Book Quote, etc.

Thomas is reading "Is God to Blame?" by Gregory A. Boyd to me. Today he read this quote and it was so helpful that I wanted to share it.

"Most of us don't like ambiguity. Life is generally easier when we believe that everything is clear and simple. This, I believe is part of our legacy of eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In our fallen delusion, we believe it's our right and with our capacity to declare unambiguously who and what are "good" and "evil." We aren't omniscient but having eaten from the forbidden tree, we have a misguided impulse to judge matters as though we were. We have difficulty accepting our finitude and the massive ignorance and ambiguity attached to it.

In point of fact, however, creation can only be experienced by finite being as unfathomably complex and therefore mostly ambiguous. We have no means of ascertaining more than a minute fraction of the variables that factor into each event within this unfathomably complex creation. This isn't because we are fallen: it's simply because we are finite. This is why our original job description--which God is yet calling us to fulfill--involves very little knowing but a great deal of loving. Our limited domain of responsibility is primarily to love God and others as we are filled with God's love. Hence the Bible repeatedly calls us to love and to refrain from judgement (Mt 7:1-5; Rom 2:1-5; Jas 4:11-12).

Because of our addiction to the forbidden fruit, however, we want to know and judge. If our finite knowledge can't adjust to the complexity of reality, we simply try to readjust the complexity of our finite capacity to know. Hence we bracket off the complexity of reality and act as if things were simple enough for us to understand.

This is why many people are compulsively inclined to judge other on the basis of surface behavior, bracketing off the vast complexity of variables that affect and perhaps explain this perceived behavior. Though the Bible expressly forbids it, pretending that we know and thus can judge a person's heart gives us a sense of ethical superiority and personal security. And this is also why we are inclined toward simplistic, formulaic theologies. Like Job's friends and Job himself, we feel secure when we bracket off the complexity and ambiguity, and convince ourselves that the world unfolds according to a divine blueprint. We assume that everything can be explained by appealing to God's will or the wills of people...

A healthier perspective, one which honors God's character revealed in Christ and refrains from indicting people, acknowledges ambiguity and warfare up front. We must with confidence anchor ourselves in what we can know--that God looks like Jesus--and simply confess ignorance about everything else."

Because this is part of a book - a larger argument - I hope it makes sense pulled out of context. There were two things that especially stood out to me.

1. I don't have to know/understand, but I do have to love, and that is quite enough work for me. This ties back to my thoughts on "Walking Wounded;" we just don't know enough to be uncharitable. But love does not require us to be walked all over, rather it demands that we fix our eyes on Jesus and let him lead us through difficult situations.
2. A complex world is not so scary when I know that God reveals himself clearest through Jesus. I know Jesus, but more importantly, he knows me. When I find myself fretting over what God is trying to teach me or what bad thing God will bring my way to make my life miserable so I will trust him more, I can correct my thinking by reminding myself of what I know about Jesus. Jesus always came along side those who were weak and wounded. He didn't cause misery or pain without clearly explaining why. And when people asked him if a person's sin was the cause of their trouble, he showed that is the wrong question.

So when my child will not sleep in his bed and I end up laying on 6 inches of my bed because if I move, he wakes up and starts crying again, instead of wondering "why God is doing this to me" and "what am I doing wrong" and "what is he trying to teach me," I can instead be filled with compassion for this little boy who is beginning to realize that the world is a big, unpredictable, and sometimes scary place where we don't always get our way. Instead of fear, I can respond out of love. Instead of frustration, I can realize that I am building a relationship. Here, even as I don't sleep, I can be preaching the Gospel with my life. And eventually, he will learn to sleep in his own bed and I will miss all those times of cuddling him.

Just for the record, if you read the book, which I do recommend, he does say some things about Chaos Theory that I don't know if I agree with, but I think his point about the complexity of the world, physical and spiritual, is a good one.