Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Whose truth? Whose interpretation of reality?



I was appalled to hear in an interview with the co-ordinator of Living Wisdom in Christchurch his answer to the question “How does the Christian answer people who are asking ‘Where is God in all of this devastation?’ The answer given was that it is a fallen world and as a consequence of that, natural evil occurs and God has no control over it or any part in it. And then a highly emotive analogy was drawn between the evil of a young girl suffering at the hands of a paedophile and whether that could possibly be considered the will of God.




Evil in any form whether a natural disaster or paedophilia poses difficulties for any thinking person and his/her philosophy- theism included. Even before we decide how to answer this question that has plagued philosophers from the time of Epicurus who famously put the question: “If God is all powerful and all good- Whence evil?” the question must be asked- “Whose interpretation of reality will I subscribe to?”


The answer you give to that question will determine your response to all the rest. As David Riddell used to quip in his courses, “psychology comes before theology”, or “what you believe is determined by why you believe it”. Or as some have said "Intent is prior to content".




There are only two basic answers to the question “Whose interpretation of reality do you subscribe to?” and that’s because there are only two options. Either the God who created the universe is qualified to tell us what is true or we interpret reality for ourselves on our own terms. After all isn’t that what Eve did? Isn’t that the whole problem of the fall?




People are constituted in such a way that when disaster happens we seek an answer. We need to know- Why? We seek consolation and purpose in our suffering. And there are only two sources to draw on for those answers. We either draw from human wisdom or the wisdom that comes from above.




Paul the Apostle enunciated clearly what the Christian response should be: (1 Corinthians 2:13, 14,16) … we do not use words that come from human wisdom. … we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths … It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things…we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ




We must give an answer with words that are given by the Spirit. Where do we find those words? Nowhere but in Scripture and scripture alone.




Before we turn to the scriptures let’s just return to the analogy of the girl abused by a paedophile. There is no question of the injustice of her suffering, no question of the scarring that takes place, the evil that occurs. We picture in our minds a sweet innocent and pure girl that has been cruelly violated and all of this is true but it must be put in perspective. How do we do this? There is only one place we can turn for the right perspective on evil. And that is the cross. Only at the cross can we find the right and true perspective on suffering, and even there we must acknowledge only God has the right to teach us how to understand it, and only those to whom God has given the privilege of his grace are able to comprehend it. Even here God is sovereign.




Who in all of history was more innocent than Christ? Who in all of history had more to contribute (and did so) to the world but Christ? Who in all of creation deserved to live, and not just live but live above and beyond suffering? Yes, Christ. Whose life had an intrinsic value beyond compare? Christ. If God did not spare his own perfect Son should we put God in the dock because of the sufferings of others? Should we judge and criticize his word when it says regarding Job: They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him…and object “but you can’t mean this!” When we appear to let God off the hook by minimizing his influence in a situation are we really being faithful to God? Job answers us again: Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Who are we really protecting when we annul a sense of judgement that might have had a good purpose and subsequent effect on the people? Was Jonah more generous than God when he refused to give his message of coming judgement if the people of Nineveh did not repent?






At whose hands did Christ suffer? At the Romans hands? Yes, at the hands of Gentiles. At the hand of Jews? Yes. At the hands of religious authorities? Yes. Because of the crowd? Yes. Because of you and I? Yes. But while all of this is right and true it must never ever be forgotten that Christ suffered at the bequest of his father- God. … it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer… Isaiah 53:10. Now if Christ suffered- the just for the unjust- at the hand of God are we to deny his sovereignty in the affairs of ordinary mankind? Even in the tragedy of a little girls innocence rapaciously torn from her life?-The sovereignty of God is not silent.




But what fools paradise is it to teach that that little girls suffering had no meaning whatsoever? What consolation is it to teach her that her misery had nothing redemptive about it for her or anybody else? What comfort is it to her to teach her there is a loving God in heaven who could only wring his hands in despair at her suffering but couldn’t do anything about it? We then have to say: All things do not work together for good for those who are the called, for those who love Him- unless those things are under His control and clearly- according to this interpretation- earthquakes and child abuse are not! Who will willingly and rationally put their trust in a God of no consequence, an impotent God? On the contrary people do and have for centuries put their trust in one who they recognize is in control, despite having no immediate answer for their personal suffering and circumstances. It is precisely because of our confidence in the wisdom and knowledge and power and beneficence of our “chief of surgeons” that we willingly put our lives on the table for him to do with us what he will. Even as I say this I wonder what it may mean for me, yet say it I must.




