and he does whatever pleases him (Psalm 115:3).  God is a law unto himself, but he is good.  He is the greatest good.

I hope I get to the point where I’m at peace with the fact that God can kill me if it will bring greater glory to his own name.  I’m not at peace with it now.  I’m still scared of it.  But, regardless of how I feel about it, if it helps the cause of the gospel, I say with David and Joab, “May the Lord do whatever seems good to him.”  God help me.

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