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Tears From Heaven

Monday, August 22nd, 2011 | Author:

“You will say this word to them, ‘Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, with a sorely infected wound.’”  Jeremiah 14:17  NASB

Not cease – Does God cry?  Does He cry over His people?  Does He cry over the hideous behavior of men?  Does He cry over you?

In most theological constructions, the idea that God actually feels emotions, that He could actually cry, is considered impossible.  Language like this is anthropomorphic.  It doesn’t actually describe God as He really is.  It only describes the way that God communicates in human terms so that we might have some apprehension of the circumstances.  Theologically, God cannot cry.  Why?  Because God is not the kind of being who is subject to the sways of passions.  He is perfect and perfection means He does not need to or ever can change.  Since emotions are changes par excellence, they are not appropriately ascribed to God.  This doctrine is called impassibility (you can look it up in most theology books).  It is a direct result of immutability (God does not change).

Why would theologians ever dream up something like this?  It seems so contrary to anything believers would wish of the God they worship.  What motivation can there be for bringing our trials and hurts and sorrows to God if He cannot feel?  The theology that creates this paradox comes from the desire to attribute to God only the most superlative characteristics (like holiness, goodness, mercy).  In other words, in order to protect the majesty of God, theologians removed anything that might appear to be entirely too human.  This is not a Greek worldview problem (but, of course, it has plenty of representatives in Western theology).  Even among Jewish sages, immutability was a way to protect the glory of God.

In contrast, Heschel remarks that Akiva viewed God’s love for Israel as a heart connection.  The marriage metaphor of Scripture demonstrated that God was intimately connected to Israel, suffering with Israel, redeeming Israel, empathizing with Israel in His cosmic purposes.  According to Akiva, God does cry.  How else would a husband express the sorrow of being rejected by His one true love?  Other sages did not view God’s relationship with Israel in this manner.  They thought of God’s covenant as a matter of the will, not the heart.  God, by His own declaration, was obligated to Israel regardless of any emotional expressions.  Their view is that God’s commitment is a moral imperative, not the outcome of an overwhelming and compelling love.  God promised.  That is the end of the matter.

So we see that men have struggled to understand God’s pathos for millennia.  This verse in Jeremiah allowed Rabbi Tanhuma to claim that it must be about God, that God cries because no man can cry without ceasing.  The Hebrew phrase, al-tidmena (do not let cease – from the verb damah), is used again in Lamentations 3:49.  If Akiva and Tanhuma are right, God is very much a God of divine pathos, a God who feels!  But what a paradox this creates.  We don’t want a God who is like Zeus or Marduk, subject to personal whims and human bribes, but we can hardly worship a God who is far removed from all that makes our lives into roller-coasters.  Theology typically opts for transcendent divinity – at the cost of denying empathy.  Scripture seems to point in both directions at the same time.  Perhaps this is why the great theologians like Augustine and Boethius advised preachers not to actually say anything about this doctrine.

Aside from the theological puzzles, there is something else to learn here.  What kind of God do you serve?  Does your theology require a straightjacket around life as you know it, or does it give you confidence that God knows your passions and sorrows?  Are you willing to allow Scripture to contain paradoxes or does the logic of your position force you to remain silent about some implications?

Oh, yes.  One final thought.  If you can live with a God who is holy, glorious and eternal and at the same time experiences intimate empathy, then why do you have trouble with other supposed paradoxes (like predestination and free will)?  Does your theology tell you what you must believe or do you believe what you have experienced in His presence?

Topical Index:  immutability, cry, cease, damah, Akiva, Tanhuma, Jeremiah 14:17

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Political Idolatry

Monday, August 09th, 2010 | Author:

For you have said in your heart, “I will go up to the heavens. I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit in the mount of meeting, in the side of the north.  I will rise over the heights of the clouds; I will be compared to the Most High.” Isaiah 14:13-14

Compared – Isaiah speaks about the attitudes of Babylon.  Isaiah’s condemnation reveals the hubris of Babylon and Babylon’s attempt to usurp the place of God in the affairs of men.  Don’t read this too quickly.  There is something here that is very familiar, perhaps far too familiar.  But we need to take a step backward in order to see the application of Isaiah’s proclamation.

We need to notice that Isaiah condemns the political idolatry of Babylon.  What is political idolatry?  It is the assumption of roles and rituals by the State that rightly belong only to God.  In the Hebrew worldview, only God is King.  He may grant others the permission to act as His representatives (earthly kings), but He is Lord of all creation.  Any attempt by any person or power to displace His ultimate authority over all the affairs of men is a despicable sin because it is war against God’s reign and rule.  Babylon epitomizes this arrogant attempted coup d’etat by claiming that it is entitled to the highest throne.  What does that mean for Babylon’s citizenry?

When the State commits idolatry, it generally assumes roles that stretch beyond the political bounds.  In other words, the State begins to think and act like it is God.  It begins telling its citizens how they should conduct their ordinary affairs.  It starts regulating all economic transactions.  It takes control of education.  It provides alternative “religious” practices designed to glorify the State.  It demands deification of the nation and the leaders of the nation.  It grasps for more and more power.  It seeks control wherever possible.  It determines what is justice.  It decides what is good.  Each of these behaviors are direct confrontations with the authority of God, for He alone is the Lawgiver over life.  Whenever the State ceases to act as the Lord’s servant, whenever the State rejects or ignores the strict limitations placed upon it by biblical authority, it acts idolatrously.  Babylon is but one historical example of a constant threat to the sovereignty of YHWH by men who believe themselves worthy of worship.  A State that assumes the role of regulator, economic engine, educator, judge, jury, provider, protector and possessor is a political entity at war with God.

In this kind of war, there are no non-combatants.  As citizens of the State, we become endorsers of its unholy program whenever we adopt its offer to replace the roles rightfully belonging to God.  The State is not my mother, father and brother.  It is not my provider, promoter or priest.  It must never become my hope, my only help or my highest good.  If I allow any of these roles to become functions of the State, I mount the tower of Babel with the rest of the insurgents.

The Hebrew verb damah means “to make oneself like, to resemble.”  The pictograph, “behold, the door of chaos,” is an apt image.  It is possible to make an image of God without producing a single artifact.  All that is needed is to usurp His role.  All that is necessary is to attempt to replace Him.

Topical Index: idolatry, Isaiah 14:13-14, State, politics, damah

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Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 6 Comments