This is nuts

The last Zoom that was on Eschatology: Here not There I found quite encouraging and illustrated that what we think on such supposed ‘academic’ questions really affects the practical… indeed the questions are not so academic, this one was simple ‘is it all about us going there, or is it about there coming here?’ The problem is the subject has been hijacked and we have been taught what the answer is, and by taught I suppose I mean brainwashed with no small amount of money and resources behind the onslaught on our thinking.

After the Zoom I was sent this page to look at (not from someone thinking the page was good but illustrating the ‘nuttiness’ of so much that goes on). It might be extreme and on the edge but here it is:

Check it out if you have time. Basically through a series of indexes (currently numbered at 45) it becomes clear how close we are to the rapture. More ‘bad things’ the higher the score, so examples are floods, drug abuse, wild weather, Satanism, globalism. As each one gets worse that score goes up and the aggregate score of the 45 indices give us a total – so as of right now we are at a score of 181 and we are informed that a score above 160 indicates we are to ‘fasten our seat belts’. The rapture was actually closer in 2016 with a score of 189. Maybe it was so secret that even the creators of the system that gives us the inside information missed the sound of the trumpet and the shout of the archangel! (Not going to be so secret then? Other than Paul is making NO reference to said event in passage quoted.)

The craziness of all this is we should actually be rejoicing when disasters, ‘natural’ or ‘moral’ take place for they are hastening the time of our escape. A perversion of eschatology and a total debilitater to prayer and action.

Thankfully there is such a move away from that kind of eschatology but I suspect there still is a ‘well it is all going to burn up in the end anyway’ leaning that remains. We will be OK – palace in the sky is where I am headed, and at the same time the oligarchs of the West figure out that they will be OK with their palace in some safe place, even if that safe place is somewhere in space where they have planted their flag (thank you Naomi Klein for making the connection). Meanwhile we do not take in the words of Scripture concerning the destruction of those who destroy the earth.

I have come across from many angles the four way relationship / reconciliation: Godward, otherward, selfward and planetward. Wherever we start we cannot end there. Simply being reconciled to self can end up with a perversion if we do not go beyond that to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’ for example. And I cannot truly love God (I am reconciled to God) and there not to be a ‘before and an after’ on every other area. Reconciliation is a work in progress. And let me repeat… wherever we start we cannot end there – and yes that does have implication for soteriology, and has to, as the biblical examples of the use of the word cannot be reduced to one-dimension. It is all a process, and theologically all four aspects flow from the cross and resurrection. That is an eschatology that is deeply practical as it flows from you + me + ‘others’ (every tribe) with God present with ‘us’ in a creational context so that shalom is tangible – no more weeping, suffering, death.

A theology, for example, that quickly jumps to God gave the land to Israel so maybe this idea of moving the Palestinians out could just be OK… well maybe I jump quickly to the parallel exodus of the Philistines and that they need their land restored, and who might be in that today? (Thanks Amos for that insight. It’s a good book to read so I won’t simply give a one verse reference.) When can we get an eschatological vision (a true vision for the globe) such as Paul, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, advanced in the Torah beyond his peers… who simply said that Israel was not promised the land. I appreciate I am trampling on toes and giving little substance to back up what I am writing, but I am doing that to push back against ‘what a mess, but it is all prophesied and we will be OK’. And certainly pushing back against the ‘and if there is yet more mess we simply add it to the total score to tell us where we are’.

There is a book ‘I’m OK You’re OK’. There is a God who said ‘You’re not OK I’m not OK’. The God who followed us out of Eden is the God who is worthy to be followed.

Good deeds

I am grateful to those who came along to the Zoom a couple of nights back and thanks for the feedback then and subsequently. I made a statement that I thought might be worth expanding on in a post. I said something along the lines that I am not sure that God is too concerned about the exactness of what we believe but is focused on how we live out our convictions as we serve others. To use language that we will remember from school (surely allowed as Paul used all sorts of illustrations borrowed from his world) at that final day what will be on the exam paper? What did you believe about the millennium? How did you understand the answer to the question of the disciples about the restoration of the kingdom to Israel? I know there will not be a question on the secret rapture as God knows how much money, time and effort has been given to convince people of its reality… I think s/he will have much grace for those who have believed that!

