Is God always Gentle with Us? Calling for a Retrieval of the Balanced Biblical View of God<\/p>\n
Sometimes I think I should stop going to church; the cognitive dissonance I often experience is painful. As a veteran theologian I can\u2019t help noticing theological faux pas in the worship services. One example is the common pulpit phrase \u201cLet us build the Kingdom of God.\u201d Nowhere does Scripture talk about us \u201cbuilding\u201d the Kingdom of God and the phrase implies postmillennialism or an amillennialism that equates the church with the Kingdom of God. Most of the time the theological context of the church is neither of those.<\/p>\n
Some years ago I sat in a church service and heard a preacher proclaim the \u201cimminent return of our Lord Jesus Christ\u201d including that, since all \u201cBible prophecy\u201d\u2014about what would happen just before the parousia\u2014had been fulfilled, Jesus \u201cmight return tomorrow.\u201d The point was, of course, to be ready for \u201cthat judgment day.\u201d Immediately after the sermon the worship leader asked the congregation to stand and sing the final hymn \u201cWe\u2019ve a Story to Tell to the Nations.\u201d The sermon was clearly premillennial<\/em> but the song was clearly postmillennial<\/em>. I can say with confidence there were no postmillennialists in that church. When I pointed out the dissonance between the sermon and the closing hymn the worship leader looked at me with scorn and said \u201cOnly you<\/em> would think of that.\u201d Sadly, I had to agree.<\/p>\n Vance Havner, a very influential Southern Baptist evangelist of the mid-20th<\/sup> century, once said \u201cHappy is the Christian who has never met a theologian.\u201d French Renaissance essayist Francois Rabelais said (paraphrasing) that he was wandering around lost in a dark forest with only one little candle to light his way when a theologian came along and blew out his candle.<\/p>\n We theologians find ourselves unappreciated\u2014especially in our own religious communities. That is, unless we can keep our mouths firmly shut\u2014even when we hear egregious biblical and doctrinal faux pas from the pulpit, from the lectern, from the choir, in the hymns, etc.<\/p>\n Now, don\u2019t get me wrong. I\u2019m not suggesting that theologians ought<\/em> to go around correcting everyone all the time\u2014even when they say really ridiculous things. One has to be sensitive. A few years ago, in my home church, a very nice but grieving young woman gave a testimony from the pulpit (invited by the pastor) about how God was with her through her mother\u2019s dying from cancer. At the end of her testimony she said \u201cI still don\u2019t know why God chose to give my mother cancer.\u201d Of course, I wanted to stand up and say \u201cI doubt that God \u2018gave\u2019 your mother cancer; please don\u2019t put that on God.\u201d But, of course, I didn\u2019t. Nor did I correct her afterwards. That would have been a faux pas on my part!<\/p>\n However, it is my opinion that a Christian congregation should at least consult biblical scholars and theologians about sermons and lessons, hymns and responsive readings, etc., from time to time. That\u2019s especially true if there are such in the congregation. Rarely, however, does that happen. In no church I have attended have I ever been consulted by, let alone included in, the worship committee. Very rarely have I ever been asked to consult with the pastor or worship leader about the sermons or hymns. I have occasionally taken the liberty that any congregant has to communicate a \u201csuggestion\u201d about such to the appropriate person\u2014pastor, worship leader, Sunday School teacher, etc. Never have I noticed that my \u201csuggestions\u201d have made any difference.<\/p>\n So, what can I do to express my frustration when I hear something said from the pulpit or sung by the congregation or choir but use it as a prompt for a blog essay?<\/p>\n I long ago left behind the \u201cfire and brimstone\u201d preaching of my childhood and youth. But now, in the non-fundamentalist churches I have attended for the past many years, I rarely hear any mention of God\u2019s wrath or even judgment. Sin is only criticized because it \u201churts the heart of God.\u201d Recently I heard in the \u201cchildren\u2019s sermon\u201d that \u201cGod is always gentle with us.\u201d And I saw and heard, but did not sing, the lyrics of a \u201cmodern hymn\u201d describing God as \u201cold and aching\u201d\u2014the point being that all our language about God is metaphorical anyway, so it\u2019s appropriate to describe God therapeutically. (I happen to know a lot about the hymn writer and I am convinced that is his theology.)<\/p>\n I do not<\/em> want to return to \u201cSinners in the Hands of an Angry God\u201d sermons, nor do I object to using a wide variety of biblical images of God<\/em> in worship. I have no problem with preaching and teaching that God is a gentle God<\/em>, a God of tremendous patience and forgiveness. Nor do I object to saying that God identifies with<\/em> and even feels the pain of<\/em> the \u201cold and aching.\u201d<\/p>\n I do question, however, any implication that all our \u201cGod talk\u201d is metaphorical only<\/em> and that any metaphor that is therapeutic is alright to use of God. And I question any statement that \u201cGod is always gentle with us\u201d even said to children. How would I correct that if asked? Only this way: \u201cGod is always gentle with us when we are sorry for our sins<\/em>.\u201d Even children need to know that God is not their indulgent grandfather in the sky whose \u201cbusiness it is to forgive\u201d as poet Heinrich Heine said when asked on his deathbed if he was afraid to face God.<\/p>\n Years ago I heard a popular Christian song sung in church and immediately thought it communicated a dangerous message. And yet it also seemed to fit with the overall ethos of American non-fundamentalist Christianity. The song was \u201cHe\u201d composed in 1954 and made popular by crooner Andy Williams. Among the lyrics are these: \u201cAlthough it makes Him [God] sad to see the way we live, He\u2019ll always say \u2018I forgive\u2019.\u201d There is no mention of repentance, only unconditional and seemingly automatic forgiveness.<\/p>\n This therapeutic image of God has largely replaced the biblical one of God as both<\/em> loving and forgiving heavenly Father and<\/em> judge who punishes wickedness that is not accompanied by repentance. So pervasive has this \u201cgentle God\u201d image become that it has thoroughly corrupted American Christianity. There are, of course, pockets of theological correctness, but overall and in general, I fear (and believe), the holistic, balanced biblical idea of God has been lost or is in the process of being lost.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Is God always Gentle with Us? Calling for a Retrieval of the Balanced Biblical View of God Sometimes I think I should stop going to church; the cognitive dissonance I often experience is painful. As a veteran theologian I can\u2019t help noticing theological faux pas in the worship services. One example is the common pulpit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n