One of my favorite pastimes is to get together with my wife and a bunch of friends and watch the UFC championships. I especially like watching when the fighters “take it to the ground.” It is pretty amazing to see two ultra-strong men straining against each other; fighting to breathe, fighting to plan their next step. Though I am no MMA master, I’ve thought many times over the past couple of weeks that I can empathize with those fighters a little better. As I have been reading through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome I have had to grapple with questions that I think would make even the greatest in Brazilian Ju-jitsu “tap out.”
The Context
When I take a look at life, I see several serious questions that must be dealt with. The most obvious and most immediately are what I call the questions of Origin, Meaning and Destination. These are the “Where did I come from?” “Why am I here?” “Where am I going?” questions. I am certainly not the first to tackle these questions, and the answers others have given are many and varied. They can, however, be grouped into two general categories. Every answer will at the root be either Theistic or Atheistic. One must decide from the start whether or not deity will lay the foundation. Then, of course, when that decision is settled a host of new questions emerge (what about evil, suffering, goodness, morality, etc.?) and one feels as though he could quickly drown in the flood.
These are among the many problems that Paul addresses in his letter to the Roman Christians. In chapter one he asserts that his answers will be theistic—he begins with god. He also quickly states that man has an innate knowledge that there is a god, yet man has chosen to “suppress” this knowledge (Rom. 1:18-19). He further says that this god’s divine nature and eternal power are evident in the natural world (1:19-20). Paul’s conclusion here is that the one who, in the face of this evidence, still chooses to pursue his own desires rather than to pursue more knowledge about this god is without excuse and rightly judged (v. 20).
A second thing that stands out in these opening verses is the idea of righteousness versus unrighteousness. The reader is introduced in verse 17 of chapter one to the idea of the “righteousness of God,” and the fact that the “wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.” I conclude from this that the God of the Bible is righteous, and, since he is eternal, the author of righteousness. I think it is also safe to conclude that to be ungodly is to live in a manner inconsistent with God’s revealed character and is therefore equivalent to unrighteousness.
As we move through the letter, Paul’s argument unfolds further. In chapter three Paul states that everyone has sinned, committed unrighteousness, (v. 10-18) and that the “whole world” is “held accountable to God,” (v. 19). He then explains in chapters four and five how salvation has come to mankind and is available through faith in Jesus the Christ. So Paul gives the problem that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and the solution that all are “justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (3:23-24).
Thus far the formula is easy; God created man, man rebelled and thus deserves punishment, but God mercifully provided a savior, Jesus, so that all who put faith in him will be spared God’s wrath. As we come to chapter nine, however, things are suddenly not so “cut and dry.” As Paul endeavors to explain the plan behind the plan, the questions and emotions begin to billow and swell like a swarm of angry yellow-jackets.
It is here that Paul strongly asserts and defends God’s power and right to choose the destiny of
every individual. It is here we learn that God determined before the world was formed who
would be allowed into heaven and who would be left to hell. It is here that we encounter such
verses as 10-13 that state “though they (Rebecca’s children) were not yet born and had done
nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because
of works but because of his call—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is
written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’” These are just a few of the verses in this chapter that explain the predestinating plan that lies behind the plan laid out in the previous chapters.
The Catch
So many thoughts and ideas whirl through my mind when I consider these things, but I will try to clearly articulate what could be called “the catch” for me personally—the big question. It has been asked countless times “How could a good God allow evil and suffering?” My question is not so much a matter of how (as that is clearly explained in the Bible, esp. Romans), but why. Why would God, who claims to be good, create men just to eternally destroy them in hell?
Remember, the argument of scripture is that all of man is born under and has committed sin, and that God has mercifully sent his son to save those who would believe in him (Ps. 51:5, Rom. 3:23, Rom. 5:8-9). Now some try to solve the problem by saying that it is the choices we make that send us to heaven or hell. They would have us believe that man’s will, his inmost driving force, is free—that he absolutely free to decide on his own whether or not he will accept Jesus as his savior, and that it is the sin of rejecting Christ as savior that sends men to hell. This, however, is an answer I cannot accept because it simply does not fit with what scriptures says in Romans 9 and elsewhere. Others agree with scripture, that all is predestined, yet they still emphasize man’s responsibility in moral matters. Ultimately they too hold that people are sent to hell for rejecting Jesus as savior.
While I would fall more into the latter camp, due to the fact that I believe scripture means what it says when it talks about predestination, my question remains. Why would God, who claims to be good, create men just to eternally destroy them in hell? Why does he find it pleasurable to burn persons, humans in unimaginable torture? Why predestine a man to fall? Why predestine the entire human race to be born under sin? Why punish people for sins they were predestined to do?
While these questions relate largely to the Origin and Destination problems I mentioned earlier, many also arise in my mind concerning Meaning. To me, after wading through all these explanations and implications, one question remains. In light of the fact that all has been predestined before the world was made, and in light of the fact that the way things have been predestined is based not on anything men have done or will do, but is based merely on how God feels like doing things, is it possible that the names we call things are no more than empty labels?
For example, is there really such a thing as right and wrong, or is the heart of the matter that God predestined one to act this way and another to act that way? Is there really such a thing as human thought, rationality, decision-making—humanness,
Alan Moore’s Comedian looked at life and saw a joke—a cosmic prank (Watchmen, Alan Moore). Another has said life’s explanation lies in the fact that we merely dance to our DNA (Out of Eden, Richard Dawkins). While I reject this, is it perhaps true that we are simply dancing to our predestined conditions (Ps. 139:16)?
The Conclusion
These then are the questions that come to my mind as I consider life’s Origin, Meaning and Destination. My objective here is not to be obnoxious or rebellious, but to understand how things work, and why. I look at the problems of Reality, the response of Religion and I try to reason my way to a congruent, consistent solution (one might say a solution that “gee-haws”).
Paul’s answer, given in verse 20 of chapter 9, is rather forceful and abrupt. “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?’” This is simply not a satisfactory answer for me, at least at this stage of my walk with Christ, but perhaps this is the point at which human reason breaks down. Perhaps a gloriously beautiful plan does exist that we will understand in the future. After all, if we are going to make God our foundation, then perhaps we are at a disadvantage from the beginning in considering all this, as he is infinite in all ways and we are but his creation.
In the mean time, what are we to do? Do we get caught up in the cyclone of unanswered questions and despair? I think not. In the end, I think the best response, after meditating and reasoning as far and hard as we can, is to lay our concerns at the feet of Jesus and focus on what we can understand. In the end, maybe the best answer is faith.