No, the questions will not be about ‘beliefs’ and I think God will be happier if I have some errors in my beliefs (and that is not a confession that I have any errors!) but have acted in a way that represents the kingdom of God and the heart of heaven.

Brings me to a not so popular biblical theme – not so popular with those who hold to ‘you must be born again and all righteousness is as filthy rags’. That is a strong wing and look I have quoted a couple of verses right there to back them up. The not-so popular theme is being judged, wait for it… by works.

And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books (Rev.20:12).
If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire (1 Cor. 3:15).
He will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life, while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but injustice, there will be wrath and fury (Rom. 2:6-8).

We could add a few other verses such as: Ps. 62:12; Prov. 24:12; Jer. 17:10; 32:19; Matt. 16:27; Rom. 14:12; Rev. 2:23. My point being that the ‘exam paper’ will not be over beliefs but over behaviour.

A couple of points that we need to hold in tension: it is not saying ‘saved by good deeds’ but judged by our deeds. And yet it is not categorically saying ‘damned in spite of good deeds’. Oh my… if only God made everything so clear that I understood it all; I just don’t think things are as tied up as I would wish them to be, and it means two things… I leave things in the hands of God who will ‘do all things right’ and I need to make sure that I respond with the huge big good work that will get me a sweet reward… other than it is not about doing things for a sweet big reward, but acting as God would, and that acting as God would is not the big good work but the giving of a cup of cold water when required.

Eschatology is a big word, with all kinds of complex ideas within it… but as per all theology it is deeply practical. There is a huge day coming and I need to live in the light of that. Always practical.

Not a good guy

Leadership is male when it comes to the predictions of the big bad antiChrist…

Some of you will join me tonight on a Zoom as we push into what (I think) is the final area of foundations – getting the direction right and losing the Hellenistic obsession with going somewhere when I die. Although I lean heavily toward I do go somewhere, the hope of Scripture is of the completion of this world – creation reaching an eschaton.

I am not sure what I will pick up next – maybe I will switch from eschatology to something else or maybe I will have a go at what do we understand about the big bad antiChrist. Anyway a few thoughts here to push in that direction.

Surprise, surprise there is so little in the Bible about antiChrist – four verses in total and all in two books that we assume are from the same pen (1 John 2:18, 22, 4:3, and 2 John 7). Verses can be added (forced to fit) that draw in other aspects – one of the beasts of Revelation for example (beasts in biblical literature and particularly in apocalyptic literature speak of powers such as nations that are untameable). I think we have to look at Revelation separately and let it be the awesome exposure of Imperial power – Rome in that context… and for us?

There is the ‘man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2, but there we have a Pauline warning about what was to come… and for me it has already come – in the Jewish Wars of 66-70. Future for the original readers, past for us.

The Johannine Scriptures then are the core.

Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us, for if they had belonged to us they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us (1 John 2:18-19).

Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; everyone who confesses the Son has the Father also (1 John 2:22-23). 

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world (1 John 4:2,3).

Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! (2 John 7).

John seems to be writing in the main about people who have been associated / around these Christian communities, those who went out from them. [A little aside… the Reformers put forward that the pope was the antiChrist… Catholics have just a little issue with that – there view is that the Reformers / Protestants went out from them, thus the likes of you and me are more likely to be suspects!!!!] Those John wrote to had heard that antiChrist was to come, and it could well be that he held that belief also, though it is possible he is correcting what they believed with ‘You have heard… but…’ And in his second letter we read that John identifies any person who denies the humanity of Jesus as the deceiver and the antiChrist.

Not so clear… so of course once I come to write on it I will make all things so clear (or not) but here for now is my conclusions.

John, in line with the rest of Scripture, pushes us away from speculation and warns us that we need to place Jesus central (anti- can carry the meaning of ‘against / opposed to’ or ‘replacing’). I do not believe the Bible predicts a final one-world ruler… could there be one? The way we are going, quite likely, but not inevitable. Eschatology is not about a series of events, this + that, but about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly some eschatology when pushed too far pushes Jesus off the map… that is pretty much anti-Christ!

