Interaction with a Student with a nonbiblical View of God

Well-known New Testament professor N. T. Wright told a story about his time as a chaplain for Worcester College of Oxford University. At the beginning of each term, he met with new students. I don’t usually put long quotes into blog posts but this one is worth repeating in Wright’s own words:

“Each year I used to see the first year undergraduates individually for a few minutes, to welcome them to the college and make a first acquaintance.  Most were happy to meet me; but many commented, often with slight embarrassment, “You won’t be seeing much of me; you see, I don’t believe in god.”

I developed stock response: “Oh, that’s interesting; which god is it you don’t believe in?”  This used to surprise them; they mostly regarded the word “God” as a univocal, always meaning the same thing.  So they would stumble out a few phrases about the god they said they did not believe in: a being who lived up the in the sky, looking down disapprovingly at the world, occasionally “intervening” to do miracles, sending bad people to hell while allowing good people to share his heaven.  Again, I had a stock response for this very common statement of “spy-in-the-sky” theology: “Well, I’m not surprised you don’t believe in that god.  I don’t believe in that god either.”’

At this point the undergraduate would look startled.  Then, perhaps, a faint look of recognition; it was sometimes rumored that half the college chaplains at Oxford were atheists.  “No,” I would say; “I believe in the god I see revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.”  What most people mean by “god” in late-modern western culture simply is not the mainstream Christian meaning.”

The non-biblical God of Many Christians

I want to focus on a different god that many Christians have, a god like Zeus. I know about it because it was my idea of God for many years. See if you can identify with these thoughts. “God loves me, but he knows I fail a lot and is surely disappointed with me.” “At the end of each day, I can look back and I’m sure I didn’t measure up to what God expects believers to be.” “If I come before God, his face is stern because he is displeased with me, even though I’m loved and forgiven by him.”

I was talking with a good friend once who suggested that in my view, when I come before God, he has to hold his nose. Can you identify with any of these sentiments?

How does one get such ideas? We get preached to about how much we sin and all that God expects of us. Or, we read books that call for radical discipleship. I spent most of my early years as a Christian as part of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa.  There wasn’t an established set of rules to follow.

Approaching God through Legalism

Then I went to a Christian college. New students had to attend a group meeting with the Dean of Students. He informed us that we were not allowed to smoke, drink alcohol, gamble, take drugs, or dance. As Christian college students, there were additional rules to follow that are not in the Bible. Many denominations that are rooted in the 19^th century Holiness Movement, such as the Assemblies of God, Nazarenes, many Baptists, and more hold to a definition of holiness that is based on observing the same policies that the dean described, as well as more. While growing up, my wife heard many “short skirt” sermons whenever the church’s seminary student was home for the weekend. Depending upon the group, there are a lot of these rules.

Those have to be followed in addition to what Scripture teaches. I didn’t really have issues with those, but they didn’t get at the heart of what I thought Jesus called us to do. We needed to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow him. See Matt 16:24. We needed to go into all the world and make disciples.

Work Really Hard for God to Love Us?

Paul added even more by telling believers to offer their bodies as living sacrifices and avoid numerous sins, like those listed in Galatians 5 or at the end of Romans 1. Putting the New Testament requirements to love one’s neighbor as oneself, to love Christian brothers and sisters, to deny myself (can I still watch Star Wars movies?), and more is a pretty heavy load to carry,

You may have heard of Martin Luther, the man who accidentally started the Protestant Reformation. He felt this burden terribly. He was a monk and daily went to confess to the head of the monastery his many sins until he was told to stop that.  

You might not relate to that, but you might relate to worrying that if the Rapture occurred while you were sinning, you might be left behind.

Paul told believers to walk worthy of the Lord to all pleasing.” I never felt like I had done that. For a time, I was part of a committee that put on an annual Day of Prayer for faculty and staff at Azusa Pacific University. I chaired the committee one year. At the end of it, I asked God if I had pleased him and heard nothing.

So, for a very long time, I felt this terrible weight of guilt for what whatever I had failed to do. This added to guilt I felt over sins I actually knew I had done. If you’re familiar with the Enneagram, which I find is a useful tool, even if not proven scientifically to be valid, I’m a ‘1’. That means that I strive for perfection and I have a very loud inner critic, who is always telling me I am failing spiritually and in other areas.

How did Jesus Deal with People?

