Where Was God?
Tom Ascol
Where was God September 11, 2001? That's the question. Packed
into it are numerous other questions, like "Why didn't God
stop this from happening?" "Could God have stopped it?"
"What is God really like?" "How can we trust God
anymore?"
The answers depend on which deity is in mind. We have been told
by the radical Muslims who celebrate the mass murder in New York
City and Washington D.C. that Allah, whom they claim to be the
true God, was smiling with great approval at the brilliantly executed
attack in the jihad against the Great Satan, America. Others of
the Islamic faith decry such portrayals of Allah. But their answers
in defense of a sovereign, detached, despotic ruler offer no comfort
either.
Allah is conceived as one who rules over but has never come among
people. He is equally the author of good and evil. One Muslim
creedal statement declares:
God's one possible quality is His power to create good or evil
at any time he wishes, that is His decree... Both good things
and evil things are the result of God's decree. It is the duty
of every Muslim to believe this... It is He who causes harm and
good. Rather the good works of some and the evil of others are
signs that God wishes to punish some and to reward others. If
God wishes to draw someone close to Himself, then He will give
him the grace which will make that person do good works. If He
wishes to reject someone and put that person to shame, then He
will create sin in him. God creates all things, good and evil.
God creates people as well as their actions: He created you as
well as what you do.
Allah simply wanted to kill thousands of Americans that day. It
is his right to do so. Deal with it.
The Bible teaches the absolute sovereignty of God but gives no
room for the rationalistic fatalism of Islam. God is not the author
of sin. "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted
by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself
tempt anyone" (James 1:13). People are responsible for their
actions and thus are held fully accountable for their thoughts,
words and deeds. God's judgment at the end of history will not
be a sham but an execution of exact justice (Matthew 25:31-46).
Islam's answer to the questions—whether spoken from "moderate"
or "radical" Muslims—offer no lasting comfort and
cannot be reconciled with the Holy Word of God. Sadly, many of
the answers coming from the Christian community are equally unhelpful
and unbiblical. Granted, they don't assault our modern sensibilities
as much as Islam's portrayal of Allah, but at best they offer
cold comfort and tenuous hope to those who stare honestly into
the face of evil as it was portrayed in the latest terrorist attack
on the USA.
2
"God had nothing to do with this." "He wanted to
stop it but He couldn't." "In order to be fair to the
free will of the terrorists, God had to let this happen."
These answers, born out of real sorrow and desire to protect the
reputation of God as good and loving (which He most certainly
is) unwittingly line up with a relatively new and disastrous teaching
within evangelicalism known as "open theism."
Open theists read the Bible to portray God as, in some ways, contingent
on His creation. His omniscience is redefined to allow the claim
that "God knows all that there is to know, but the future
by definition is unknowable." Therefore, for the open theist,
God was caught off-guard by the terrorist attack. He was as surprised
when the airplanes crashed into the buildings as the men and women
who went to work that day in the World Trade Center. Thus, the
god of open theism is able to feel our shock and pain and commiserate
with us. This view, which gets God "off the hook" in
the face of evil, is the polar opposite of Islam. However, it
is no more satisfying to those who are committed to living out
a biblical worldview east of Eden.
Some truth is beyond our abilities to rationalize. That does not
mean that it is irrational, but rather that it is supra-rational.
It is above reason. We can know it because it has been revealed.
We cannot explain it because our minds are affected by the fall.
The incarnation is one such truth. Jesus Christ is fully God and
fully man. A committed rationalist will never accept this. To
him it is as speaking of a shape that is fully circular and fully
square. Since his mind cannot rationalize it, he will not accept
it. The Christian accepts it because God has revealed it in His
Word. This does not mean that we check our minds at the door of
the church but rather that we reason from faith. In Anselm's famous
phrase, our faith seeks understanding.
This is similarly true with the doctrine of the Trinity. Any well-trained
Jehovah's Witness can marshal impressive logical arguments against
this doctrine if his rationalistic presuppositions are granted.
But if we start, not from what our minds can conceive but from
what God has revealed in His Word, we will find ourselves bowing
to the God who, in ways that we cannot fully explain, has revealed
Himself as Father, Son and Spirit. Furthermore, we will love to
sing with Charles Wesley,
'Tis mystery all, the Immortal dies:
Who can explore this strange design?
In vain the first-born seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
Providence is another revealed mystery. How can God sovereignly
rule over a world of truly responsible creatures? How can He be
both good and sovereign when terrorists murder thousands of innocent
people? No answer will satisfy the demands of rationalism. Nevertheless,
faith directs the heart to the sovereignty and goodness of God
that blazes across eternity in the death of Jesus Christ.
Was the crucifixion of Jesus the will of God? He was the only
righteous man who has ever lived. He was innocent not only before
His murderers but also before God. His death was the most heinous
crime in human history. Did God have anything to do with it? Where
was God when His Son was hanging on the cross? Could He have stopped
it? Why didn't He?
God was there, and not merely as a casual bystander. He was the
Master of Ceremonies at the crucifixion. Jesus Himself told His
disciples as much as He prepared them for His coming death. After
the fact, the Apostle Peter spelled it out clearly in his sermon
at Pentecost. Of Jesus he said, "Him, being delivered by
the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken
by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;" (Acts
2:23). God was sovereign; they were responsible.
In that wicked, tragic death, God was doing His deepest work of
love and mercy. He was reconciling the world to Himself (2 Corinthians
5:19). The crucifixion reveals to us the depth of both the wisdom
and power of God. It shows us His love and goodness. It reassures
those who have come to know Him through faith in Jesus that He
is God and is "for us." It guarantees us that He will
work all things together for the good of those who love Him and
are called according to His purpose.
In times of sorrow and when confronted with horrific evil, God's
children should resist the temptation to rest in rationalizations,
whether on the right (Islam) or the left (open theism). Rather,
we should run to the crucified, risen Savior. Let faith be renewed
at the foot of the cross. The certainties revealed there give
strength to face the mysteries of life without despair.
Notes:
1Qur'an 37:94, cited by Norman Geisler, Baker Encyclopedia of
Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 374