I just do not see our Scriptures as being history set out in advance so that we know future events. The centre of all of Scripture is Jesus… let’s not replace Jesus with knowledge nor with speculation,

Open Zoom – tomorrow

Of course if you are reading this tomorrow then it becomes today… so to be clear:

Tuesday 4th February, 19:30UK time.

If you plan to join us either please read the pdf (around 10,000 words) or watch the short video. Much of ‘popular’ eschatology is summed up in the words of the song (that was sung in an oppressive context): ‘This world is not my home I am just a passing through’. I am proposing that the movement that we pray for is for heaven to enter our sphere i.e. here not there as the fulfilment.

All theology is practical and so I hope we can throw around what difference we think should / could come about with an understanding that ‘we are not looking to go to heaven’ but ‘for heaven to manifest here’.

Here is the Zoom link for the evening:

NB I had to change the link for the evening the one below is the correct one

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/5728039267?pwd=NEozVVM0Z1NJSDFKKzNwdG9KUDc5dz09

ID: 572 803 9267
Passcode: 5GkMTA

And the link to the pdf:

And to the video:

Look forward to seeing those who can make it.

Cross shaped hope

The hope that is within you. What is that hope? We read of it in the context of suffering the verses prior and after, here an extract of that passage:

Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil (1 Pet 3:15-17). 

It is certainly bigger than the hope of ‘not going to hell’! There are warnings about the wrath of God to come but the majority of those texts are following the biblical trajectory of earthly judgement of powers in this age. (My objection is that such language as above is in the negative and reduces salvation to being ‘safe’… and there could be other objections brought in too.)

It is not ‘I will go to heaven’. Hard to find a clear Scripture that suggests that beyond pulling out a few isolated texts.

Somehow it has to tie with ‘the way the world is now is not the future’. Our hope is that Jesus died and as the resurrected one is the firstborn of all creation.

Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom. 8:24,25).

That hope not yet seen Paul sets in the context of freedom, a freedom that will liberate the whole of creation.

Back to Peter he sets the instruction to ‘be ready to give a defence’ in the context of suffering and particularly of suffering unjustly. That makes the hope more stark and all the more likely to provoke the question ‘why the hope (optimism on speed)?’ If one is suffering unjustly and one sings ‘this world is not my home’ one could be singing as a means of escapism from the harsh realities that are present, but if one is singing with the meaning that this world, as we experience it now, is not my home we have a different expression all together.

Suffering… not to be deified or idealised but when it is ‘in Christ’, ‘with Christ’ is redemptive, it is participating in the sufferings of the one who has walked this path before and is sowing into the future. No one looks for suffering but when affliction comes our way our response can ‘hasten the day of the Lord’.

Give an answer. What answer? Well maybe the BIG story of ‘God created, we messed up, God has always entered our mess and has swallowed up the mess in Jesus so that the way things are will be totally transformed… God living with us… no more death etc…’ But probably not the big story. But we find a way of telling of our hope because of who God is – the God who is just like Jesus. If I have seen Jesus I will have hope. If I tell the Jesus story others might understand why I have hope, they might find some hope. We need that more now than ever. One before me used the phrase ‘I have a dream’ and one before him used a similar phrase: Καὶ εἶδον οὐρανὸν καινὸν καὶ γῆν καινήν.

Whatever the words we first must find the hope that Scripture bears witness to that is Jesus-centred.

Another Scripture that does not fit?

I recently was reading about Apollos and the part I have emboldened stood out:

Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos from Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus (Acts 18:24-28).

