Serious Circus

My wife and I were at the circus over the weekend. The circus has changed much in the last decade. Gone were clowns with audacious makeup, only one less gaudy, but equally funny, clown remained. Gone were the 3-5 rings as only one ring was used. But what I missed most  was the absence of the tigers and lions. There was not a single one. There were elephants, camels, dogs, ponies, and horses. But my favorites were indeed gone. I was a bit disappointed.

Why did they no longer have them? The danger factor. Even though elephants are bigger, lions and tigers are more dangerous. And in recent times, we have seen several deaths when people lost their respect for these massive dangerous beasts. Just a week ago, I was watching the news and heard about a young woman who was killed by a lion in a private zoo. It only took one swipe of its massive paw to end the girl's life instantly.

What's all this got to do with Theology? Well, just like some people with lions and tigers, we often loose our respect for God's power and wrath. We think of God as cuddly, like a fuzzy cat, instead of the God of ultimate power and holiness. We think of His love as a get out of jail free card, and we abuse it.

Does that mean we should fear God? Absolutely. (Lev. 25:17, Deut. 5:29, Deut. 6:23, Ecc. 12:13, Is. 59:19, Acts 9:31, I Peter 1:17 and others) We are to fear God. Like a lion tamer fears the animal's true power, we are to fear God. But unlike tamers and lions, we are not in control. God is in control. We are given His grace, not to abuse, but to use. But fear is not a bad thing. Just like we fear animals for their power, we are to fear God. If we forget that factor in our relationship with God, we may be fall under His wrath as a careless zookeeper falls under the wrath of a great lion.

Another way we view God is like a loving Grandfather. We see Him as forgiving and indulgent. We think that we can get away with things if we just suck up to Him later, or maybe if we explain how much we want or don't want to do something.

I remember when I was a child, my grandfather was a patient man. He told stories and laughed often. He would tell jokes that didn't make sense to me, but I laughed anyways. I thought of him as a kind patient friend. I got away with far more with him than with my parents. But one day I saw a side of my grandfather I had not seen before.

It happened as we were visiting one summer. My cousin was up to no good. Running back and forth through the house, she would taunt everyone who was at their work. At first, my grandfather played along, but eventually he needed to get back to what he was doing. She continued to come through, but now she made it a point to bother him as much as possible. I was shocked. I had never seen anyone be that disrespectful to their grandparents. She was warned again, then again. Now she would run by and yell in his ear. As I watched, I saw my grandfather tense up as he sensed her approaching again. This time, as she shouted, she was grabbed by the shoulder, and as quick as lightning, ended up face down on his knee. Out of nowhere he pulled out a flyswatter and swatted her defiant little bottom. She was surprised, however I was far more so. This was a side of my grandfather I did not know existed. I saw him but rarely. My cousin lived right next door.

So was my grandfather inconsistent? Not at all. Judgement came only after warning, time and time again. I had been warned by my grandfather about things before, but never had I been disciplined like this. So what was the difference? Well, now that I am older, I am told that the cousin I speak of enjoyed bothering our grandfather. She had firmer discipline due to greater familiarity and more pronounced disobedience.

In that way, God is like a grandfather. He will judge us based on our familiarity with His standards (His Law) and disobedience of those standards. (Luke 12:48) He will not ignore our disobedience. After this episode, I marched to my grandfather's beat of the drum (or bum if you prefer). I knew that crossing the line could result in punishment. In the same way, God judges some as a warning to others. It is not in harshness that He judges some now, it is  in mercy that stays His hand for so many instead. So let us fear the Lord with proper fear. Love and fear go hand in hand. Let us fear the Lord and depart from evil.

Judgmental Jesus

We often see pictures of God in art. We see the wrath of God poured out in the Flood, (Genesis 6-9) the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah, (Genesis 19) and the gentle love of Christ. We see God the Father as wrathful and His Son, Jesus, as full of mercy and grace. How can this be? Do we have two versions of God? Do we see the Father as only wrathful and Jesus as only merciful? Where does that leave us in our Theology?

One of our base flaws is assuming that God the Father is only wrath. The Father shows His love to us by promising a Saviour. He shows mercy by not destroying us. His mercy is renewed every day. Indeed, He did impart judgement upon the wicked, and still does. Judgement does not show a lack of love. Indeed, if He didn't love those who were wronged in these matters, He would not punish those who were sinning against them. God is Holy, that is why He cannot just wink and ignore sin. To do so would make Him corrupt and a liar.

