To some, throwing the question mark up there might make the refrain from “Blessed Be Your Name” sound like a Rob Bell question… I do think Rob’s got a lot good ones, but as a friend of mine told me, the problem is that he doesn’t provide very good answers. I hope to part ways here with Rob Bell who most likely has more followers of his twitter than I do.

I posted this question on the Tun Tavern Fellowship FB group page: Why do Christians blame bad things on God? I elaborated on that question and got some great responses! I’ll attempt summarize what I’m proposing here as simply a different way of looking at a verse often quoted when bad things happen… Even in the movie we’re watching: “Soul Surfer” when Bethany is being rushed to the hospital, the mom says repeatedly “Don’t take her.” The movie also starts with the Matt Redman song “Blessed be Your Name.” My point of view on this is different, and I’m not knocking the mom in the movie, I simply feel there’s another, more comforting way to pray, based on a more accurate view of Who gives good, and who takes away the good, knowing that life is good!

So here it is: Job lost everything, He did not curse God or sin, but he did blame God in an ever so subtle way saying, “He gives and takes away.” and the next 30 something chapters contain reasons why God is at fault for Job’s tragedy. Anyone reading this quickly -with the pervasive idea of our culture -will easily overlook that it was Satan who took everything from Job, and what God says here gets twisted as well. It says Satan incited God to destroy Job for no reason. It does not say God destroyed Job… Semantics? I don’t think so, but feel free to disagree. I simply propose that Job’s theology was flawed in verse 21 of chapter 1. And I believe Job 7:20, 12:9, and 16:9 pretty much prove my point, not to mention 3 of the last 4 chapters of the book as God responds. (By the way 16:10 is about Jesus)

My view of God isn’t just framed by the story of Job of course, but also by what Christ says in John 10:10, and verses like James 1:17. I have considered passages presented in the 19 comment FB thread, and will continue to look at them with an open mind. (that thread is now posted below in the comments) To appease the contrarians, I do believe God takes away things He does not consider good that keep us from Him or as a result of our disobedience.

When good is lost – when a loved one passes – I only hope that after reading this, people will be encouraged to think of God as the One receiving them to be with Him and Who will restore what the locusts have eaten (Joel 2:25 KJV) When we who are Believers die, we’re going home to be with our Lord, He’s not taking us from our loved ones. There is a thief who comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10 again). We must be equipped to do battle with that evil one, (2 Cor 10:3-4) but if we blame God for what Satan does, we’re not just living bad theology, we’re aiding and abetting the enemy!

The Bible says, taste and see that the Lord is good, well, to state the obvious: you gotta taste it to see it! But people can’t taste what they reject before it’s put on their plate, and believe it or not, that’s what starts to happen with a mindset of God taking away the good He’s blessed us with.

In the movie, Carrie Underwood puts it well: “I have to believe that something good is going to come out of this.” But how hard is that to believe when you’re struggling with thoughts that hold God responsible: “He allowed it, He works in mysterious ways, He has a plan that I may not understand…” Those are all well and good, until they start becoming ways to blame Him! How much easier is it to believe the Romans 8:28 outcome when we are convinced of God’s goodness? And anyone who has problems with the word “easy” better take it up with Jesus, because He said His yoke was easy… (Matt 11:30)

Well I went quite long on this one, a bit much for the first level of comm, but I hope it strengthens at least one person’s faith in the goodness of God. That is THE reason I wrote this.

Peace,

Adam

PS: See also: this (the guy did better than my FB post: 31 comments! some were pretty bad though…)