The phrase ‘with burning enthusiasm’ is translated differently in other versions and it seems the reason is that we have a phrase that only comes twice in the New Testament. The other occasion is when Paul writes to the believers in Rome to ‘be ardent in spirit’. In this phrase in Romans it is assumed that the reference is to the Holy Spirit, something beyond ‘enthusiasm’. Translating the same phrase when related to Apollos – as per NRSV above – ‘enthusiasm’ is somehow I think a little attempt to get round things theologically – it cannot be ‘Spirit’ as capitalised so it is reduced to something related to human emotion (with burning enthusiasm, rather than ‘burning of the Spirit’). I don’t think that is justifiable as to reduce pneuma (spirit) in that way is not typical of Luke (I can’t think of any such occurrence) and further it says that Apollos spoke boldly in the synagogue, a verb that Luke associates with the Spirit’s anointing. So why the title concerning a Scripture that does not fit? Because Apollos, at this stage, is in a strange situation:

  • well versed in Scripture
  • instructed in the way of the Lord
  • teaching accurately about Jesus
  • but only knowing the baptism of John
  • needing to be instructed more accurately in the way of the Lord.

Yet he has the Spirit (Priscilla and Aquila do not pray for him to receive the Spirit but they instruct him more fully) and he does not have the Spirit simply in some ‘theological’ dimension but with the clear evidence (spoke boldly, speech being one of the marks in Luke of ‘receiving’ the Spirit) of being anointed. He does not fit the pattern of those to whom the Spirit is promised. It is for this reason the passage does not fit.

Just annoying to us who tie this Scripture with that and then have everything water-tight.

And it raises a much bigger question… are there other anomalies?

Spirituality and Creativity

Another post from Simon Swift… his ‘January contribution’. I suspect Simon enjoys writing for many reasons but if he is like me (I suspect in this aspect he is) it is also a means of finding one ‘s own ideas being crystalised. And if that be true then as you read this piece I hope a few of your ideas also crystalise. OK… here it is.


Sometimes, when I am writing a poem, I find it starts to speak to me about how it wants to be written. Maybe it doesn’t like the structure or my approach to the subject. I know I’m the creative one but none the less I get this feeling that I should listen to the poem and let it direct me. Doesn’t always happen, but when it does, it’s definitely not me; it’s the poem. Once I listen then the poem starts to take shape.

This highlights what I believe is the spiritual nature of creativity. It gives a sense that ideas and inspiration are alive and trying to communicate with us. Wanting to be birthed by us into the physical world; we are merely a conduit for ideas to be realised.

In her book ‘Big Magic’ Elizabeth Gilbert talks about ideas in this way. She believes that ideas are energetic life forms that have a consciousness, wanting to communicate with us so they can be manifest. She believes that so much she insists that we should be polite to them even if we should decide that a particular idea is not for us – just in case word gets around about your rudeness and ideas start avoiding you.

Now you may think that is going a bit to far, even silly, and I admit that it’s probably not what’s really going on, at least scientifically, but it helps to think that way because spirituality and creativity are closely related to each other. It useful to use a language that helps us to understand our creative processes, to help speak and think about it. When scientists research the creative process the language used may not be very helpful to the average creative who needs to understand their way of interacting with the process of creativity and inspiration. Spiritual language comes in helpful here as it is related to experience and the relationship artists have with inspiration and ideas.

So what about the Christian faith, what has the bible to say about it. Well, in the book Exodus we find God giving instructions on how to build the tents, make the priestly cloths and all the utensil and the alter, even giving details about the size of things. Then God goes on to claim that a man named Bezalel has been given abilities and intelligence with knowledge and all craftsmanship along with Oholiab they are anointed as craftsmen. Could we then say that the holy spirit is often involved with us in giving us ideas and in having inspiration.

Now I do believe if we work hard enough and focused enough we can learn anything. However, how good we actually get at something often depends on our interest in it and if we pick it up easily. That is to say somethings we naturally seem to gravitate to and get quickly, usually something that gives us pleasure. I myself have learnt to play a few instruments at an elementary level. Yet I know people who can pick up an instrument they have never played before and within a few minutes they are playing it at a level that would take me weeks to match. So I do think we can have a bent towards a particular creative discipline. Does this then come from God that picks individuals out or is it more a case of being willing to listen to the spirit, to be receptive in a way similar to how Elizabeth believes, which is all about cooperation and being open.

