Mar 23 2008
Our Problem With God
“Why does God let bad things happen to good people?” , “Why do the innocent suffer?”, “How can a loving God let this happen?”…. These questions bother many, both religious and non-religious alike. Many who fall away from their faith quote these ancient ever-present questions. A new book out called “God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer” by Bart Ehrman is about the thought process of one such person who struggles against those questions. I believe the source of these questions has very little to do with Scriptural inadequacies, and much more to do with fundamental problems in our perception of who God is.
Our religious culture has, over time, developed a more warped view of God. I believe this happened parallel to the commercialization of our culture. In an effort to “grow ministries” and “gain more followers” people have tried to make God more palatable to the masses. Instead of seeking converts, we converted God to fit more people’s views. And let’s not forget the culture of televangelist who will say just about anything about God to get you to send in a donation.
In the minds of many, God has become little more than a benevolent jinni (genie) or all-powerful Santa Claus in the sky. We pray to God to get thing we want, or “faith” is our blind belief that God will grant our wishes, and God’s love is little more than a shallow desire that all humanity should be “happy”. This kind of Saturday-morning happy-go-lucky divinity may sell books, but it makes for poor spirituality and perverse religion.
One of the more cohesive points in “God’s Problem” is most theologians assert that we suffer in the world due to free will, but that doesn’t solve the problem of natural disasters and disease. In other words, most of our suffering is self-inflicted and God doesn’t stop it as we must have the ability to live our lives by our own choosing but that doesn’t account for why we have the added suffering from “acts of God”. Why would a “loving God” send hurricanes, earthquakes, disease, etc.
So this brings me to the fundamental issue with the popular view of God: We keep thinking that God is interested in making our present lives better or “happy”. In truth, God’s interest is in the next life, not this one. Our fundamental problem with the “loving God” concept, is that we think God’s love is directed at improving our lives, when in fact it is about saving our souls. More of often than not, saving our souls is takes the appearance of ruining our lives rather than improving it.
If we preach a God who just wants to make our lives better, then things like natural disasters don’t make sense. However, if we realize that God is interested in our souls then we understand that God is often trying to “wake us up” and tear us apart from the material world we so easily become comfortable in. It seems like God is being mean when our houses burn down, or we get sick, or even just loose our jobs, but all of these things are often just drastic measures God has to take to awaken our very complacent spirits. Of course, I would also argue that disease is usually a product of our own sin as well, but that is another blog entry all together.
Let’s just get down-to-earth for a minute. God is God, we are not God. People like Bart Ehrman who just want to whine about how hard life is are trying to reverse roles – asking God to serve us. God’s love and mercy are only understood within the context of the grace He shows to His children who have rejected Him. When we put God in the place of a servant who is just here to keep us happy, nothing makes sense. This understanding an essential foundation of Christian mysticism, Christianity, and just about any theo-centric philosophy all together.
God doesn’t have a problem, we have a problem with God. We want God make us happy, but that’s not the order of the Universe. We are here to seek the face of God, and only when that takes true priority in our lives do all the questions begin to make sense.
“For a time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn’t play Santa Claus.”
- Newsboys, Lost the Plot
It is in this life (the Lord told us) that we will have...
I agree: the problem of evil, given the most popularized conception of God, is a logical contradiction that can’t be resolved.
Also, I’ve had that same thought occur to me – that these days, some Christians appear to have confused God with Santa Claus! I think it first occured to me when I came across “prosperity theology” online.
Ugh…
God is not our celestial bellhop or Amazon.com. In fact, it’s the reverse. We are to be open for God’s use and His glory.
If Jesus, who had fellowship par excellence with God, was open to our Father’s will, then who are we?
As long as we live as carnal Christians we’ll have this “problem”. But once we become truly spiritual, it’ll fall by the wayside as we live fully Christ.
Peace!
Alvin Plantinga’s God Freedom and Evil and C. S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain solve the intellectual problem of evil.
No serious, respectable Philosopher, denies the existence of God on the basis of Evil.
Ehrman, of course, ain’t no philosopher. He’s a Distinguished Professor, but no Philosopher.
I enjoyed reading this except for one thing.
I disagree that my cancer could have come from my own sins.My God brings love not pain
@Judyon
Thank you. Just to be clear, I don’t think all disease comes from sin, but some do. Liver disease can come from drinking too much, STDs most often come from sexual immorality, lung cancer from smoking, etc. Obviously there are always exceptions, but sin does bare it’s own consequences with. And of course, we can get sick with disease that has nothing to do with sin at all.
Poor ole’ St. Nicholas…he seems to get the proverbial “short end of the stick” every time, when compared to the modern “gimmie-god” who we’ll call “Lord Vendo-matic”, as to give a much earned respite to St. Nick. Bravo, on your article. Obviously, we humans, are not God; or I know I’m not, at least. Yet, St. Paul does allude that we are the “Body of Christ”…”filled with all the fullness of God”…”grow to the full stature of Christ”, etc. And that’s just in Paul’s letters, not to mention St Peter’s “…that we are partakers of the Divine Nature”, etc. “Holy Moses!”(with all due respect to Moses). God, in Christ, has made us not only in the “Imago De”, but also makes us “joint heirs with Christ’. That’s is mind-blowing, to say the least. “We have this treasure(Christ and ALL that he is) in earthern pottery, that the sufficiency of the power may be of God and not of us”. Very humbling, indeed! The Gift of all gifts. The devotees of Lord Vendo-matic really have no clue as to who the gracious Giver is and who that Gift is for. These are some of the things I think about when I am prone to give myself a “pity-party” in (dis) honor of how unfair my life seems to be at times.
Thanks for bringing us back to “Souls-ville” when we tend to take the detour on “Ehrman Road”.
Peace.