Beresheet bara Elohim et hashamayim vaet haaretz: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In Jewish, Christian and Muslim tradition God creates the world by speaking a word. The so called “people of the book” Jews, Christians and Muslims are people who have tremendous confidence in the ability of “the word” to create and to communicate. God created the world and you and me by speaking a word. The power of chaos was and is held back and in check by the word. We teachers understand this all too well. For we too are obsessed by words. We trust that the word has power in it. We open our mouths to speak and assume that the word is sufficient. We choose one word and thereby reject another. We take care with our words.
But, last year in my Religion 110 class I came to doubt the sufficiency of the word. I was giving a lecture on the prophet Amos. And as I was making what I thought was my most important point I looked up to see three students yawning directly at me with wide open gaping mouths. I left the class that day quite discouraged. I know that some students are up late and come to class tired and that the yawns were not necessarily directed in a hostile manner toward me or the subject matter And I know that even if some students are yawning it does not mean they are not listening. And to tell the truth I have observed such yawning student gaping mouths for years. But on that day it depressed me. Maybe there are times, I thought, when the word is insufficient. Maybe I am just not a good enough teacher.
My close friend, Steve Wohlfeil, a Lutheran Pastor and former Campus Pastor at Augustana College listened to my harangue and complaint. He said, with his usual precise and insightful words, “You know Murray, maybe when you saw those three students yawning at you it was as if in that moment the whole universe was yawning at Murray Haar.” Yes, there are times when words are insufficient for all sorts of reasons.
And this insufficiency of words is particularly aggravating and frustrating to the teachers among us. For we teachers, we wrestle with what words to use so that our students will be to hear the questions that move us and ought to move them. What words, we ask ourselves, can we use to penetrate the countless distractions floating around in their minds? We, who have taught for a few years, know very well about the sufficiency and the insufficiency of words. Some days they work. Many days they fail. Yet, we keep at it. We keep showing up. Why? Why do we bother? After all, let’s be honest with each other. Words are fragile and they have failed. They have failed to stop the misunderstandings, the confusion, the hating, the killing and the craziness. All the millions upon millions of words that have been written and spoken failed to stop the Holocaust or 9/11. True teachers know the deep sadness of looking into the eyes of their listeners and seeing some so distracted or broken, that they cannot hear and cannot be fixed by mere words, despite how well or how loud the words are spoken. So, why do we continue to believe in the power of our words? Why do we keep on teaching if so few of our words are actually effective and so few hearers are actually listening?
It must be because we teachers are quite a religious bunch whether we want to admit it or not. Like the God in our scriptures we keep on talking and talking and talking knowing that many times our words will fail to awaken or convince even ourselves. All have ears to hear but only a few listen. The tenaciousness of teachers like the tenaciousness of God is quite irrational. We ought to give up. And some do. But we, who keep on day after day, continue to speak our words despite . . . The great medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides writes in his Guide to the Perplexed, “Ani maamin aaf al pi . . . I believe despite man and despite God. The God of the scriptures continues to make his appeal despite the fact that some have ears but do not hear and eyes but do not see.
This is all to say, that we teachers are not crazy to keep on, day after day, trying to find the right words that we might be heard. We keep on keeping on for there is a mystery to teaching and learning and studying. We are, after all, in divine company. If God has to struggle to be heard and understood, what makes you think it should be any easier for you or me? And if teaching were easy they would not need us to wrestle and struggle for words to speak. Anybody could do it. After all, human beings are compared to sheep in the Bible. Sheep are cute, fragile independent but not very bright or wise. Our words are many times insufficient and many of our listeners are yawning, checking their phones, full of distractions; there are many who will not be able to hear despite the eloquence, simplicity or truth of our words, but let us persevere despite. For we may yet discover that we have inside us a word that will move one or two of our listeners to wake up and to care about the questions that matter. Keep looking and searching and wrestling for the right words. You may yet find a word lurking in your soul that will stem the boredom and distractions. At least, we teachers, like God, must try. In Jewish tradition teachers are called Rabbis and Rabbis are always teaching Torah. And the word Torah means teaching So, my fellow teachers, Rabbis and Pastors keep on day after day, again and again, despite the yawns. Do what you can do with the word and that will have to be sufficient.