However, I began to think about Wright’s idea.  What God is revealed in Jesus of Nazareth? Was it an angry God who was ready to blast sinners? James and John wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume the villages that would not recevie Jesus, but but he rejected them (Luke 9:54-56). Jesus showed compassion to people. He did not tell the sinful woman of Luke 7:36-50 how badly she had messed up.

In Jesus’ day, the Jews hated other Jews who were tax collectors for the hated Romans. Yet Jesus, when he saw Zaccheaus up in a tree, invited himself to the tax collector’s home to dine (Luke 19:1-10). Eating with someone like that made one identified with the person’s sins.

That’s why the Pharisees accused Jesus of eating with tax collectors and sinners. How did Jesus do this? He did not go to eat at Matthew’s house where there were tax collectors and sinners and stand up and give a sermon about how wicked their lifestyles were. Rather, such people flocked to Jesus because, while he did expect these people to repent, he showed God’s love and mercy to them too.

Jesus declared that, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world (John 12:47). That’s not the language of a God who is ready to smash all who disobey him. He said, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11:29). Does this sound like an angry God ready to nuke you?

When I was in college, I heard about a sermon by the famous preacher Jonathan Edwards, entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” My professor said that this sermon was really about God’s love. Much later, I got a copy of the sermon and read it. It is not about God’s love. It is about God dangling people over the pit of hell because of their sins. That’s not the God of love who sent his only Son so that we might not perish but have eternal life.

Is Jesus or the Father all about Wrath?

God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not like Zeus, you know, the angry head god of Greek mythology. He hurled lightning bolts at people he was displeased with. They are totally different, and we should not impose myhtic ideas on God. Where do people come up with this Zeus-like view of God? Maybe they’ve watched too many Xena reruns.The God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ is not Zeus nor like Zeus.

In Rom 5:8, Paul wrote, “But God demonstrated his love, that while we were still sinners, Christ died on our behalf.” After describing humans as spiritual dead in their trespasses and sins in Eph 2:1-3, Paul wrote, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, and we being dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace you are saved” (Eph 2:4-5). These two”buts” are crucial. We need to believe those, not what some preacher said.

While neither Jesus nor Paul would have approved of much that happens in our culture, and in the church, Jesus still not walk around telling people how bad they were and threatening them with hell fire. Indeed, his harshest words were for religious leaders who would have clamed that they were much more righteous than other Jews.

In Revelation 2-3, Jesus does rebuke multiple congregations for being unfaithful to him. However, in each case, he calls them to repent. God is always ready to forgive, not because of what we bring, but what God has provided through Jesus (1 John1:9).

What is God’s Attitude toward Us?

There’s a myth out there that we can’t come to God until we are worthy. That’s not ever going to happen. If you are walking worthy of your calling and your life is pleasing to God today, he deserves much of the credit. You still need to make appropriate choices, but God is not waiting around for us to be perfect.

In Romans 8:28-30, Paul describes what God is doing in believers. He is at work in our lives. We cooperate with him, but our salvation in the past from the penalty of sin, in the present from the power of sin, and in the future in the presence of sin in us, is God’s project with each of us. Nothing, said Paul, can separate us from God’s love (Rom 8:38-39). Nothing.

I don’t want to be misunderstood. Jesus’ words still apply. We are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Jesus. We are called to reflect Jesus to those around us. Jesus’ statement in the Sermon on the Mount that looking on a woman and lusting after her is adultery, is still in effect. God’s  principles for our sexuality have not changed, no matter what some inside or outside the church say.

However, God has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us and change us into the image of Jesus. Galatians 5 gives a picture of what we are called to do with the assistance of the Holy Spirit. He gives us power to live as God calls us to live.

Draw Near to God!

Finally, let us hear what the author of Hebrews has to say:

“Since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Heb 10:19-22 NASB).

The God who made the entire universe and dwells within believers has created a way for us to enter his very presence through Jesus. I like the way that Paul Clark states this:

“Let us come into his presence. His blood shed for you is the evidence that he wants us to come and have fellowship and be free.”

If God is truly wrathful, just waiting to smash sinners, why would he provide a means for us to be forgiven and enter his presence? He is not frowning at us. He wants us to come.

You won’t find the god of the the undergraduate or most people’s view of God in the Bible anywhere.

So, away with the false god who requires that we make ourselves good enough to be acceptable to God. If that was possible, Jesus didn’t need to die. Instead, run to God. Enter his presence and experience the love that would lead God incarnate, Jesus, to die for you on the cross. Learn to abide in the great love he has for us. That’s my current project. May it be yours too.

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