God's Wrath?

As I write, hurricane Katrina is unleashing her full force on the southern US and Christians throughout the country are ready to respond. For many this response will be to provide aid to those who are suffering. For some others it will be to actually go and help feed, clothe and support the people who have been hurt the most by this disaster. Yet another response is brewing in the Church coffee houses, fellowship halls, Sunday school classes and blogs across the country: the assigning of blame. Specifically the question of what New Orleans might have done to bring about God's wrath in such a profound way. Was it Mardi Gras, bourbon street, or their tolerance of it all? It is this response that I want to think about for a moment.

I have often wondered why Christians have continued to hold onto the myth that bad things only happen to bad people. Many of our pop culture theologies hold this view high and take it to the other side, claiming that only good things will happen to the Godly. You can hear these preachers and teachers claiming that if you just envision it, or tithe for it God is obligated to give it to you, no matter what "it" may be, bad stuff is only for the weak of faith. The Bible has much to say that is contrary to this, of course, but that is often ignored in favor of feel-goodism. For example Job is called "blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil" (Job 1:1b) Yet in one day he loses his wealth, his servants, and his children. Job's wife has some advise for him after he is filled with physical illness: "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!" Her view is that her husband must have done something wrong and his disasters and illness are the proof of this opinion to her mind. Later, Jobs friends come to him and say things like: "if you are pure and upright, even now he (God) will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place." (Job 8:6) In other words those around Job saw that he was in suffering and concluded that it must be his fault, that there must have been some sin he needed to confess so that God would forgive and restore him. But as the reader discovers in chapter 42 God is angry with those friends for their foolish words and he asks Job to pray for them. In this book the world behaves differently then we would expect it to. There is an acknowledgement that evil can occur to anyone, even those who are righteous. Evil is not seen in Job's life as a punishment for sin but as an event that he must learn to trust God in.

For an even better example of suffering entering the life of the righteous one need only look to the founding doctrines of the New Testament church! Jesus Christ the sinless Son of God is beaten, crucified and killed. Not just in this does Jesus face evil however, throughout his ministry Jesus is lied about, falsely accused and attacked. Yet not once did he sin. How can one look at the life of Christ and believe that evil can not fall on the righteous as well as the unrighteous?

Simple, it is easy to generalize. It is easier to find reasons, even false ones, where there seem to be none, then to say "I don't know". We like to feel in control and that we can do or act certain ways and that those actions will make us happy, prolong our life, etc. Fear of the unknown, unpredictable, parts of life still scare us. If we can find some reason for the destruction elsewhere we can feel safer here because we are not like that.

I can no longer live that way. It is not just that I live in tornado alley (a prime place for "weather events"), or that I have had cancer, it is instead a sense of how God desires me to react to those he created and gave his son for. I believe that I am to love others, no matter how hard they are to love, no matter if I failed to love them very well today, God wants me to be constantly about loving people. If I am spending my time deciding why they got hit with a storm, or any other disaster, I can not love them.

Besides, if I am loving others as Christ loves them I may be in store for some storms of my own!

You have got to be kidding me!

Last night I was, as is my privilege as a man, flipping through the channels. This is still an enjoyable process because I do not have that digital cable lag time in flipping (of course I also have very few channels to flip through). As I was flipping I paused on one of the religious stations here in the metroplex and watched for a minute or so, until I could take it no more.

What upset me you ask. Was it the pleas for money? The playing on emotions instead of relying on God's Word? The reduction of God to a "joy vending machine" that the faithful can use at need and ignore the rest of their lives? No, no and no. Though each of these often earns a rant from me directed at the television (seriously...Just ask Suzi). This time however, something so ridiculous was occurring that I truly did not know how to react! I was flabbergasted and merely pointed at the screen, asking Suzi if she had heard what I had. Unfortunately she had. So if you think you are ready read on.

The man speaking was in the midst of lamenting the way America was going, specifically he was concerned with the way America was no longer a Christian nation. He said that the solution to America losing touch with it's Christian heritage was for you and I to join his Political Action Committee so that he and his associates could advocate for Christian legislation! His plan to turn America back to God is to legislate the USA. Not evangelism, not introducing unbelievers to Christ and cultivating the faith of new Christians, that is too radical. No, the way to turn America back to God is through the legislative branch. After all who can forget the words of Christ when he gave us the great commission: All authority in congress has been given to me, therefore go and pass laws that will cause men to honor me with their lips even when their hearts are far from me. Passing them through the legislative, executive and judicial branches; knowing they will be with you always if you pass a constitutional amendment.

Is this really were we are in America? Have we lost sight of our mission so badly that we will accept anything as long as it mentions God? In case his plan appeals to you let me remind you of the actual text of Matthew 28:18-20: Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

If you are concerned that America is far from God, good! Now do something useful about it! Don't fall for this idea that if we pass the right laws the country will become a beacon of Christianity, instead put that passion and energy into the place God intended it it to go: evangelism! The way America, or any nation, becomes Christian is that the majority of the people are Christian. Not the laws are Christian or the ten commandments hang in every public building. Imagine for a moment the type of country that would exist if evangelism were winning the day. That country would not need Christian PACs, it would need more pews. That is the America I want to see, what about you?

Witnessing like Bono

I remember back in high school a friend of mine showing me a CD entitled The Joshua Tree by U2. "They were almost a Christian band Adam, you'll like them." (I did, in fact, like them and thought that the song I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For was the most powerful song about the search for meaning in this world I had ever heard) But ever since Chris uttered that sentence to me I have been aware of a very intense debate about the true spiritual state of this band and more specifically it's front man, Bono.

Bono's liberal politics, occasional slips of the tongue and general rock star attitude sometimes obscure some of his other traits. He has been active in AIDS relief in Africa, been married 23 years (a great achievement in the Rock community) and openly claims to be a Christian. So the debate rages on, is Bono a Christian? For me, I need to look at the whole person and their beliefs. While the temptation is to judge someone based on their most recent or public action the truth is that is seldom who the person really is and so it is with Bono. Today I came across this blog on the World Magazine website that contained some of an interview from a new book about Bono. The most important section is copied below.


"...I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge," says Bono. "It doesn't excuse my mistakes, but I'm holding out for Grace. I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, because I know who I am, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity."
Then the interviewer marvels, "The Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. I wish I could believe in that."
"The point of the death of Christ is that Christ took on the sins of the world, so that what we put out did not come back to us, and that our sinful nature does not reap the obvious death," replies Bono. "It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of Heaven."
The interviewer marvels some more: "That's a great idea, no denying it. Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has His rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?"
Bono comes back, "Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: He was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says, No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: 'I'm the Messiah.' I'm saying: 'I am God incarnate.' . . . So what you're left with is either Christ was who He said He was the Messiah or a complete nutcase. . . . The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me that's farfetched." (For the entire blog go to: http://www.worldmag.com/subscriber/displayarticle.cfm?id=10892)

Wow. That was a rock star folks! He was being interviewed for a book and spent some time witnessing to the reporter (and everyone who reads the book)!!!!!!!!! It is funny, if this were a teacher, lawyer, stockboy or mechanic we would rejoice about how he has put his faith out there like that, but will we rejoice for Bono? Will some in the Christian community continue to focus only on sin that God can, and does, forgive in Bono's life? Maybe. Why? I think it is because we have expectations for famous Christians that we don't even have for ourselves. We feel that they have been given a platform that is so great they are obligated to speak louder then anyone for God, possibly. Heck, that may even be true and the reason Bon is famous. After all, when was the last time you heard someone you met share Christ that simply and powerfully with you?

Yeah, me either.