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Self Serving Redemptionism: Take Two
In Jewish tradition salvation never comes through death. When the messiah comes, religious Jews expect him to rebuild the temple, create peace all over the world, bring all Jews to the land of Israel, and at that time non-Jews will flock to Jerusalem seeking the wisdom of Torah. For other Jews, the messiah is symbolically present when Jews study the Torah or stand with the stranger for justice. The notion that a messiah has to die in order for people’s sins to be forgiven is very strange to Jewish ears. And I think it should sound strange to Christian ears as well. Yet, it doesn’t. Quite the contrary. Christians all over the world profess and confess that Jesus died so their sins could be forgiven. This view is ensconced within the traditions of the Christian Church. It is also part and parcel of the way Jesus death is understood in much of the American Christian Church.
I am convinced this tradition about the virtue of the death of Jesus is wrong, unbiblical, and at worst, a kind of self-serving redemptionism. The fact is Jesus did not die for your sins, and thank God he didn't!
My thesis is simple. Much of Western Christianity suffers from a rampant, individualistic, self-serving redemptionism. Self-serving redemptionism is marked by a certain faith that sounds something like this: “ Jesus is my personal savior . He died to save me from my sins. I am a Christian because it benefits me. My sins are forgiven. God loves me and when I die I get to go to heaven.” Essentially, Christians who believe this inherently believe Jesus died to benefit them.
And it's clear to these misunderstanding Christians that Christianity is a religion for which you should sign up. Look at what you get! When people talk about or “witness” to why they are Christian, they say it benefits them and it can also benefit the listener. They say believing in Jesus gives them a “blessed assurance” of eternal life." They say that hearing that their sins are forgiven through the death of Jesus gives them great comfort. And they say that they go to Church on Sundays because the Church “meets their spiritual needs.” They stand up and witness to their faith, to what they get and to what you can also get if you will sign up and believe.
This is precisely the self-serving redemptionist sickness that is alive within many Christian Churches. Most Christians, I suspect, are unconscious about their views of the spiritual life. This is their religion. It serves them well. And this is the Christianity being presented to them most Sunday mornings. It is smarmy and overly maudlin, but people like it. Many clergy, more and more, treat their parishioners as religious consumers with varied spiritual needs. American churches are busy meeting people’s needs, giving people choices and most ominously selling a “Jesus” that plays to individual and consumeristic needs. No wonder so many of my students tell me “Jesus is boring.” So my question is: How did the church manage to take a passionate, courageous, charismatic Jewish prophet and make him boring?
Let’s be honest. The Jesus one finds in most American Christian churches has become a product to be effectively marketed and made palatable to the masses, a bargain that one ought to latch onto if one is a wise spiritual shopper for religious experiences and security. Very few sermons today call Christians to a discipleship which involves self-sacrifice or a radical reassessment of the way they live their lives as Americans. The cross, the flag and the mall are not in contradiction. There is no tension between being a good Christian, being a greedy consumer and being a loyal American. It all blends into one well-mixed self-serving redemptionist philosophy with no contradiction from the Church.
Take the average sermon. On the surface, most sermons either address a biblical text or a topic of concern to the congregation. These sermons seem to be willing to deal with the difficult questions of faith. But they really do not. There is no need for the person in the pew to worry. The problem of the text or subject at hand will be resolved within fifteen to twenty minutes. Most parishioners can barely make it through those few minutes without feeling restless and/or bored. Having reassured the flock that all the dilemmas of the text or of life itself are going to work out just fine, the minister then sends the people on their way with their personal Jesus, one who is committed exclusively to their spiritual happiness and welfare. This Jesus is always with you, gives you “peace in your heart," a strong self-image, empowerment, health, wealth and happiness, relief from pain and suffering, and most importantly your own personal salvation from sin, death and evil. Who wouldn’t want that?
In back of all this smarmy-spiritual consumeristic prattle lies the assertion that God came in Jesus to benefit “you.” He died for “you.” He is always with “you.” He forgives “you.” He loves “you.” He wants “you” to accept him as “your” personal savior. All of this emphasis on “you” and “your” needs sells well in a culture whose members are willing to purchase anything which offers more comfort and less pain. And this self serving redemptionism seems to be rampant in the Christian churches of North America.
Self-serving redemptionism is rampant because it works. It sells well. It fills the pews. It creates a Jesus in our own image. The Jesus many worship wants to make them happy. Redemption has become self serving because it fits American notions of what it means to be religious and happy. Self-serving redemptionism is marketable. Traditional, confessional and doctrinal denominational commitments clearly are not. Present day peddlers of church growth and self-serving redemptionism advise pastors to drop denominational name tags since they “put people off.” A person who is “shopping” for a church home, who may have grown up Methodist, then become Presbyterian, may be puzzled and disturbed by a church called Hope Lutheran Church. The corporate hucksters say, “better not to confuse the spiritual consumer.” Pastors are told if they want the Church to survive in the 21st century they will have to drop the traditional denominational designations. After all, they are told, “it’s Jesus we are selling and not the Church.” And so today we have all sorts of these neutrally named congregations, “Friendship Community Church, Joy Church, and Peace in Your Heart Church.” Following the advice of the religious hucksters and peddlers has resulted not only in a watering down of Jesus message but, in fact, drowning him completely and creating a new American Jesus eager to meet every consumer’s spiritual needs.
