What is your basic concept of God? Do you think of Him as far away, secluded in
heaven, and isolated from the evils of this corrupt world? Are your sins intolerable to a holy God? Do you wonder how He could love you?
Such theology is old.
It is common in many religions, including several that influenced the Israelites
at the various times the Bible was written and canonized. This belief requires a holy and pure god to remain
separate from everything unholy and impure.
Religious rituals bridge the gap to allow at least partial access and
the hope of answered prayers.
The Bible regularly references such ideas. One of the favorite “proof” texts is Habakkuk
1:13a “Your eyes are too pure to look on
evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” (NIV) However,
that passage is immediately followed by “Why
then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why
are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
The Hebrew word translated “tolerate” has the same base as “look
on.” God does see. He sees every sin, every evil. Yet, He lets it happen. This is God’s normal behavior. He did not stop the serpent from entering the
garden. He did not hinder Abel from
going into the field with Cain. He did
not blind David to the beauty of Bathsheba.
This inaction leads theologians to deduce segregation. Sin repels God so much that He cannot
interact with people. Then, to repress
the growth of sin in a society, God suddenly resorts to extreme anger and
violence from a distance.
Where is the justice in that scenario? Where is God’s love?
The problem actually begins with the first assessment of
God. For humans to remain pure, we must separate
ourselves physically and emotionally from things that pollute our endeavor to
remain pure. Mingling that into theology
is wrong. It remakes God into our image.
Nothing we do sullies God’s holiness or His purity. This imperfect world is His creation. If He is everywhere, then He interacts with
every particle of every atom throughout the entire universe. He even controls the space between. “Everywhere” includes the most evil humans
that ever existed. He was with them as
they made their plans and committed their crimes. God was with them as they murdered good
people. God was right there. “Everywhere” also includes you and me. He is with us when we sin. We cannot hide.
That concept makes our head spin. We do not want God to hang out with evil
people. We do not want God to know when
we are bad. Yet, that is what the Bible
teaches. God knows our vile thoughts
because He is with us. That intimacy is
why sin makes God sad or angry. He is
right there as we deliberately choose to do something wrong.
We ask, “Why would God subject Himself to such horrors? Why doesn’t He just take away sin?”
The answer is simple: because He loves us. If God destroyed sin then no human could
exist, because we all sin. If God never
gave humans the capability to sin, then we would not have the God-like ability
to choose between good and evil. Giving
us free will was God’s plan from the beginning.
He gave us the choice to act like Him, or not. He wants our love freely given, and love
cannot be forced.
God did not set up a hierarchy of big evils and little sins. Religion did that. Sin is sin, simply the transgression of law. Evil is a conscious effort to harm someone
unjustly or to persuade someone to commit sin.
God desires that we realize sin is bad and choose to make better choices. Our Creator set up a system to redeem us,
where He took responsibility for humanity’s ability to sin. Our holy God, as Jesus, paid the price of
death because He knew we could not do so ourselves. He continuously gives mercy when we falter. And, God freely grants forgiveness to each
repentant heart.
He does the same for every generation within a nation. He sends prophets and teachers to guide and
teach. However, when leaders repeatedly
choose contempt over kindness, the population eventually considers evil as
normal and goodness as foolishness.
Love, mercy, and forgiveness become restricted to the few, their value
hoarded for selfish desires yet compromised on a whim. God will wait for generations until the sins
of that nation become irreversible. Only
then does He act to cleanse the region of the influence of evil. The people chose their path and their
judgment.
Our Father wants us to live as good people where we mirror
His love towards humanity. Still, we transgress
law. God grants us mercy. This demonstrates His undying love. We sin repeatedly. Our Creator offers us complete forgiveness
each time we repent. All we need to do
is trust Him to do what He says He will do.
Then the God of Abraham will count our faith as righteous.
[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox. This book is available on Amazon.]
[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard
Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]