\tWhen something bad happens, there are those who take delight at looking at the horror and pronouncing that it is a judgment against the people who suffered. Of course, during every hurricane season, this is performed in a schizophrenic way. Somehow the hurricanes must be a judgment against the current administration, or against US policy here or there, or because we tolerate homosexuals, or pornography, allow people to own guns, don’t tax the rich enough, or some such thing. Odd, really, given that Washington DC wasn\u2019t washed away when, say, Katrina hit New Orleans. And I don\u2019t think that one can demonstrate that the majority of our nation\u2019s gay population suffered from what happened along the Gulf Coast, nor, after a quick googling, have I been able to tell that there is any less pornography or less rich people available post-Katrina.<\/p>\n
\tSo if God is judging those particular sins which we might object to, are we going to also argue that God\u2019s aim was off and instead of hitting the guilty people, instead of making the wicked homeless or drowned, it was, instead, a bunch of generally poor, sick and disadvantaged people who suffered in New Orleans, people who were already mostly living on the sucky side of life? God was just drunk or something, huh? And meanwhile, the wonderful people who brought us 911, suicide bombers blowing up old women and children, and sawing heads off slowly with dull knives while video tapes roll, dance with glee and point their fingers, informing us that God is indeed damning the infidel for his horrible toleration of Jews, gays, and uppity women.\t<\/p>\n
You know what? If God is as powerful as we theologians like to point out, and as all knowing as we also argue, then don\u2019t you suppose if he were judging whatever thing you imagine is most vile in American society, that he could do it without causing collateral damage? I mean, our own military has smart bombs that they can shoot down a stove pipe. Don\u2019t you think God\u2019s tech might be up to that sort of challenge? <\/p>\n
\tIn one of the stories of the Bible, Job\u2019s friends watched bad things happen to him and then blamed him for his own suffering: \u201cif you weren\u2019t such a wicked sinner, none of this would be happening to you. Fess up. What have you done?\u201d And the more poor Job argued for his innocence, the harsher his friend\u2019s condemnations of his imagined sins became.<\/p>\n
\tOf course, if we pay attention to what\u2019s going on in the story, we will discover that Job\u2019s friends had a bit of a problem: their theological understanding of God and how he works was identical to that of the Devil. Which should serve as a clue that there\u2019s something wrong with what Job\u2019s friends are arguing. <\/p>\n
\tAnd what exactly is their argument? They believe that if you\u2019re good, then God will bless you and if you\u2019re bad, God will smack you. That\u2019s what the Devil believed, too. <\/p>\n
\tBut you see, according to the story of Job, God doesn\u2019t operate the way the Devil or Job\u2019s friends think. According to the story of Job, even though just about everyone believes that God has a list, and even though most believe that if only they can find it, memorize it, and follow it to the letter, then all will be well\u2014in reality, such a belief is mere superstition. <\/p>\n
So why, then, do we do find lists in the Bible that are very specific about what things are good and what things are bad? Why does the Bible encourage us to behave?<\/p>\n
\tBut here\u2019s a radical question: why do we think this listing of ethical and unethical behavior has anything to do with our relationship with God? Why do we imagine a cause and effect between our behavior and whether God loves us? What was it that Jesus did on the cross for us? Wasn’t Jesus already judged in our place?<\/p>\n
Remember what Paul wrote: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.<\/p>\n
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God\u2019s wrath through him! For if, while we were God\u2019s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11) TNIV<\/p>\n
How many of us have someone in our life whom we are constantly doing stuff for? It seems like they are always in crisis, always having a flat tire, always needing a sink repaired, a computer hard drive defragged. We\u2019re always watching their children, or lending them \u201ctwenty bucks till payday\u201d. We\u2019re always there for them.<\/p>\n
\tBut the first time we ask them to do something for us, they can\u2019t help. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, but I\u2019m all out of cash just now.\u201d They\u2019ve made plans. They are too busy, not interested, or something came up. They are never there for us and they always have very reasonable excuses for why they didn\u2019t get back to us. We find ourselves forever giving and never getting anything back. We wonder why they have no problem asking us for help, while it is unreasonable to even hope for an acknowledgment, let alone a thanks. <\/p>\n
Kind of like how it is when we take care of a baby, eh? <\/p>\n
We get up at three in the morning, but when we ask them to mow the grass, they just cry and insist that we feed them or change their diapers instead. <\/p>\n
Or how about this: our friends that keep a running tally on who\u2019s done something nice for them? If we invite them over, they feel obligated to invite us over. In fact, they have a list of all the things we\u2019ve ever done for them, and they keep a list of everything they\u2019ve ever done for us, and they work hard at keeping the lists the same length. If we do something for them, they do something for us. They are always keeping track, keeping count, keeping a balance, as if they are a borrower and we\u2019re a creditor. They don\u2019t want to fall behind or feel indebted. <\/p>\n
Is that a good way to live? Is that a fine way to relate to our friends? Do we relate to our parents that way? Is that what we expect of our kids? \u201cOkay kid, I diapered your bottom for the last two years, now it\u2019s your turn\u201d or \u201cyou know, I\u2019ve seen to it that you had food three times a day for the last eighteen years. I\u2019m expecting payback real soon now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThat sounds ludicrous, but how many people act that way with God? <\/p>\n
\u201cYou know God, I went to church today, I put money in the offering, heck, I went twice today and that money\u2026it was a TWENTY! Did you see that? Huh? And how about when that guy cut me off. I didn\u2019t cuss once! And you know Jill down at work? I haven\u2019t had an affair with her yet, now have I? And it\u2019s not like she doesn\u2019t want me.\u201d<\/p>\n
So how is it that we\u2019ve decided that if we live good lives and do good things, that for that reason, God must protect us from the horrors of life? Ethics has nothing to do with whether God loves us. He simply loves us, just as we simply love our babies.<\/p>\n
It is superstitious to imagine that the reason we lost the basketball game today is because we didn\u2019t wear our lucky underwear. Or, if only we\u2019d prayed more. If only we weren\u2019t such sinners. Then God would have made us win that game. No. That\u2019s all superstitious too. We lost because the other team played the game better. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s really as simple as that.<\/p>\n
If you build your house on the edge of the ocean, below sea level, it might get wet. If you build your house on an earthquake fault, it might fall down. That\u2019s all there is to it. If you spend your entire paycheck at the bar Friday night, don\u2019t be surprised when you get evicted because you forgot to pay the rent. We make an enormous mistake in imagining that there is a connection between our ethics and whether God loves us or whether we get the blessings of God. God\u2019s love is not dependent on how we behave or act. <\/p>\n
If we\u2019re good because we think God will then be obligated to bless us\u2014then we\u2019re not being good at all and, even worse, we\u2019re accusing God of not being good. We\u2019re telling him that the ONLY reason he is nice to us is because he\u2019s getting something out of it. We\u2019re buying him off, earning his favor. Too often, the only reason we put the toilet seat down and picked up our socks is because we think we\u2019ll get lucky. That is not loving our spouses. That is manipulating them to get something from them that we imagine they don\u2019t want to give us. And so the same sort of behavior, no matter how we might try to pretty it up with spiritual verbiage, is certainly not loving God. Instead, it is turning God into our slave or worse. And I really don\u2019t think God is our slave. <\/p>\n
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