So, what is the real problem with self-serving redemptionism? After all, it could be argued, it brings people to God and Jesus. It may fill the pews. People come to Church and to faith. But at what price? As a Jew who has an ongoing interest in Christians understanding what it means to be Christian, I assert that Christianity ought not be about what you get but what you are freed to give. I suspect self serving redemptionism happened because the Jewish Jesus that spoke long ago in the Bible was too disturbing to the way many Christians want to live and manage their lives. Many of my students, whether they are religious or not, know the song, Jesus Love Me. They assume this is central to Jesus message. But it is not. The Jesus of Biblical narrative rarely told people he loved them. In point of fact, he was constantly arguing with religious people (which by the way is very Jewish) who were sure they were right and he was wrong. The Jesus in the New Testament called people to be radically changed, to repent, to be freed from worrying and centering on what they could get for themselves.
The Jesus of biblical texts called into question people who were constantly in pursuit of their own happiness and pleasure. And as I read the scripture, Jesus did not promise that following him meant an escape from pain and suffering. Quite the contrary! The Jesus in the Gospels says that those who follow him should be prepared for the sacrifice and chaos of standing with those in pain. And Jesus himself is not able to evade evil. He is murdered on a cross and with his last words accuses God of abandoning him.
This Jesus of the biblical stories did not come to meet people’s spiritual needs. He was a Jewish prophet who came to free people to serve God and the neighbor. All of Jesus' talk about forgiveness and the kingdom of heaven was intended to comfort a follower, not provide a pitch with which to snare would-be self-serving religious consumers. The way it was supposed to work was this: if people were forgiven by God, they no longer had to worry about whether or not God loved them. They were now free to emulate God’s love and care for the stranger. And, as Jesus stood with the stranger and did what he could for the one who was bleeding, so too should his followers stand with the stranger and do what they can do for the one who is bleeding.
A person who believed that death was not the end but the opening to eternal life was thereby freed from constant obsession about disease, death and dying. Freed from such spiritual self-absorption, the Christian was now redeemed or made new, freed to stand with the neighbor in pain. This is what salvation is all about, being freed to do what you can do to stop craziness, evil and injustice wherever it is happening. The death of Jesus was not a way for people to get their sins forgiven. God forgave people their sins in the Hebrew Bible all the time. Jesus forgave all kinds of people their sins long before he died.
For the past two thousand years the Christian church has tried to explain why Jesus had to die. Since the messiah had been killed, it was thought, it must have been part of God’s plan. Various atonement theories were formulated, explained and debated. And the truth is none of them really work very well. One theory declares that God sent Jesus (or God himself) to die as a substitute for us so that God could take on himself the punishment we all deserved. This substitutionary sacrifice theory assumes that God’s justice needs to have some body’s blood to be shed before he could forgive people. The fact is that God is perfectly capable of forgiving people without resorting to self-murder. There is also the victory theory, the notion that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sin, suffering and evil have been defeated. But they haven’t been! After two thousand years, sin, suffering and evil are doing quite well. After all, more people were killed in the twentieth century than all the other centuries combined. Finally, there is the model theory that says the death of Jesus was a virtuous and moral example for us to follow. The problem with this theory is that it gives the impression that Jesus wanted to die in order to show us what a good person would do. But, the biblical texts are clear. Jesus did not want to die as an example for us. He begged God to change the plan so that he would not have to die.
To tell the simple truth, Jesus was murdered. His death was a scandal and an absurdity. His death had nothing to do with the explanations found in the atonement theories. There was no good reason for him to be killed except that Rome felt threatened by him. And Jesus didn't die for anyone. Salvation never comes through death. Christians needs to stop trying to explain why the death of Jesus was a good thing because it simply was not.
For the past two thousand years, Jews have been persecuted and murdered because they have been seen as a threat. During the Holocaust, six million Jews, a million and a half of which were children. were slaughtered and burned in the ovens just because they were Jewish. To me, as a Jew, Jesus death is tragic and sad, another Jew killed just because he was a Jew and a threat to those in power. The destruction of six million Jews during World War II was a monstrous tragedy which no one who is sane tries to glorify, explain, or proclaim as being the will of God. The same respect should be paid to Jesus himself whose death in some ways anticipates the meaninglessness and madness of the millions killed in the Holocaust.
