My heart burns with the desire for loved ones, friends, and people I've never met to know God and God's saving, healing love for them. I've often wondered how God's wrath can be expressed toward the unrighteousness and disbelief of people who seemingly don't even know the truth about God.
In studying Paul's letter to the Romans in recent weeks, I've been reminded of an amazing spiritual truth that I'll touch on briefly today. St. Paul speaks to the question about how God deals with people who have different levels of exposure to divine truth. He seems to be answering my objection as to how God can rightfully "be angry" at people, and "punish" people for suppressing truth that they've never had.
Paul says that when it comes to the awareness of God--to knowing the truth of God's existence--all humans are without excuse. He teaches that God reveals Godself to every person on the planet. In other words, my objection is not valid! There are no people on the earth who have an excuse or a warrant to protest the wrath of God against their unrighteousness and sin.
This is because God has made Godself evident--God reveals himself. The Apostle says: "That which is known about God is evident among them; for God made it evident to them" (Romans 1:19). How did God do that? In the middle of verse 20, St. Paul says, "being understood through what he has made." God makes sure that a knowledge of himself does not just happen coincidentally. God does something to make himself known--he provides self-revelation through his poetic, (Greek: poiema), creative works. He made the world out of nothing and created the universe and everything in it as his own artisitic, poetic expression of himself.
God planned, designed, acted, crafted, created and made. And in doing that, Paul says in verse 19, God made himself evident to all humankind. The universe is an inescapable poem about God!
In summary, In Romans 1:19-21, Paul is arguing that:
1. The Creator's power and deity are evident (verses 19b, 20). God is the creator of all things and the master communicator of himself.
2. All people know God! Paul says in verse 21: "They knew God." Yes, the truth is suppressed (by science, philosophy, secularism, ...), but it is there--distorted though it might appear to be--for God does not leave himself without a witness to every mind and heart.
3. Humans tend to suppress the knowledge of God. They suppress this knowledge and do not glorify or give him thanks (verse 21b).
William Dembski in his book The Design Inference (Cambridge University Press) points out that many well-known scientists must continually suppress the suspicion that there is design (poiema) in the universe. For example, he quotes Richard Dawkins, an "arch-Darwinian" who says: "Biology is the study of complicated things that give the appearance of having been designed for a purpose." And he quotes Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of DNA, who says: "Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved."
Paul said that the truth of God's "designed things" must be constantly suppressed (lest scientists come face to face with their Maker and be compelled to glorify him and give him thanks). Those of us who love and worship God and revel in his glory labor with all our strength, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to help open people's hearts to the beautiful truth of God and his loving, creative presence around and within us.
4. Everyone is without excuse before God. Every person on the planet is deserving of being under God's wrath. We are all "without excuse." Nobody can bring a legitimate protest against God's justice in this. The greatest tragedy in our culture is not so much the use of illegal drugs, participation in illicit sex, murder, theft, poverty, homelessness or abuse. The pivotal tragedy is that people are trying to "live" without the hope that comes from hearing the Gospel--the good news of God's love for us and his full provision through Christ for our escaping the wrath we certainly deserve.
You and I have the remedy--we're walking, running, skipping joyfully the path of escape. We're trusting God for salvation, healing and freedom! The free gift of God's perfect righteousness [not God's wrath] is offered to all and can be freely received through trusting our loving God.
We have in our heart and in our mouth the most powerful strategy for healing the world through connecting people to God's saving love for them--this powerful truth is called he Gospel of Jesus Christ! Let's believe and be transformed by the Gospel, and take God's constant, loving, saving presence with us into our world and beyond!
Grateful for Jesus and his clear revelation of God!
Duff
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3 comments:
"There are no people on the earth who have an excuse or a warrant to protest the wrath of God against their unrighteousness and sin."
god is perfect love but has wrath for his creation. please explain.
what is sin but missing the mark. if we were made perfect there would be no creation only duplication.
god knows all past present and future but screws up creating sinful humans?
me suspects man has made god in his image. wrathful and angry.
"God made man in his image and then man returned the favor. Mark twain."
Thanks "anonymous" for sharing your thoughts. I find your questions to be thought-provoking and stimulating.
In response to your comment "god is perfect love but has wrath for his creation" I see St. Paul (in Romans 1) stating that God's wrath is against wickedness and unrighteousness, not against people. I take this to suggest God is the loving parent whose wrath burns against those realities, choices and circumstances that are not constructive for his child's health, wellbeing and happiness. As a loving parent I relate to this view of our adoring heavenly "cheer leader" who only desires the very best for us.
Your suggestion that "god knows all past prsent and future but screws up creating sinful humans?" opens the same door many theologians have long struggled to enter--"how do we balance God's sovereignty and foreknowledge with his apparent relentless dedication to human free will?" Have you read any of the heterodoxical writings of theologians exploring the "openess of God" or "open theism?" Interesting reading!
I agree that too often us humans commit the sin of idolatry by making or re-making God in our own image. He becomes a small, limited, manageable, fully-explainable God with little mystery or power remaining.
Let's continue the dialogue!
Duff
“I agree that too often us humans commit the sin of idolatry by making or re-making God in our own image.”
Talking about the wrath of God is I suspect very much making God in our image. It appears the whole of the basis for Christianity is to make God in man’s image. Christianly depends on the idea of the fall of mankind and then the sacrifice of Jesus.
Would a God of unconditional love exact atonement? I must admit it is a natural conclusion to make if we give God human traits of wrath and anger and judgment. But if we look to a God that is perfect in love and compassion then we have to search deep into the suffering of humankind.
I once read an article where the author stated, “what if God made everyone perfect and there was no “fall” that would be duplication or cloning not the creation of unique beings. (I.e. we humans)
If there were no ignorance in the world but only perfect love and understanding we would be an exact duplication of God. One of the best-kept secrets in the world is that creation depends on ignorance (unawareness).
How else could God express “itself” and “its” potential without this unawareness; of course knowing that God is not a self? “The words of truth are always paradoxical.” Lao Tzu
I think Jesus pointed the finger to truths but in our ignorance (unawareness) after his death we needed a God with human traits so we explained his death as a sacrifice to God, which really has its roots in pagan thinking.
My point has been that by not seeing Jesus as a pointer of truths and a reflection of God but a sacrifice and that a follower has only to believe something (Jesus died for our sins) to get something (heaven) Christians have missed the thrust of Jesus teachings.
This has lead to a nation that thinks it is fine to have military bases all over the world and where most evangels and many Christians in their self-righteousness actually support these wars for profits and American aggression around the world.
I wonder how few Christians got on their hands and knees and prayed for forgiveness for the one million Vietnamese American’s killed in that other illegal war for profits. Now we are entangled in another illegal war for profits.
Is this Iraq war really Karma or what we sow we reap until we Americans learn our lessons in life?
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