God’s Glory: Good News or Horror?

Usually, I emphasize how we humans, within the infinity of God, have finite creativity and choice, but today, I must admit, it seems Holly Spring Friends Meeting in North Carolina made me type this.

I would much rather write about hope and good news. It is with deep heartache, I proceed.

Here we go—
down to the
lowest
hell…

In the incredibly popular book, The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler, the author gives a brief introduction into hard Calvinism, of how every single infant at conception is “in essence, evil” how most humans were foreordained to eternal damnation, etc. (pages 64, 84, 107 as I showed briefly in my previous post).

Why did all of that happen? According to Calvinists/Augustinians, it was for God's glory.

"God's passion is for his own glory." (page 53)

But the word "glory" in human history has
a very negative, often horrific past.
Just a glance through almost any historic
tome, and one can see how the term led to
millions of humans being persecuted, tortured,
raped, and slaughtered for the "glory of God."

Chandler takes us into the explanation of Reformed/Augustinian theology--that God is entirely self-focused!

According to Chandler, the true God is the “…God who is ultimately most focused on his own glory will be about the business of restoring us, who are all broken images of him. His glory demands it. So we should be thankful for a self-sufficient God whose self-regard is glorious.” (page 32)

“If God is most concerned about his name’s sake, then hell
ultimately exists because of the belittlement of God’s name…
(pages 44-45)

“From beginning to end, the Scriptures reveal that the foremost desire of God’s heart is not our salvation
but rather the glory of His own name. God’s glory is what drives the universe; it is why everything exists.
God’s glory is what drives the universe;
it is why everything exists.”
(pages 33-34)

“The point of everything is God’s glory alone so that to God alone will be the glory.” (page 35)

“Most of have been told that God created…because he desired fellowship with man…this idea is almost blasphemous.” (page 32)

“John Piper puts it this way: ‘…God’s aim in creating the world was to display the value of his own glory.’ (page 35)

Such thinking is the basis for why most Reformed claim that evil was predestined/foreordained/willed (by God's hidden will), because God predestined every single evil, every rape, every murder, every molestation
so that God could vanquish it and show how glorious God is.

That is why, according to John Calvin, that God willed the sin of the first humans.

And Chandler writes, "God essentially says, 'No one can come near me without blood. Somebody's got to pay for all of mankind's belittling my name.'" (page 60)

"God's chief concern is for his own glory." (page 105)

Even totally ignoring all the horrific results in history of this view of God, does this picture of God sound anything like 1 Corinthians 13 or John 3:16 or 1 John,
or what any caring father and mother would describe
to their children?

Compare this egotistical view of God’s glory according to Reformed writers such as Chandler with this:

That of God is love:

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8
"4 God is patient and kind; God does not envy or boast; God is not arrogant 5 or rude.
God does not insist on God’s own way; God is not irritable or resentful;
6 God does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.
7 God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 God never ends."

Glory looked at in a wonderful way like that could make sense--to think of God as glorious, as ultimate infinite love, ultimate infinite goodness (or, even, as impersonal cosmic beauty).

Consider the ancient Jewish writer: "The heavens declare the glory of God..." (Psalm 19). Anyone who has gone out in the wilderness on a brilliantly clear November night and stared up at the starry sky understands this deep emotional response.

Or stand at Bass Point in the Grand Canyon and stare out into the almost boundless natural wonder, into the seemingly endless cliffs, gorges, plateaus, colorful rock strata, some strands going back a few billion years.

Various thinkers throughout history have emphasized the glory of existence and humankind's conscious life in it: "philosophy begins in wonder" (Plato).

"My sense of god is my sense of wonder about the universe. The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious - the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science...

"To know that which is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms-this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness."
Albert Einstein

Chandler could have focused on the wonder of the cosmos, it's natural beauty.

And then written extensively about the wonder of ethics--compassion, justice, and kindness, of how transcendent ethics are the ultimate expression of glory.

That would have been glorious.

But Chandler rejects that as a false view.) For him, such an outlook "is almost blasphemous."
--

After 55 years of seeking and studying about the nature of God (Ultimate Reality), I admit I know very little, am only a very finite, often self-focused, voyager who wants to live for what is true, good, just, compassionate, and beautiful.

But I do know that the Reformed/Augustinian version of God is a dead end. Actually, very much worse than that--it's a hellish eternal never-end, the everlasting damnation for God's glory of billions of humans. No hope, no love, no goodness, only God's self-centered glory, endlessly.

Such a concept of God's glory is horrific, and is terrible news, is despairing for billions of humans including my family. We were all predestined to eternal damnation for God's glory:-(

What horrific news, nothing good in this "glorious" evil…

The strangest horror of all is, why are Quakers in North Carolina promoting this book, this theological outlook?