I say again: Salvation never comes through death! It comes through trusting God and standing with the neighbor in pain. This is the message and transformation that is at the heart of the Gospel and at the center of Jesus death and resurrection.
I am convinced this tradition about the virtue of the death of Jesus is wrong, unbiblical, and at worst, a kind of self-serving redemptionism. The fact is Jesus did not die for your sins, and thank God he didn't!
My thesis is simple. Much of Western Christianity suffers from a rampant, individualistic, self-serving redemptionism. Self-serving redemptionism is marked by a certain faith that sounds something like this: “ Jesus is my personal savior . He died to save me from my sins. I am a Christian because it benefits me. My sins are forgiven. God loves me and when I die I get to go to heaven.” Essentially, Christians who believe this inherently believe Jesus died to benefit them.
And it's clear to these misunderstanding Christians that Christianity is a religion for which you should sign up. Look at what you get! When people talk about or “witness” to why they are Christian, they say it benefits them and it can also benefit the listener. They say believing in Jesus gives them a “blessed assurance” of eternal life." They say that hearing that their sins are forgiven through the death of Jesus gives them great comfort. And they say that they go to Church on Sundays because the Church “meets their spiritual needs.” They stand up and witness to their faith, to what they get and to what you can also get if you will sign up and believe.
This is precisely the self-serving redemptionist sickness that is alive within many Christian Churches. Most Christians, I suspect, are unconscious about their views of the spiritual life. This is their religion. It serves them well. And this is the Christianity being presented to them most Sunday mornings. It is smarmy and overly maudlin, but people like it. Many clergy, more and more, treat their parishioners as religious consumers with varied spiritual needs. American churches are busy meeting people’s needs, giving people choices and most ominously selling a “Jesus” that plays to individual and consumeristic needs. No wonder so many of my students tell me “Jesus is boring.” So my question is: How did the church manage to take a passionate, courageous, charismatic Jewish prophet and make him boring?
Let’s be honest. The Jesus one finds in most American Christian churches has become a product to be effectively marketed and made palatable to the masses, a bargain that one ought to latch onto if one is a wise spiritual shopper for religious experiences and security. Very few sermons today call Christians to a discipleship which involves self-sacrifice or a radical reassessment of the way they live their lives as Americans. The cross, the flag and the mall are not in contradiction. There is no tension between being a good Christian, being a greedy consumer and being a loyal American. It all blends into one well-mixed self-serving redemptionist philosophy with no contradiction from the Church.
Take the average sermon. On the surface, most sermons either address a biblical text or a topic of concern to the congregation. These sermons seem to be willing to deal with the difficult questions of faith. But they really do not. There is no need for the person in the pew to worry. The problem of the text or subject at hand will be resolved within fifteen to twenty minutes. Most parishioners can barely make it through those few minutes without feeling restless and/or bored. Having reassured the flock that all the dilemmas of the text or of life itself are going to work out just fine, the minister then sends the people on their way with their personal Jesus, one who is committed exclusively to their spiritual happiness and welfare. This Jesus is always with you, gives you “peace in your heart," a strong self-image, empowerment, health, wealth and happiness, relief from pain and suffering, and most importantly your own personal salvation from sin, death and evil. Who wouldn’t want that?
In back of all this smarmy-spiritual consumeristic prattle lies the assertion that God came in Jesus to benefit “you.” He died for “you.” He is always with “you.” He forgives “you.” He loves “you.” He wants “you” to accept him as “your” personal savior. All of this emphasis on “you” and “your” needs sells well in a culture whose members are willing to purchase anything which offers more comfort and less pain. And this self serving redemptionism seems to be rampant in the Christian churches of North America.
Self-serving redemptionism is rampant because it works. It sells well. It fills the pews. It creates a Jesus in our own image. The Jesus many worship wants to make them happy. Redemption has become self serving because it fits American notions of what it means to be religious and happy. Self-serving redemptionism is marketable. Traditional, confessional and doctrinal denominational commitments clearly are not. Present day peddlers of church growth and self-serving redemptionism advise pastors to drop denominational name tags since they “put people off.” A person who is “shopping” for a church home, who may have grown up Methodist, then become Presbyterian, may be puzzled and disturbed by a church called Hope Lutheran Church. The corporate hucksters say, “better not to confuse the spiritual consumer.” Pastors are told if they want the Church to survive in the 21st century they will have to drop the traditional denominational designations. After all, they are told, “it’s Jesus we are selling and not the Church.” And so today we have all sorts of these neutrally named congregations, “Friendship Community Church, Joy Church, and Peace in Your Heart Church.” Following the advice of the religious hucksters and peddlers has resulted not only in a watering down of Jesus message but, in fact, drowning him completely and creating a new American Jesus eager to meet every consumer’s spiritual needs.
