Something That Makes Me Want to Throw Up

It is not in the least bit surprising that a post with that title would be driven by an article in... (drum roll)... Christianity Today.

What is surprising is that this post has little to do with what Christianity Today is doing, but rather what someone in Christianity Today is saying. Well, he's not just saying it in Christianity Today. He has been saying it for quite some time. And it makes me want to throw up.

I had forgotten where Greg Boyd really stands; the words that really come out of his mouth. They make me want to throw up.

Here is an excerpt from the article.

Inside the spacious, one-level sanctuary, Boyd bounds onto the stage, shirt untucked, wearing jeans but no shoes. His text is Luke 13:1-5, where Jesus responds to concerns about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus also mentions the 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell. "Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?" Jesus asks. "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

Boyd explains that we cannot know anything about why bad things happen.

"Everyone say squat," Boyd directs. The congregation dutifully responds. "That's what you don't know. You don't know squat."

Boyd then strings together a series of scenarios: one person is healed and another is not; one nation prospers and the other suffers.

"All we know is that in this unfathomably complex war zone, crap happens," Boyd says. "It hits the fan, sprays everywhere, and once in a while you get hit."

He elaborates to make sure no one misses the point. No one plans to come down with cancer. Nor should we pretend that cancer fits within God's will, he says.

"This wasn't in your daily planner. It wasn't in God's daily planner. This wasn't God's perfect script for your life," Boyd continues. "It's a war zone. There are a lot of wills that affect what comes to pass other than God's. Now of course the sovereign Lord of history is infinitely intelligent. So he anticipates every possible mess from all eternity, and he has a plan in place so that when the mess happens he has something in place to bring good out of it, to redeem it, to use it to his advantage. He doesn't cause messes for a purpose, but he brings purposes to the messes."

What a putrid expression of who God is. What makes Him God if lots of other wills affect what comes to pass? God has to shift this way and that to make His will work within everyone else's?

You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Romans 9:19-20

I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

Job 42:2

Maybe I will continue this discussion in future posts. If I can stomach it.