When 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, in the current 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, or some such thing. Odd, really, given that Washington DC wasn\u2019t washed away at all. 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 available.<\/p>\n
So 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.<\/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
Job\u2019s friends watched bad things happen to Job 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
Of course, if we really read 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
And 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
But you see, the reality is, God doesn\u2019t work the way the Devil or Job\u2019s friends thought. He doesn\u2019t work the way that the jihadists or other fundamentalists want us to believe. Or for that matter, he doesn\u2019t work the way most everyone else already believes, either. Because just about everyone believes that God has a list, and they believe that if only they can find it, memorize it, and follow it to the letter, then all will be well.<\/p>\n
But 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
But 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 relationship between our behavior and whether God loves us?<\/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
But 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.
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
That sounds ludicrous, but how many people act that way with God? How often do we think of our relationship with God that way?<\/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
We\u2019re always asking God for help, to make us well, give us money, protect us, keep us safe on our travels, bless our activities, strengthen our weaknesses, give us the words to say.<\/p>\n
And yet, most of the billions of people on the planet don\u2019t respond to God much at all; in fact, we hardly think about him except when we hurt and then we\u2019re crying out for help right away. And whenever something goes wrong, we\u2019re quick to blame him or at least to ask, \u201cSo what were you thinking?\u201d and \u201cwhy?\u201d We talk to God when we need stuff. Otherwise, we\u2019re too busy living our lives and doing our thing.<\/p>\n
God is the lover sending flowers and candy to the beautiful neighbor, who listens to her tales of woe, and then watches her go out with Joe Loser instead. What do you suppose God thinks about that?<\/p>\n
Not a thing. He doesn\u2019t even notice.<\/p>\n
Why? Because he LOVES us.<\/p>\n
He gave everything he had when we were his enemies. We have trouble sometimes doing things for our dear friends and family. Would we even consider lifting a finger, let alone giving all we have, to someone who just punched us in the face and sued us for a million dollars because our face broke his hand? And yet that\u2019s precisely how God operates.<\/p>\n
Therefore, when we start doing things as if to \u201ceven the score,\u201d God doesn\u2019t understand what in the world we\u2019re going on about. He\u2019s already giving us stuff, he already loves us. His question for us is, \u201cHow can you be nice to me, only thinking of what you\u2019ll get out of it? You think that\u2019s love?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI gave you roses, and I made the bed, and I picked up my socks and put them in the hamper. Did you see that? And how \u2018bout this, I put the toilet seat down! So tonight, don\u2019t you feel I deserve to get lucky?\u201d
Does that work?<\/p>\n
Ever? Are our spouses going to be happy with us? Are we going to get anywhere with an attitude like that? Do we know what we sound like when we talk that way?
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. But, if only we\u2019d prayed more. If only we weren\u2019t such sinners. If only we read our Bibles more. If only we had tithed better. 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 spouces. 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 a whore.<\/p>\n
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