So, what is the real problem with self-serving redemptionism? After all, it could be argued, it brings people to God and Jesus. It may fill the pews. People come to Church and to faith. But at what price? As a Jew who has an ongoing interest in Christians understanding what it means to be Christian, I assert that Christianity ought not be about what you get but what you are freed to give. I suspect self serving redemptionism happened because the Jewish Jesus that spoke long ago in the Bible was too disturbing to the way many Christians want to live and manage their lives. Many of my students, whether they are religious or not, know the song, Jesus Love Me. They assume this is central to Jesus message. But it is not. The Jesus of Biblical narrative rarely told people he loved them. In point of fact, he was constantly arguing with religious people (which by the way is very Jewish) who were sure they were right and he was wrong. The Jesus in the New Testament called people to be radically changed, to repent, to be freed from worrying and centering on what they could get for themselves.
The Jesus of biblical texts called into question people who were constantly in pursuit of their own happiness and pleasure. And as I read the scripture, Jesus did not promise that following him meant an escape from pain and suffering. Quite the contrary! The Jesus in the Gospels says that those who follow him should be prepared for the sacrifice and chaos of standing with those in pain. And Jesus himself is not able to evade evil. He is murdered on a cross and with his last words accuses God of abandoning him.
This Jesus of the biblical stories did not come to meet people’s spiritual needs. He was a Jewish prophet who came to free people to serve God and the neighbor. All of Jesus' talk about forgiveness and the kingdom of heaven was intended to comfort a follower, not provide a pitch with which to snare would-be self-serving religious consumers. The way it was supposed to work was this: if people were forgiven by God, they no longer had to worry about whether or not God loved them. They were now free to emulate God’s love and care for the stranger. And, as Jesus stood with the stranger and did what he could for the one who was bleeding, so too should his followers stand with the stranger and do what they can do for the one who is bleeding.
A person who believed that death was not the end but the opening to eternal life was thereby freed from constant obsession about disease, death and dying. Freed from such spiritual self-absorption, the Christian was now redeemed or made new, freed to stand with the neighbor in pain. This is what salvation is all about, being freed to do what you can do to stop craziness, evil and injustice wherever it is happening. The death of Jesus was not a way for people to get their sins forgiven. God forgave people their sins in the Hebrew Bible all the time. Jesus forgave all kinds of people their sins long before he died.
For the past two thousand years the Christian church has tried to explain why Jesus had to die. Since the messiah had been killed, it was thought, it must have been part of God’s plan. Various atonement theories were formulated, explained and debated. And the truth is none of them really work very well. One theory declares that God sent Jesus (or God himself) to die as a substitute for us so that God could take on himself the punishment we all deserved. This substitutionary sacrifice theory assumes that God’s justice needs to have some body’s blood to be shed before he could forgive people. The fact is that God is perfectly capable of forgiving people without resorting to self-murder. There is also the victory theory, the notion that through the death and resurrection of Jesus, sin, suffering and evil have been defeated. But they haven’t been! After two thousand years, sin, suffering and evil are doing quite well. After all, more people were killed in the twentieth century than all the other centuries combined. Finally, there is the model theory that says the death of Jesus was a virtuous and moral example for us to follow. The problem with this theory is that it gives the impression that Jesus wanted to die in order to show us what a good person would do. But, the biblical texts are clear. Jesus did not want to die as an example for us. He begged God to change the plan so that he would not have to die.
To tell the simple truth, Jesus was murdered. His death was a scandal and an absurdity. His death had nothing to do with the explanations found in the atonement theories. There was no good reason for him to be killed except that Rome felt threatened by him. And Jesus didn't die for anyone. Salvation never comes through death. Christians needs to stop trying to explain why the death of Jesus was a good thing because it simply was not.
For the past two thousand years, Jews have been persecuted and murdered because they have been seen as a threat. During the Holocaust, six million Jews, a million and a half of which were children. were slaughtered and burned in the ovens just because they were Jewish. To me, as a Jew, Jesus death is tragic and sad, another Jew killed just because he was a Jew and a threat to those in power. The destruction of six million Jews during World War II was a monstrous tragedy which no one who is sane tries to glorify, explain, or proclaim as being the will of God. The same respect should be paid to Jesus himself whose death in some ways anticipates the meaninglessness and madness of the millions killed in the Holocaust.
