Salvation and the Bible 2

“SALVATION” Healing Conference Talk October 2012

Talking about salvation to a bunch of Christians is a treacherous thing. It is a doctrine about which many people have very firm beliefs. In days gone by some people even fought and killed each other in their arguments. Even so, I want to ponder Scripture together in the hope of providing some useful ideas.

Our world is a tough place, full of suffering, death and sin. We are too small and weak to defeat the forces at work against us and within us. We need help. We need a Savior.

Unlike other world religions the Christian Gospel, as descended from the Jewish Gospel, is not so much a plan to get saved as it is a declaration that GOD SAVES. We announce ‘He has saved,’ we demonstrate, “He is saving” and preach ‘He will save’. Salvation is God’s gracious activity. This is GOOD NEWS. We need only believe it, trust God and live accordingly.

   How do we best proclaim such salvation? To me, one problem is the way we talk about God. Let me illustrate:

In May 2008 a young flight attendant (Eder Rojas) took some paper towels into a rear bathroom and lit them on fire. His plan was to put the fire out and proclaimed a hero. However, to no one’s surprise, but his, he was found guilty and is serving 6 years in prison and was fined $100,000. No one has hailed him as a hero.

The problem is sometimes the way we talk about God sounds like He is a divine version of Eder Rojas...

God, we are told, is in complete and total control. He is pulling the strings and causes everything that happens every moment of every day. I often hear people say in the face of tragedy “Everything happens for a reason,” and the implied reason is God did it.

But this raises difficulties.

Does God create a drought so we will pray for rain?

Does God cause cancer and heart disease so we will pray for healing?

Is God ruining people emotionally, physically and mentally and then just healing a few?

Now He is God so if that is how He operates, so be it. But then we need to say “He saves us from the damage He does to us.” And our catechisms should indicate he behaves like a parent with Munchausen by proxy syndrome.

The Bible’s story of salvation does not sound like this. Yes there are occasions when God visits punishment on His people, but those are identified as special exceptions, not the constant norm. I do not think that God brings disease upon a person and then swoops in to heal and expects hymns of praise. Now I also admit that the complexity of creation far exceeds my capacity to understand. I am not smart enough and there are too many moving parts. However, it seems that in the midst of all that complexity, we can still know that God does not start fires so He can look like a heroic firefighter.

This may seem a slow motion way to address the issue of salvation, but we need to consider what it is from which God saves us. And I think it a bad idea to assume He saves us from Himself. I think it a bad idea to believe that God does harm so He can undo it. Everything happens for a reason, but sometimes the reason is not simply God. Sometimes it is the nature of a finite creation, a creation populated by free beings, beings who can choose and have chosen evil.

As we turn to the Bible, I want to begin in the OT. When Jesus rose from the dead the Gospels say that He taught the disciples by opening the scriptures. The only scriptures Jesus that had is our OT. There was no NT. So we can safely begin there. In fact, I would say ignoring the OT is a reason why the concept of "salvation" has been drained of much of its power in our current church situation.

Now I do need to add one clarification. In the OT there are places where God is depicted as the sole source of all events: "for weal and woe." However, it is best to understand that in light of other religions and their polytheistic beliefs. Israel made a radical claim that there is only ONE God. There are not multiple sources of reality. There is no cosmic war between competing divine entities, nor are there two principles, one good and one evil, which are the source of a schizophrenic creation. In earliest strata the first Jews/Israelites did not have a developed theology. They were not a theoretical people and their language is quite concrete. For example, in talking about time God does not live 'forever' but from age to age. So identifying God as the cause of everything they are actually declaring there is one God. Later, we note the appearance of lesser spiritual beings who are identified with evil, culminating with the NT and its notion of spiritual warfare, demonic forces and Satan. This may seem overly nuanced, but in the Bible word pictures are telling a story. We need ears to hear their message...

While the plain and literal reading would seem to be "God causes good and ill" it is probably not accurate. Remember, what was plain and literal three thousand years ago is no plain or obvious to us. Our assumptions are much different. While this does not prove my point I hope it makes it possible to at least entertain it. However, it is true that God is THE SOURCE of all creation and by virtue of that the AUTHOR (ultimately) for all that happens. He is the First Cause. But the creation has autonomy because He governs it by "physical laws" and as handed over free choices to the creatures. While the ultimate source of everything that happens, He is not the proximate and sole cause. The guy who stabs his neighbor is not a puppet doing God's bidding. God made the guy and created the elements formed into the knife but the man chooses to use the knife. The Bible also says God does not tempt us to evil. [tomorrow we will look at Genesis...]