Don’t they realize the despair of Chandler's beliefs? In his claim that all infants are "in essence, evil"?

In his claim that no humans have a choice, and that most of us humans were foreordained to eternal torture?!

That God only does what glorifies himself?!

Besides, Friends from the very beginning in the 1640’s totally rejected this terrible, inglorious theology.



Daniel Wilcox

When Jesus Is a Hard Atheist...

…when “God” has “decreed sin should enter this world through the disobedience of our first parents” that this “was a secret hid in His own breast.” (A.W. Pink, Christian author of the popular book, The Sovereignty of God sold at Calvary Chapels and many other Christian churches:-(

*“…the holocaust of World War II, suicide bombers etc. Indeed every sin against God's commandments, God ordains to His greatest glory…God has ordained it to come to pass, so we must conclude that this is because His greatest glory can only be served by its presence…God ordained this [Adam’s sin], as He knew it would be to His greatest glory in the end. (Presbyterian Website)

What a false god!

Jesus is a hard Atheist of A.W. Pink’s and the Presbyterians’ god.

For Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5: 48 ESV

The only true GOD is perfect and would NEVER “ordain/order/appoint/decree/establish/foreordain” sin, evil,

NOR

does GOD ever do anything for himself! God IS love (I Corinthians 13).

The GOD of Jesus is perfect love, perfect goodness, perfect truth, perfect justice, perfect mercy, perfect holiness, perfect glory—perfection infinitely.

As the New Testament emphasizes, GOD does, in response to us humans’ free choice to choose contrary to His perfect will, bring goodness out of evil.

But GOD is never the original “ordainer” of sin and evil, never.

Jesus is a hard Atheist toward A.W. Pink’s god.

To be continued...

In the Light of the ONLY TRUE GOD,

Daniel Wilcox

Part #4: The Heart of Romantic Love

Love is friendship that has caught fire.

From sparks of sharing and caring
and cherishing come great light
in the lives of 2 individuals.

And that light overflows beyond the couple,
enlightening, helping, bringing hope and goodness
to others.

And often creates new unique new little beings:-)


To use a different analogy,
Love grows like a glowing vineyard in the sunrise,
takes root and develops one day at a time.

First, the exuberant bursting forth of new love,
then the gradual increase and budding of succulent grapes.
Sensuously, phrases from the Song of Songs in the Hebrew Bible
express this wonder.

"Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine." Song of Songs 1:2



Then love in maturity is like fine wine, improves with age.

Loving commitment is quiet understanding and mature acceptance
of imperfection. Love gives strength and creatively opens
in new ways to your beloved.

You are warmed by your beloved’s presence, even when your lover is away.
Miles do not separate. You want your beloved nearer. But near or far,
you know your lover is yours, and you are your beloved's.

Love means patience and trust. Love springs up; you and your beloved feel more whole.

Love fills the empty spaces in your hearts, leads you both to look up, and to give out to others, welling over with caring and compassion. Love is creative, compassionate, gentle, and kind, coming from the deep heart of God.

Love is choosing again and again, daily to love your beloved even in the hard times.

Love is wider than the widest, deeper than the deepest, closer than the closest--a fire of chosen passion.
--Anon and adapted


"Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous and does not boast; love is not arrogant 5 or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; Love is not irritable or resentful; 6 Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love covers all, trusts all, hopes all, endures all.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Love never ends."
1 Corinthians 13 Adapted, New Testament


7 "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
...18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love
...let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth
1 John 4: 7-12, 18, 1 John 3:18

Next Time--Marriage as a Covenant

covenant (n.)
c.1300, from Old French covenant "agreement," originally present participle of covenir "agree, meet," from Latin convenire "come together" (see convene). Applied in Scripture to God's arrangements with man as a translation of Latin testamentum, Greek diatheke, both rendering Hebrew berith (though testament also is used for the same word in different places).
Online Etymology Dictionary

To be continued--


In the Light,

Daniel Wilcox

What is Love?

Christians for many centuries, over and over, have stated, "God is love." Most famously, St. Augustine said, "Love God and do as you like."

All this sounds so good, so pious, so wonderful, but tragically like so many philosophical and ethical assertions, the devil is in the details:-(--
not the God of Jesus.

The same St. Augustine of the famous "love" quote supported the persecution of other Christians, torture, killing, etc.

Augustine abandoned his common-law wife of 10 years, with plans to marry an aristocratic Roman lady instead.

From his era down through hundreds of years of cruelty, injustice, and slaughter to the present, Christian Churches in the name of "love" have commited all the horrific acts.

Millions of humans have been slaughtered, burned, hanged, shot, bombed, and drowned--
all in the name of Jesus and this religious ideal of Christian "love."

A more recent case is that of Christian soldier Stonewall Jackson and tehologian R. L. Dabney who ordered the death of many thousands during the American Civil War.