I say again: Salvation never comes through death! It comes through trusting God and standing with the neighbor in pain. This is the message and transformation that is at the heart of the Gospel and at the center of Jesus death and resurrection.
Thursday, April 9, 2015
God, Suffering and Evil: Part Five and Conclusion
Part Five
The Future: In this particular view unjust suffering and evil are happening all the time. They are part of life and will always be a part of life. But, this view asserts: One day, in the future, God will come and defeat the power of evil. When this will happen is known only to God. In the Jewish tradition some Jews hold that a messiah (anointed one) will come to inaugurate a time of peace throughout the world. They hope that time will be soon. Until that time arrives we are called upon to do Torah each and every day and to wait with patient impatience for God to act. For some, a part of this hope in the future is that while evil is real in our time, in the afterlife, that is in heaven and in hell, everyone will get what they deserve. The advantage of this response to undeserved suffering/evil is that it gives people hope that the pain they are presently experiencing, regardless of what it is, will not last forever. God is real and one day soon God will come and deliver his people and radically change the way the world works. One day the people who have done evil will get their just rewards.
The problem with this view is that while God delays, people pay everyday with the hours and days of their lives. The fact is, some will say, it is too late for Messiahs. Too much unjustified, pain, suffering and evil has occurred in the past two thousand years. These people argue that there is no such thing as a Messiah. No one is coming to save us and waiting around for such a person is a waste of time. Waiting for justice in the afterlife is wishful thinking. We are each better off getting to work and doing what we can where we are to resist suffering and evil. To the extent we do that, we will be the Messiah wherever we live. I am reminded of a comment by Elie Wiesel when he visited Augustana some years ago, that the greatest enemy of the Jews in the concentration camps was hope. They hoped that God would never allow them and their children to be burned in the ovens by the Nazis. They were wrong. The hope for the future works and it does not work.
Strength and Company: This response asserts that unjust absurd suffering and evil are part of life. There is moral and natural evil. The first is caused by human beings. The latter is part of the nature of nature. When God decided to create a world of matter, this world is what you get. God is not able or willing to extricate us from the injustice of our situation. And extrication or salvation is not what God does. What does God do? God gives us strength and courage to endure whatever life brings us. Not only that, God accompanies us through all we have to go through. We are not alone. God is with us. Many people speak of having survived all sorts of suffering and evil because God gave them the wherewithal to walk through the pain and survive. To listen to these stories is to believe the sincerity of the tales. To these people God is real and a present reality. The problem with this view is that there are many persons who go through terrible tragic suffering and either do not survive, or are so damaged by what has happened to them that the rest of their lives are a tortured existence. Many Jews in the concentration camps when asked how they happened to survive will testify that they survived by luck or chance alone. These people even those who were religious, speak of experiencing the silence or hiddeness of God. Many did not have the strength or courage to keep going and they did not feel accompanied. In fact, they questioned and accused God of being indifferent. It appears then that this experience of God is at best inconsistent for some mysterious reason or at worst,wishful thinking. Either way, speaking of God in any reasonable way is problematic. Being accompanied and strengthened by God works and does not work.
Conclusion
There are certainly many variations and modifications for each of these responses but none that has resolved the tension. There are two temptations I struggle to avoid in this situation. I diligently try not to retreat back into my religious tradition in order to hide from the questions. The fact is: God has become problematic. Maybe God was always problematic but we ought not run away from the truth. Whatever God is about is the truth. Faith, prayer and devotion are fine but they are not a medication that reduces the importance of the questions. On the other hand, I am trying to not reject my tradition and capitulate to the cultural notion that there is no God.
So, where to from here.? From a Jewish perspective, we will need to realize that all human language is insufficient. Why so? Because the word, “God” points to that which we cannot control or define. Of course, we will use language but all our words, as the words of our various Bibles, are inevitably inadequate. When we recognize this fact we will be eager to examine and listen to each other’s religious traditions and explanations with humility, in the hope of gleaning some wisdom.
Having said all this it needs to be asserted that for most people it is not easy to live in the tension between modernity and their religious tradition. It has certainly not been easy for me. I have to admit that I continue to “hope against hope” there is a God who in some way is monitoring and interacting with what happens on this earth. And I ask myself why? Why do you so badly want there to be a God? Maybe it is ultimately fear. To think of the world as it is, with all its daily suffering, evil and craziness, being under the purposeful gaze of a God is frightening. To think about such a world without a God is even more frightening.
