Heresy and Humility

James 1:21

Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Suffering in the Christian life is an inescapable reality. Paul said, "it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him." (Phil. 1:29) Believers suffer through the deaths of those close to us, suffer from the consequences of sin, from physical and mental illness, from persecution, from relational strife and from wars and rumors of wars, among other things.

This intense suffering can become difficult for followers of Christ to understand. If we hold to the Biblical teaching that God is good, all-knowing and all-powerful, we are presented with a dilemma in our understanding of suffering.

As Epicurus noted:Either God wants to abolish evil, and cannot; Or he can, but does not want to; Or he cannot and does not want to. If he wants to, but cannot, he is impotent. If he can, but does not want to, he is wicked. But, if God both can and wants to abolish evil, Then how come there is evil in the world?

The problem of evil. Why does God let it continue? Does He enjoy seeing His creation in pain and agony? Are the God-ordained purposes of evil worth the pain that evil brings?

One way that recent Bible scholars have attempted to reconcile this dilemma is by promoting the idea of open theism. This doctrine teaches the openness of God, that God does not know "the end from the beginning." He knows all of the possibilities, but He doesn't know which possibility will actually occur. We have 4 cards in our hands, and God has no idea which one we will play. Therefore, God is not to blame for your suffering, because He is not all-knowing. God had nothing to do with 9/11, the Iraq War, Hurricane Katrina, or the 2004 Tsunami. All of these events caught Him by surprise, and He cannot be blamed for the horrific suffering that came as a result. Does this sound like a God you can trust?

Back to the verse at the top.

Open theism, while perhaps well-intentioned, does not "humbly accept the word..." but rather pridefully asserts it's own ideas over and against the simple truth of God's Word. How much Scripture do you have to deny to arrive at open theism? How many prophetic verses and promises of God are nullified by open theism?

This doctrine has "a form of godliness, but denying its power." It seeks to vindicate God, while at the same time making suffering unendurable for the believer. How can there be purpose, good purposes, in suffering if God has nothing to do with it? How can I "consider it pure joy" whenever I fall into trials? How do "all things work together for good" if God is missing from the equation?

Power comes when we fall into the all-knowing, strong arms of a good and loving God. We can see ourselves as more than victims, we can see ourselves as revolutionaries, entrusted with the Spirit and gospel of Christ for the purpose of world transformation. Whenever children of God are persecuted or endure any form of harsh suffering, it is an occasion for Christ, the hope of glory, to be revealed through us to a lost humanity.

One revolutionary put it this way: "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

Kind of hard to do if you can beat God in poker.

Ignoring Beauty

Originally posted on the Desiring God Blog, April 9, 2007





The Washington Post conducted an experiment to see if beauty could be recognized through the mundane malaise of day-to-day life. They arranged for Joshua Bell, a preeminent violinist, to play incognito in a busy corridor in D.C. one morning--a free concert from a musician who plays a $3.5 million instrument. He had his case open for donations and played the best music most of the workaday passers-by had probably ever heard. To what effect? Virtually none.
The article asks those who come into contact with street musicians: "Do you hurry past with a blend of guilt and irritation, aware of your cupidity but annoyed by the unbidden demand on your time and your wallet? ... Do you have time for beauty? Shouldn't you? What's the moral mathematics of the moment?"
Is it immoral to ignore beauty?
I couldn't help but read it as a parable:
As it happens, exactly one person recognized Bell, and she didn't arrive until near the very end. For Stacy Furukawa, a demographer at the Commerce Department, there was no doubt. She doesn't know much about classical music, but she had been in the audience three weeks earlier, at Bell's free concert at the Library of Congress. And here he was, the international virtuoso, sawing away, begging for money. She had no idea what the heck was going on, but whatever it was, she wasn't about to miss it.
Furukawa positioned herself 10 feet away from Bell, front row, center. She had a huge grin on her face. The grin, and Furukawa, remained planted in that spot until the end.
"It was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen in Washington," Furukawa says. "Joshua Bell was standing there playing at rush hour, and people were not stopping, and not even looking, and some were flipping quarters at him! Quarters! I wouldn't do that to anybody. I was thinking, Omigosh, what kind of a city do I live in that this could happen?"
She was appalled that anyone would have either the naivete or the gall to condescendingly flip a quarter at one of the world's greatest musicians. She was shocked that something as astoundingly beautiful was so easily disregarded.