God In A Box

"Human hunches do not give us right answers about God. Neither can we learn how God would behave by looking at the way nice people do things" (Dowsett in God, That's Not Fair! cited in Ajith Fernando, Sharing the Truth in Love).

Far too much of modern theology is made up of people deciding God's attributes and actions based on their ability to conceive of such a God in their own mind. The age old problem of theology has been man's attempt to make God fit in his box. We compare God to how people do things.

Perhaps in no discussion is this more evident than in discussion about God's sovereignty in salvation. I heard one lady say that it was impossible that she could love her children more than God loves her children. For her, this was one of the bases on which she discounted unconditional election. The kind of love she inferred from such a teaching was incompatible with "the way nice people do things." I have heard others complain that unconditional election is "not fair." This is nothing but an appeal to human fairness, and the conceptions of the human mind. Interestingly enough, I never hear these same people complain about the unfairness of sending an innocent man to die for the sins of guilty people. I never hear them complain that God's love for people is far greater than a mother's love for her children because God's love is effectual—it accomplishes its ends.

I have had people tell me that I deny that God loves the world. I correct them by quoting John 3:16 where God says he loves the world. They reply that unconditional election is incompatible with that. "Says who?" I respond. The fact that something my not fit in my theological box means my box is wrongly shaped. I didn't come up with either teaching. God did, and I am fully convinced that he means both with no contradiction. The fact that my mind is too small to get my arms around something is my problem, not God's.

The task of Christianity is to find out what God says about himself and then sell our souls out to believe it with great passion and confidence. Don't try to make God fit in your box.