Not only that, but we sometimes see Jesus as the painters throughout time have portrayed Him. We see a gentle bearded white fellow who wouldn't offend anyone. However, even though Jesus was gentle with the meek and humble, He really let the wicked, like the Pharisees, have it. He called them snakes, told them they were the sons of Hell, and chased them with whips. (Matt. 23)

If we look at the book of Revelation, we also see Jesus with the authority to punish and condemn. He is given the power to judge the Earth and makes quick work of it. He is the Righteous Judge, and He does indeed judge. So what changed His mind? Did He lose His patience with us?

In a sense, yes. By the time we reach Him in Revelation He has come to judge the world; whereas in the Gospel He came to save us from our sins. He gives us one option, if we do not take it He will give us the other. There is not an option of neutral avoidance of the matter. We either capitulate or we die. We are on the wrong side of the battle and are given the option to change sides. God, both Father and Son, had mercy to give us one choice before handing us the other option.

So what do we say? Is God just waiting to impart judgement? No, if He were, He would. Instead He is waiting because He does not want any to perish but all to be saved. (II Peter 3:9) God wishes all to be saved, but will not force us to accept Him, instead He asks us to come to Him freely. But be warned, if we do not accept His conditions now, He will, as a Righteous Judge, give us what we deserve. And that, my friend, is not a pleasant thought.

God in Government

Our current president announced in his first term that the United States is no longer a Christian country. Some people were up in arms over this, however, I do not believe that he was wrong. Our nation is not a Christian nation anymore, no matter what the President says. He is right, but he isn't right because he is President, he is right because we have changed so much.

But is it the governments fault that we are not a Christian nation? Some would say yes, some no. It is not the job of the government to tell us what we believe. The government is in place to correct wrongs and protect its population. We often confuse government with society.

Whats the difference? Well, government is the elected group of people who run the country by the book. Society is everyone in that country. Morality is defined by society, not government. Government enforces the rules that society dictates, but it does not, in and of itself, create right and wrong. Even though right and wrong are often viewed differently in different times, this is not the fault of government. It is the fault of society.

To put it another way, we cannot have a government that is Christian. It can be run by Christians, it can also rule over Christians, but cannot be Christian itself. This is the same way a restaurant can be Christian run but does not serve 'holy food.' No titles, rules, or punishments will create a Christian government. In fact, history is full of examples of why the Church should not rule a nation. The problem rises from the Church having to make judgements on those who are not in the Church. This is not only difficult, it is impossible. We are only to rule amongst ourselves. Government is non-thiest. Those in power and those who are ruled may be Christians or not, but government is not Christian or non-Christian.

But wait, is not the government of some countries, say China, a non Christian government? Not quite, it is an anti-Christian government, but not non-Christian. What is the difference between anti- and non- ?

Well, look at it this way, I am not anti-female; that is I am not against them. But I am non-female, meaning I am not one of them. It is a difference between our state of existence and our preferences. 

In the end, our government is not the problem. Society is what has turned from God; our government is only ruling in favor of the majority, just like a democracy is supposed to work. So what can we do? Where do we turn? Do we take back government by force and rule with an iron fist? What happened to democracy? More importantly, what happened to turning the other cheek and suffering like Christ suffered?

We cannot reinvent our government without destroying the concept of democracy. Instead, we need to focus on what we can change: Society. We need to change the way the world sees things in order to have them agree with us.

So what exactly is society and how can it become Christian again? Good question. Society is the opinion and understanding of the group of people we are in. We need to lead it back to God by doing what God did. We need to be examples. Christ was ours, we are to be theirs. Suffering, that four letter word in our world of freedom, is key to this. Christ suffered for us, we are to suffer for those around us. This suffering does not mean we hurt ourselves and claim Godliness, no, it means we take what is dished out to us, fair or not. We do not seek our own, we seek the good of those around us. In the end, it comes back to loving our neighbor. That is what we have forgotten in our world of freedom and greed, we have stopped loving our neighbor. Let us do as Christ did, and maybe, just maybe, we can turn society back to God.