Greeks talked about muses and Romans of having a genius. Today we talk of people being geniuses. The trouble is it can leads to arrogance and aloofness. We know God is creative and we too have that ability, it’s part of who we are as humans and that is all of us. We honour God when we use our creativity and so we should be humble and thankful, showing gratitude to God and possibly to the ideas themselves that we have been chosen to birth. We can reject an idea because it may not be the right time for us or some other issue is at hand and so we should do so graciously least we should offend and I think that keeps us grounded and stops egos taking over.

Our artistic creativity is a place where we can express our deep emotions. Through images, stories, and sound we can share something more than just facts, communicating in a way that connects us to others. Sometimes though, it is for just the fun of creating something that’s pretty. You see this with crafts like sowing and needle work. These crafts can fill a functional need, but can also be used to express our creativity and add something into the world that takes us beyond the mundane. For the artisan it gives them a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Creativity is not just about fine art and crafts, there are many areas where we can apply our creative abilities; science and medicine, industry and business, technology and philosophy. Humanity has seen tremendous advancements in these areas. Unfortunately that same creative spark in us can be used for destructive purposes and there has been many a regime and political leadership that has done so, bringing misery, subjugation and death into the world. Nuclear technology is a prime example, being used to kill thousands of people while also being used to provide energy to keep our modern society, so dependant on electricity, going. Who knows what other ways we can advance though using our creative capacity. But there is one possible threat to our creative spark that is on the horizon.

Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, but at the moment it is difficult to see how this will impact our lives and what it means for not just the creatives in our world but for all of us. The UK Government has recently announced that it wants the UK to be at the for front of the technology. Yet it has already caused concern from the creatives fearful of their intellectual property rights being bypassed by the AI companies as they use web scrapping to collected such material for training AI machines. Will we become lazy and become content creator instead of artist? Will it cheapen such art if anyone with an idea can just get an AI machine to do the work for them, removing any need for skill, or is that a good thing?

If spirituality and creativity are closely connected then what does that mean if machines do all the creative stuff? Do we just end up with content creation and fail to do one of the most important parts of being human: expressing love, joy, pain, fear, and loss into a body of work that can move the emotions of those exposed to it. I’m sure there will be many benefits to AI, but what we must not do is allow it to steal from us one of the defining attributes that has been given to us by God: The ability to be creative and add something to this world that is meaningful, beautify and a blessing.

Palestinian pastor from Bethlehem

Two peoples acting from trauma, cease-fires can only go so far as there has to be a deep healing of trauma for true shalom to come. Resolution does not come through violence as violence breeds violence; regardless of how one reads the Bible to call for co-habitation is anything but anti-Semitic and neither being in opposition to Zionism is to take an anti-Semitic stance. Munther Isaac is a pastor, a theologian from Bethlehem and with great grace speaks into the history and the current Gaza atrocity. (The link to the podcast / interview is below… Nomad Podcasts give a platform for voices to be heard that can open up fresh sight… recommended!)

Humility… greater than it is cracked up to be!!

God is a short word but what we fill the word with makes a huge difference. Is ‘Allah’ God is a strange question for Allah means ‘God’. The bigger issue is whether my God is truly the God of Israel and the Father of our Lord Jesus, or in simpler and very relevant language – is my God a Christlike God? None of us have a perfect vision / understanding of God, for it is when ‘he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is’ (1 John 3:2). There is a ‘test’ we can apply (oooooffff it is a tough one) we are more like God the clearer I see God / Jesus. So I have a way to go!

What words do you immediately associate with God (as revealed in Jesus). Maybe all-powerful, loving, accepting, harsh, tough… One of the words I associate with God is that of humility. Jesus being in the form of God (NOT IN SPITE OF) humbled himself – Jesus takes the God path. In a parable he suggests that in the age to come the one throwing the party will get up from the table and serve; while alive he gave us the instruction not to lord it over others.

Genesis and the tower of Babel (same word as Babylon) presents a humanity on a different path to the God-path. ‘We will be great’ being the banner.

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4).

The next verse is full of irony. A tower that truly reached heaven would be visible to the one who inhabits heaven, but we read that the God who can see all things came down to see the tower – obviously so did not reach heaven!!

Humility is the cloak of invisibility to the Slanderer; it is deeply set in the Lord’s prayer with the request that we be not led into temptation.