They gave all thanks to Jesus Christ and God for their killing success, and yet at the same time, emphasized the importance of love to God and others. Read the excellent and powerful biography, Stonewall Jackson: Portrait of a Soldier by John Bowers.

What a great general Jackson was! And what a devout believer and how personable and kind to those of his own kin and group.

But what a ruthless killer of others, and in his killing, he gave all the praise for his successful slaughters to the Christian God! He often prayed, worshiped, and read his Bible in the midst of battles!

Not that Christianity has a corner on these strange demonstrations of "love." When I lived in the Middle East, I visited a restaurant. On the wall was a sign which listed all the characteristics of love in Islam.

Yet, then (and in the past and now) Muslims quote the Qur'an to justify slaughtering civilians.

So it goes.

And check out secular history. Humanists who reject religion for all its horrors, also, often define "love" as a worthy human goal, yet their actions are contrary, too.

On a minor note back during my university days (late 60's), Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlavsky came to the University of Nebraska to do a poetry reading. Allen emphasized that "love" is the answer to the world's problems.

I, a naive, small town kid was impressed,
but an older former beatnik told me, "Don't to be deceived."

Later we learned how deceptive talk of "love" can be. One of the young girls in our group was allegedly left pregnant and alone by Orlavsky who moved on to their next poetry reading.

Young men of other worldviews tried to persuade us that a man could have multiple relationships with women and it was "love." Forget all the tragic results of these "love" affairs.

And since then all manner of distortions continue to be put forth as "loving."

Thinkers have even claimed the intentional bombing of thousands of unarmed civilians, even hundreds of thousands including children is an action of love and justice!

And more and more, acts of euthanasia, abortion, etc. are said to be expressions of love!

Indeed, the devil is in the details. Evil hogs them.

Why is it God always gets left holding the bag of evil?

Enough of the very bad news!

What is the nature of true love--the kind that doesn't result in hell on earth?

The great Vietnamese Buddhist Thich Nhat Hanh gives some very good clear examples if you wish a definition which isn't centered in the New Testament. However, since I am a Friend of Jesus, that is where I find my understanding of what love is.

Check out Luke 10:27. Jesus said, YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.

Well, the problem is in the details again though, because most of the killers, slave-owners, etc. of the last 2,000 years have claimed to believe Jesus' words, indeed have done their evil with this verse on their lips, praying to Jesus and reading the Bible as they did their horrific deeds.

So we need to go deeper.

A lawyer questions Jesus--sounds legalistic doesn't it--asking exactly, WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Jesus isn't going to be caught in parceling out humankind, the ones who we must love versus the ones we can ignore or even hate such as, say, the Romans or the national traitors or bad sinners. (Remember, in Jewish culture, the men wouldn't even eat with Gentiles!)

Jesus reverses the thinking of the lawyer with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, pointing out we should be loving like a heretic and national enemy and show active compassion and practical deeds of help including personal involvement, the giving of our money and our time.

This is a continuation of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5: 38-48) where he even contradicts such Jewish heroes as David and says that we should love our enemies.

And so his followers wouldn't get the wrong idea (like so many later would despite his very words), Jesus emphasizes that "loving one enemies" means practical actions on our part.

For instance if an enemy nation conquers you and its soldiers abuse and execute your people and these killers demand you behave as a servant by carrying their military bags for a mile, then you are to offer to carry these enemy killers' things for another extra mile.

When enemies HATE YOU, BLESS THOSE WHO CURSE YOU, PRAY FOR THOSE WHO MISTREAT YOU (Luke 6: 27-38).

Of course, for most of us (like Jesus' disciples who wanted to kill the Romans and call fire down to destroy the Samaritans, etc.)
we need even more directions of what the word "love" actually means and so the N.T. provides many more definitions and examples. The best is 1 Corinthians 13:

Love is patient,
love is kind
and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant,
does not act unbecomingly;
love does not seek its own,
is not provoked,
does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. (NASB)

No doubt these love commands from Spirit of Christ are overwhelming. Probably that is part of the reason why the disciples and Paul felt then that it was impossible to be a true follower of Jesus.

How can we possibly love individuals of the Taliban or the Islamic State!?

The murderers of Boko Haram in Nigeria?

The Saudi Muslim planners of 9-11?

The criminal who stabbed us?

A parent or leader who abused us?

A co-worker who lied about us so that we lost our job?

One way is to remember as Martin Luther King cautioned, we aren't called to "like" such evil doers, but are rather called to show them benevolence in order that they might turn from their evil ways.

This is Jesus' walk, what it means to be Friends. If Jesus loves and died for all of us, how can we do less?

Jesus' call: To love everyone into the realm of God:-)

In the love of Jesus,

Daniel Wilcox