I spoke recently with a man I have known for around twenty years. His daughter is severely handicapped. The care of her is a life sentence. And it gets worse not better. She is mentally an infant in the body of an adult. Strangely (if I’m not mistaken) it is the sovereignty of God in her situation from which her parents draw comfort and solace. Her dependence, their suffering is not alien to God, it is in their understanding that He knows what is best- that they trust, not in their own sense of justice. Put another way if it was up to us and our sense of justice to decide the future of mankind- Christ the Just would never have died for the unjust. As the Lord said to Peter at any suggestion that this was not the will of God- “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. Wisdom from above or below?




Christ did not die because of God’s sense of justice, but because of mercy and grace which triumphed in his death. This raises a question, in fact several: Wouldn’t mercy be a meaningless word in a so-called perfect world, a world without evil? Would the word justice have any anchor or reference point to hang meaning upon, in a world without offence? What of the word sacrifice? Would that make any sense in an amoral universe? As C.S. Lewis puts it a fish cannot know what “wet” means unless subjected to a contrasted reality. A perfect creator must have (according to his perfect nature) created a world most capable of representing his perfections and that is the world we have, one in which evil must come, but woe to him by whom it comes!




Once again in this question of suffering we are thrust squarely back to the suffering servant. But the suffering of Christ was not our idea, not the way we would do it. There is a wisdom that comes from above and a wisdom that comes from beneath.




Elie Wiesel is a Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor. In his most well known piece called “Night” he describes in gruesome graphic detail the prolonged death by hanging of a young boy at the hands of the Nazis. The older men had died within seconds because of their greater bodyweight. The young boy suffered for half an hour.




'… An onlooker was heard to mutter under his breath with increasing desperation, “Where is God? Where is He?” From out of nowhere , Wiesel says, a voice within him spoke to his own heart, saying, “ Right there on the gallows; Where else?” Is there a more concrete illustration than the death of Christ to substantiate God’s presence, right in the midst of pain? He bore the brunt of the pain inflicted by the wickedness of His persecutors- and showed us the heart of God. …In fact one of the most forgotten realities emerges from the scriptures …as Jesus struggled with the burden of having to be separated from His Father… as He bore the brunt of evil. He cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” The incredible truth was that at the very moment His Father seemed farthest from Him, He was in the centre of His Father’s will. God conquers not in spite of the dark mystery of evil, but through it.' (Ravi Zacharias- “Jesus Among Other Gods”)




When we read:according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:… do we rationalize it and say with a big question mark “ALL things?  Once we decide to add some sort of caveat to those words, and I believe many do, the impact of that verse is destroyed, as one would have it, it dies the death of a thousand qualifications.




When we see the Adversary taunting God with an attempt to destroy Job’s faith do we not also hear what is written at the end? They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble the LORD had brought upon him…And so should we be prepared to comfort and console the people of Christchurch- and to some we should also speak a message of judgement and repentance; of mercy and judgement.




(Lamentations 3:37)Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?


(Psalms 18:7) Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.


(Isaiah 45:7)I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster;


I, the LORD, do all these things.


(Deuteronomy 32:39)“See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand.


When it comes to understanding evil, as in natural catastrophes, that which is comitted by others or evil within ourselves- we make our choices. Do we interpret these things through the eyes of a Karl Barth and Neo-orthodoxy, or John Calvin and reformed theology, or perhaps Hegel and Schleiermacher and liberal theology? At the very least we ought to know and recognize that the views expressed by people that we take as “authoritive” are following a tradition that has philosophical influences that are not necessarily according to the truth.


The people of Christchurch are undoubtably suffering, and just as surely some will be asking why? The answers the church should give will take wisdom and discernment. Not all of Christchurch are of Christs’ Church. Will you give the same answer to an unbeliever as the believer? We are assured that even carnally minded Christians are not going to appreciate the wisdom from above. One thing I know is that nearly all people will appreciate someone rolling up their sleeves and getting beside their neighbour whatever his or her persuasion and get their hands dirty to clean up the mess.