Big years globally lie ahead. Many rough waters to be traversed; many times the Lord will come down to see. While reading Genesis I have also been reading Matthew and in chapter 25 we might well have a reflection on the nations in the immediate post-70 AD/CE scenario but the application probably goes beyond that and it is expressed as a judgement of the nations. In separating the goats from the sheep the response was the same from the two separate groups:

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’
Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ (Matt. 25: 37-39, 44).

How you treated / reacted to the least of those that Jesus identifies as ‘family’ was the response.

Humility. I have been too close to movements that have thought they are the movement that will change the world. No, I don’t think so… I should put that stronger – no you are not! If God has given us something we should live and act as if the world will be deeply impoverished (oppressed) if we do not fulfil what has been entrusted to us, but we also realise that it might be the smallest contribution to the future. I (probably!!) have less years left than I have already had but be they few or many I aspire that humility will be part of my clothing and there will be no attempt at, or participation in, building a tower that reaches heaven… but if I have ‘two coins’ that I will knowingly or even accidentally throw them so that the impressive edifices come down.

Scripture and bad theology?

I have never been a big fan of some of the OT though the stories are certainly interesting. I have just finished Genesis and the opening chapters of Job. So what is that about ‘the council of the gods’ complete with ‘the satan’ (the accuser / adversary) present and in dialogue with God. OK I know some people make that fit into their theology, but I think I will give that one a miss. We do read the internal conflict that seems to be present as their theology is developed; compare these two texts on the same incident:

Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah” (2 Sam. 24:1).

and the later reflection acquits God of this action and applies it directly to Satan:

Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count the people of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report, so that I may know their number” (1 Chron. 21:1,2).

Maybe we can say that the later reflection is that Satan simply fulfils the will of God; all neat and tied up! Doesn’t cut it for me.

And in Genesis and again in Job we get some way dodgy theology. The brothers sold Joseph to Egypt and obviously are a tad worried once they later meet up and Joseph is the one who is second in command to the mighty Pharaoh. They fear he will take revenge, but he assures them that

Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today (Gen. 50:20).
So it was not you who sent me here but God (Gen. 45:8).

Joseph sees the hand of God throughout, but I think he does rather overstate it! Jumping forward to Job we get some well known verses that Job utters after he loses everything, including his own offspring:

[T]he Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

Yes we can take hold of such verses that help us understand that we won’t understand certain events / tragedies that take place… but the Lord taking away in that way? I don’t think so.

To simply endorse the above as ‘good theology’ as opposed to ‘good responses’ presents us with a God who does good and exercises evil as and when. That goes far beyond ‘I don’t have an answer’. The ‘sovereignty of God’ when stretched to that extent seems to badly portray God. Submission in the light of a lack of total sight is one thing, but to attribute activities such as that to God is something else.

It does help that Job seems to be a story that is set up to force a dialogue in the wisdom tradition – with Proverbs ‘do this and good happens, do that and bad happens’; Job with ‘a good geezer but bad things happened’; and Ecclesiastes with ‘the most fortunate human is a dead one for all is vanity’. That dialogue is still ongoing and those three books set it out for us.

We cannot simply lift a text here and there and then have our theology… the story of Scripture that points to the revelation of God in Jesus is the guiding narrative. Jesus might give us a different take on some OT events, for when he encountered the story of ‘judgement from God on a people’ he seemed to more put it down to ‘one of those things that happen’!

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.” (Luke 13:1-5).

There is judgement against wrongdoing recorded in both testaments, but Jesus seemed to emphasise that for our own good we should dismount the high horse of knowing it all. In so doing we might end up also with some dodgy theology – maybe simply different to the dodgy beliefs that can be espoused when on the horse, but hopefully with more humility and without the need to resort to the strange ‘God is sovereign’ response. For sure when we pray ‘let your kingdom come’ it might come through a strange path but probably not as a result of an active plan worked out between God and the Satan with us trying to work out ‘did God do this’ or ‘it was the work of Satan’.

Still great to read the Old Testament… but so glad we got Jesus the image of God.

Perspectives