The Future: In this particular view unjust suffering and evil are happening all the time. They are part of life and will always be a part of life. But, this view asserts: One day, in the future, God will come and defeat the power of evil. When this will happen is known only to God. In the Jewish tradition some Jews hold that a messiah (anointed one) will come to inaugurate a time of peace throughout the world. They hope that time will be soon. Until that time arrives we are called upon to do Torah each and every day and to wait with patient impatience for God to act. For some, a part of this hope in the future is that while evil is real in our time, in the afterlife, that is in heaven and in hell, everyone will get what they deserve. The advantage of this response to undeserved suffering/evil is that it gives people hope that the pain they are presently experiencing, regardless of what it is, will not last forever. God is real and one day soon God will come and deliver his people and radically change the way the world works. One day the people who have done evil will get their just rewards.
The problem with this view is that while God delays, people pay everyday with the hours and days of their lives. The fact is, some will say, it is too late for Messiahs. Too much unjustified, pain, suffering and evil has occurred in the past two thousand years. These people argue that there is no such thing as a Messiah. No one is coming to save us and waiting around for such a person is a waste of time. Waiting for justice in the afterlife is wishful thinking. We are each better off getting to work and doing what we can where we are to resist suffering and evil. To the extent we do that, we will be the Messiah wherever we live. I am reminded of a comment by Elie Wiesel when he visited Augustana some years ago, that the greatest enemy of the Jews in the concentration camps was hope. They hoped that God would never allow them and their children to be burned in the ovens by the Nazis. They were wrong. The hope for the future works and it does not work.
Strength and Company: This response asserts that unjust absurd suffering and evil are part of life. There is moral and natural evil. The first is caused by human beings. The latter is part of the nature of nature. When God decided to create a world of matter, this world is what you get. God is not able or willing to extricate us from the injustice of our situation. And extrication or salvation is not what God does. What does God do? God gives us strength and courage to endure whatever life brings us. Not only that, God accompanies us through all we have to go through. We are not alone. God is with us. Many people speak of having survived all sorts of suffering and evil because God gave them the wherewithal to walk through the pain and survive. To listen to these stories is to believe the sincerity of the tales. To these people God is real and a present reality. The problem with this view is that there are many persons who go through terrible tragic suffering and either do not survive, or are so damaged by what has happened to them that the rest of their lives are a tortured existence. Many Jews in the concentration camps when asked how they happened to survive will testify that they survived by luck or chance alone. These people even those who were religious, speak of experiencing the silence or hiddeness of God. Many did not have the strength or courage to keep going and they did not feel accompanied. In fact, they questioned and accused God of being indifferent. It appears then that this experience of God is at best inconsistent for some mysterious reason or at worst,wishful thinking. Either way, speaking of God in any reasonable way is problematic. Being accompanied and strengthened by God works and does not work.
Conclusion
There are certainly many variations and modifications for each of these responses but none that has resolved the tension. There are two temptations I struggle to avoid in this situation. I diligently try not to retreat back into my religious tradition in order to hide from the questions. The fact is: God has become problematic. Maybe God was always problematic but we ought not run away from the truth. Whatever God is about is the truth. Faith, prayer and devotion are fine but they are not a medication that reduces the importance of the questions. On the other hand, I am trying to not reject my tradition and capitulate to the cultural notion that there is no God.
So, where to from here.? From a Jewish perspective, we will need to realize that all human language is insufficient. Why so? Because the word, “God” points to that which we cannot control or define. Of course, we will use language but all our words, as the words of our various Bibles, are inevitably inadequate. When we recognize this fact we will be eager to examine and listen to each other’s religious traditions and explanations with humility, in the hope of gleaning some wisdom.
