Been thinking about something the last couple of days.
There's a lot of stuff around that waters down the Way. One which really brings on the wincing is hearing people say "God is good" or "God is in control" when something circumstantially favorable happens.
I mean, come on. The major premise there is a grossly offbase if/then.
If things in an earthly sense are going smoothly, then "God is good".
If life is going without major problems, then "God is in control".
If there are no jarring potholes and speed bumps inhibiting pursuit of the American Dream, then "I'm blessed".
This is such a cop out.
I make a habit of observing these folks who say this with regularity, and they never are saying these types of things when situations of human discomfort or gravity occur.
Never.
Seriously, they are no different than radio DJ's. When the sun is shining "it's a great day here in the city". When the sun is not shining (or if it's particularly cold or particularly hot) they don't say this. Ever.
I have some friends who are missionaries. They left the U.S. a few months ago for another continent. Upon arriving, they sent an email out to their list of supporters, saying "God is in control--we made all our connecting flights and none of our luggage got lost."
I'm trying to understand how God's goodness is tied to human circumstances.
Some of my brewing questions for adherers to this line of thought are:
"Where does God go when things don't go circumstantially well?"
"Where is God when He's not 'in' a circumstance? Does He go hide? Does He go read the paper while sitting on the john?"
"Where is the list of what He cares and doesn't care about?"
"What determines when He is/isn't 'in control'?"
I just don't get this. At all.
Last month ago I came across a video on YouTube of a song played during a worship service. The tagline to the video said "God showed up at the worship service on x date. Worship was really awesome."
Really?
Did God "show up" because it was two guitars and a set of drums instead of an 80 year-old lady playing the organ? How are you sure He showed up? How do you know it wasn't just your own sense of enjoyment because the music sounded like music from today's pop culture? How sure are you it wasn't this?
What types of things prod God to NOT "show up"? Is your church one of those where God "shows up" EVERY Sunday? How objective are you being about that? I mean, if God is "in" your church every Sunday, then anyone who ever visits must become a member, and no one who's a member ever leaves.
Seriously, who would visit a church where God is and ever be able to settle for anything else?
Are you saying God "showed up" for the simple people fact raised their hands while singing? Or is it because they had looks of pain on their faces while doing so (which are expressions of "intensity" when in "God's presence", right)? I'm not slamming this altogether. There's a wide variety of emotion experienced with God. I'm just wondering about some of this stuff, cause I've experienced real charisma and I see the pseudo.
I'm trying to understand the idea God is "in" some things and not others. How He's sometimes good and "in control", and quite apparently at other times not.
Here's my if/then to all this.
If God is present, "good" and "in control" only when circumstances are favorable, then I don't have the faintest clue who He is. And He sure as hell has no desire to hang around me much.
4 comments:
I have been tossing this around for some time...We say the weather is "good" when it doesn't rain and we feel comfortable...So many people associate "good" with comfortable. Funny, I used to be very confortable in my 3000 square foot house with a walkin closet full of matching designer everything, but I didn't know God was "good" till I was poor and on my behind, but anyway.
Sometimes I think people feverishly repeat things like "God is in control' when they are afraid he's not. Like a little kid that has to repeat to himself "my parents love me." Would you have to meditate on it like that if you were really sure?
But I have to come back to "define good". My son was saying yesterday that he thought the T-rex looked evil. I told him that he is just a carnivore and that's why he looks like that. Then he said "well that means he eats other animals, so he's not a good dinosaur"
The problem is in us determining good and bad because we were never meant to do that....That's our whole freaking problem. It's been that way from the getgo. We evaluate our circumstances and God..."God is good" is an evaluative statement. It implies that we have judged and "deemed" him good. We were never supposed to be able to do that.
I don't know, I am beginning to think that living a fully redeemed life is living devoid of this kind of evaluation. Was it "good" for Jesus to get beaten bloody and killed for our sakes? Did he think that was a "good" day? Was the resurrection more a "good" day because there was a higher percentage of people feeling good that day as compared to the crucifixion? I think, in a redeemed mind evaluations of "good" and "bad" circumstances just kind of fall apart. That's my 2 cents worth.
"My baseball team lost the pennant last summer. God must really hate us."
LOL. Welcome, marauder, and thanks for the belly laugh!
I've gone through the serious merry go round on God and sports.
As in, when I was in high school I Reggie White-ish about God and sports, in essence utilizing my athleticism as a platform to talk about Jesus.
Yet, looking back on it, some (a lot?) of what I did and said was kind of whack.
When Dungy made his post-game talk on the field the other day, I had no problem with what he said on one hand, but on the other it was kind of discombobulated. Kinda over-spiritualized in a way...sort of.
At the end of the day I don't know if doing so or not matters. I used to solidly think so, without a doubt, but I'm not of that persuasion right now.
I currently laugh at the notion that God "cares" about the outcome of a lot of things.
Maybe that's because of how cheaply and loosely I think people postulate what God's "purpose" is about every freakin' thing under the sun.
And that's why your comment is so hilarious. Still snickerin' about it...
JTT, you are talking to a guy who holds an annual anti-superbowl party where people get together to not watch the super bowl and mock those that do. So that should tell you something about Marauder and sports.
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