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Monday, February 16, 2015

The Cosmic Housekeeper

So, I'm sitting in the adult Bible class at church on Sunday and we're going through John 9. It's the story of the man born blind. You remember the story.
And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. (John 9:2-3)
There were, of course, discussions about this that or the other in the story. But the teacher, at some point, came to this question. "Why was this man born blind?" Of course, the class gave the ... you know ... biblical answer--"so that the works of God might be displayed in him." "But," the teacher parried, "do you actually believe that, without any reason of sin in either him or his parents, God just chose to pick on this guy so He could do a miracle?" I was baffled by the question. Was he serious? "No," he went on to assure us. "This was just a product of biology, a product of a sin-tainted world where a gene went wrong or a chromosome was off and the man was born blind. God decided to use that to demonstrate His glory, but He didn't cause it or plan it."

I know, I know, this is certainly a popular view among Christians today. Some of you are likely nodding your heads. "He's right." Me? I'm baffled. No, I'm stunned. Who is this God? He appears to be stuck with a rotten apple of a creation and is forced to constantly bob and weave and parry to fix problems caused by sin and, well, if possible, make use out of one or the other of these bad things that happen. Mostly, "stuff happens", you see. So God, like a big housekeeper, goes around picking up after our mess and, when He can work it in, puts it to good use. I have to repeat ... who is this God?

The God I know claims, "I am the LORD, and there is no other, The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these." (Isa 45:6-7) So while we bustle about trying to absolve God for this poor man's blindness from birth, God says, "I cause calamity." The disciples understood, if imperfectly, that God could justly have this man born blind as a consequence of sin. Further, Jesus clearly indicated that the man was born blind "so that the works of God might be displayed in him." Now, did God use natural means to have him born blind? Maybe. Sure. No problem. But without a doubt it was God's plan in advance intended to display His works for His glory. Why do I say that? Because Jesus said it.

I know, I know. "Seems so mean of God to make this poor man blind." And, "Very petty for a big God to make a poor child blind just to show off." I get it. But these are all responses of the creature against the Creator: "The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it?" (Rom 9:20). Paul thought not. But Paul was wrong because it is extremely common today in Christian circles. God is obligated to be nice to His creation because His creation is of ultimate value. It's a lie. It's a result of idolatry, of worshiping the creature rather than the Creator. And I find myself guilty of it, too, every time I hear myself say, "I deserve better!"

2 comments:

Josh said...

This loosely ties to this post, but how does unfulfilled prophesy fit into your understanding of God's omniscience and sovereignty. Jeremiah for example describes the manner of death that Jehoiakim will experience, and that no descendant of his will sit on the throne (Jer. 36:30). Strangely his death looks nothing like this, and his son rises to the throne (2 Kings 24:6).

Stan said...

Well, I'd have to classified "unfulfilled prophesy" as lies (Deut 13:1-3). Now, if God was wrong when He said that the true test of a prophet was 100% accuracy, then we're all done. God is not omniscient, infallible, omnipotent, or, in the final analysis, reliable.

As for the Jehoiakim prophecy, all commentators, Christian or Jewish, agree that the 3-month reign of Jehoiachin, his son, was too short to be classified as a "succession" or a "reign". And if "slept with his fathers" means "Jehoiachim died a comfortable death without any bad things involved", I don't see on what that would be based. "Slept with his fathers" merely means "died" and doesn't tell anything at all about the manner of his death. (Note: Jewish scholars argue his own family members threw his body over the wall ... kind of like it says in the text.

Now, of course, we can conclude that these answers are useless, Jeremiah was wrong, and, as such, God was wrong. I'm not comfortable with a God who was wrong. You aren't?