Having said all this it needs to be asserted that for most people it is not easy to live in the tension between modernity and their religious tradition. It has certainly not been easy for me. I have to admit that I continue to “hope against hope” there is a God who in some way is monitoring and interacting with what happens on this earth. And I ask myself why? Why do you so badly want there to be a God? Maybe it is ultimately fear. To think of the world as it is, with all its daily suffering, evil and craziness, being under the purposeful gaze of a God is frightening. To think about such a world without a God is even more frightening.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
God, Suffering and Evil: Part Four
The Test: There are any number of texts that speak of God as someone who tests people’s faith by bringing suffering or evil into their lives to see how they will respond and/or to make their faith stronger. This response is built on the notion that the true sign and strength of faith lies when it is challenged and perseveres despite. As is said by so many, “No pain, no gain.” People who go through these tests of faith testify to how much their faith has been strengthened by having endured their pain and yet continued to believe. Martyrs of the faith are seen by many as having endured suffering, evil and even death for the sake of maintaining their trust in God. We must concur that for some people “the test” works. But not for everyone. First of all, how can we tell when we are being tested and when we are suffering for another reason? And why is it that some who are tested do not come through well, but rather lose their faith? Finally, why do some seem to be tested constantly while other s live most of their lives with very few if any tests? “The test” seems to be a contrived explanation that excuses God from taking care of indiscriminate and unjustified suffering and evil. The test works and it does not work.
The Plan: This may be the most popular response given in the Biblical text. The impression given is that everything that happens, happens for a reason. It is part of the plan of God. This response goes on to explain that we may not understand why a particular pain, suffering or evil is occurring but we should be assured that it is all part of God’s mysterious plan. We are further assured that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. We cannot understand the greater, larger, deeper, more wonderful meaning of the event but rest assured God is in control. Many people believe in this response because they believe that God is a mystery and acts in mysterious ways that we, with our smaller minds, cannot understand. We must admit that this response works for some. Human beings are comforted by the sense that whatever is happening to them, be it cancer, a heart attack, war, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc . . .is somehow ordained by a mysterious deity and there is nothing they can do. They should surrender and endure because after all, it is the will of God and his will be done. And the Biblical text itself seems to live in the tension between, on the one hand, depicting human beings as creatures with free will and at the very same time, depicting God as in control of history.
The problem with “the plan” comforting as it may be, is that it makes God into an arbitrary monster. Under “the plan” God sits in the sky handing out diseases and accidents of all sorts, wars, natural disasters, broken legs, and absurd suffering and evil. God supposedly does this because God has the plan which supposedly will eventuate in some grand outcome we cannot perceive nor understand. But, why should we worship a God who, as part of his plan, decides that millions of people must be killed? A God who commits evil in the name of a secret plan no longer deserves our worship.
The far more serious problem with “the plan” is that ultimately it is not true to the Biblical text. In the Bible, everything that happens is not the will of God. God is pictured as fighting against evil and suffering. God is pictured as being frustrated by human decisions. God, sometimes, has to modify his plans because humans have made certain decisions. Death, suffering and evil are part of life but they are, for the most part, not depicted as being the will of God. People who are sick and suffering are healed of their diseases. Yes, it may be that God has a purpose but he is not pictured as having planned out every bit of suffering and evil that befalls us. The Plan works and it does not work.
The Plan: This may be the most popular response given in the Biblical text. The impression given is that everything that happens, happens for a reason. It is part of the plan of God. This response goes on to explain that we may not understand why a particular pain, suffering or evil is occurring but we should be assured that it is all part of God’s mysterious plan. We are further assured that our thoughts are not God’s thoughts. We cannot understand the greater, larger, deeper, more wonderful meaning of the event but rest assured God is in control. Many people believe in this response because they believe that God is a mystery and acts in mysterious ways that we, with our smaller minds, cannot understand. We must admit that this response works for some. Human beings are comforted by the sense that whatever is happening to them, be it cancer, a heart attack, war, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc . . .is somehow ordained by a mysterious deity and there is nothing they can do. They should surrender and endure because after all, it is the will of God and his will be done. And the Biblical text itself seems to live in the tension between, on the one hand, depicting human beings as creatures with free will and at the very same time, depicting God as in control of history.
The problem with “the plan” comforting as it may be, is that it makes God into an arbitrary monster. Under “the plan” God sits in the sky handing out diseases and accidents of all sorts, wars, natural disasters, broken legs, and absurd suffering and evil. God supposedly does this because God has the plan which supposedly will eventuate in some grand outcome we cannot perceive nor understand. But, why should we worship a God who, as part of his plan, decides that millions of people must be killed? A God who commits evil in the name of a secret plan no longer deserves our worship.
The far more serious problem with “the plan” is that ultimately it is not true to the Biblical text. In the Bible, everything that happens is not the will of God. God is pictured as fighting against evil and suffering. God is pictured as being frustrated by human decisions. God, sometimes, has to modify his plans because humans have made certain decisions. Death, suffering and evil are part of life but they are, for the most part, not depicted as being the will of God. People who are sick and suffering are healed of their diseases. Yes, it may be that God has a purpose but he is not pictured as having planned out every bit of suffering and evil that befalls us. The Plan works and it does not work.
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