Stephen
Terry, Director
Extreme
Heat
Commentary
for the July 30, 2022, Sabbath School Lesson
"If you say, 'The Lord is my
refuge,'
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no
harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent."
Psalm 91:9-10, NIV
In the 1980 movie by Jamie Uys, "The
Gods Must Be Crazy," a Kalahari Bushman comes across something in his
wanderings he has never seen before, an empty Coca Cola bottle dropped from a
plane by a pilot who had just finished drinking its contents. Taking the bottle
back to his tribe, they try to make sense of the object and attempt to use it
in diverse ways. Eventually, the temptation to own the singular item erupts
into conflict among the tribal members, so Xi, the Bushman, decides to return
the blessing back to God because instead of being a blessing it became a curse.
The movie is the story of his adventures while trying to return the bottle.
Eventually, he arrives at the top of a cliff surrounded by clouds below.
Thinking this must be as close to God as he can get, he tosses the bottle into
the clouds and returns to his tribe.
The movie was a satirical
comedy. We laugh at such naivete even when we blindly believe so many things
about God ourselves that not only are inconsistent but may even be as harmful
to our families, our "tribes," as the Coke bottle was to Xi's. Our lesson
quarterly illustrates the inconsistencies well but presents them in such a
manner that the writer does not seem to realize the schizophrenic nature of
those inconsistencies. The central focus of the quarter is suffering, and the
oldest example of an attempt to deal with the nature of this topic is the book
of Job. Job is unfairly tested by God, who allows the
devil to assault Job in every way save a mortal wound. Job's wife tells her
husband to just curse God and die to end his suffering. Who, faced with great
anguish, mentally, physically or spiritually, has not been tempted to do the
same? Too many have taken their own lives because they could no longer deal
with the pain in this world. Others suffer with rent hearts, struggling
mightily to bear up. Their daily prayer being if God could not ease the pain
they are suffering, then might he strengthen them to endure. Struggling as a
younger man with a wife slowly dying of a chronic disease and my own painful
and debilitating illness, I prayed that prayer myself many times.
Job's friends were of little
help. Like this lesson quarterly, they insinuate that his suffering is the
result of some disobedience to God's requirements. Two things argue against
those well-meaning friends. First, the introduction to the book reveals that it
is the result of divine capriciousness, and second, as Paul says, quoting from
Psalm 14:2-3, "no one is righteous, not even one." Therefore, according to Paul,
everyone is deserving of the punishment meted out to Job. Despite that, God's
capriciousness is evident throughout the Old Testament. He comes across like an
abusive spouse who says He loves us and then subjects us to horrendous torture.
Then he blames the evil on us, claiming our behavior forces him to do it, and
if we would only be obedient, we wouldn't be forcing him to be so cruel.
I am deeply opposed to that characterization
of God, for that is not love, and if God is love then this characterization must
be the lie. God is consistent. The prophet Malachi tells us that God does not
change,[i] but
like the Roman god Janus who rules over transitions between opposites, God is portrayed
as being highly schizophrenic. On the one hand, he is portrayed as merciful and
compassionate,[ii] and then later, he is
killing thousands for offending him.[iii]
If we are all indeed disobedient, how then can anyone be spared? Why does God
spare some sinners and not others? The Bible tells us we are all captives to
the fate he intends for each of us and will be judged accordingly. When others
go about feeling that this justifies their oppression and abuse of others and
that this is felt to be acting in the character of God, I shudder. But I worry
even more about those who seem to have given in to Stockholm Syndrome and
instead of questioning the brutality of it all, begin to justify their captors.
This becomes even more apparent
when coupled with a literal approach to the Bible. If we see the Bible as a metaphorical
attempt to understand theodicy and the persistence of evil, both in our personal
lives and in society at large, we can become the means of relieving that
suffering as the "hands of God." But taken literally, it becomes too much of a
temptation to see ourselves as the sword of God to slay evildoers wherever we find
them, even, sadly, within our own households. Those girls cast out by their
families for becoming pregnant or those boys cast out for experimenting with
drugs know the point of that sword all too well. So many times, that sword has
been wielded against the divorced, those who wear jewelry, or even ridiculously
against those who eat meat, or those who eat cheese. All this in the name of
God characterized as Someone who would keep others out of heaven for such
offenses. Some have even insinuated over passages like Leviticus, chapter 11,
that those who eat pork or shrimp will not be saved because of disobedience. Do
they really think that God will bar from heaven anyone who has tasted these things?
Should they make it, and characterizing God in such a manner may make that
doubtful, they will be in for a surprise.
Jesus said He is the way, the
truth and the life in the Gospel of John, chapter 14. One thing about the truth
is it is always consistent. This means that the inconsistent portrayals of the
character of God cannot be true. If, as John tells us in his first epistle, "God
is love," it is impossible to reconcile that with his portrayal as vengeful,
homicidal, and even genocidal. Jesus did much to dispel those notions in his
ministry and demonstrated it in his willingness to die for people who had no viable
claim to personal righteousness. He killed no one. Instead, he preferred to
suffer his own death rather than bring death to those who opposed him. This paradox
has led many to call themselves "New Testament Christians," because it is
impossible to reconcile this with God as portrayed in the Pentateuch. Sadly,
rather than recognize the error for what it is, an erroneous perception about
God that led many astray, even to the murdering of Jesus, too many apologists
try to reconcile God as portrayed in the Pentateuch with the portrait of God
given by Jesus. It is like opening a package from IKEA and finding the pieces inside
the box don't belong to the same item of furniture yet trying to make them work
anyway. Instead of trying to make a true model of God using all the pieces in
the Bible, what if we were to use Jesus as the model and reject whatever denied
that reality even if it meant casting aside some of our most cherished tenets?
Our world has enough suffering
and pain. Do we really want to add to that by modeling judgment and harshness
based on that kind of a perception of God? There is no denying there is evil in
the world often enabled by people who actively oppose God. What they are opposed
to may be the capricious, schizophrenic, pain inflicting God we pull forth from
the Pentateuch. But no matter the reason, Jesus made it clear in the Sermon on
the Mount we are to love our enemies. He doesn't say we are to judge them, condemn
them, ostracize them, or do any other harsh thing to them. While that seems to
fly in the face of common sense to many who feel that, as Christians, they must
remain constantly vigilant, ready to inflict mortal judgment on others, if
necessary, Jesus gives a remarkably simple reason we are to manifest such love.
He says do it because God does. That one statement shoots down every
characterization of God that says the opposite, even though it may be derived from
the Old Testament. Jesus said, "no one knows the Father except the Son and
those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27) It is not God who
brings suffering, but men, who in the name of their constructed, vengeful god,
bring suffering on others. Jesus revealed the character of God most profoundly
on the cross. Hung there by others who felt they were acting out the will of a vengeful
God, he simply prayed to the Father, "Forgive them! They don't understand!" Some
of these men had studied Torah all their lives but had not arrived at
understanding. Jesus is the key that unlocks everything we need, and by
extrapolation, everything the world needs. And it is not judgment,[iv]
but love.[v]