Loving God without Reason

Spirituality Column #217
January 4, 2011
Current in Carmel - Current in Westfield - Current in Noblesville
(Indianapolis north suburban home newspapers)

Loving God without Reason
By Bob Walters

Have you ever asked …

“If God loves us so much, why would He permit (fill in the blank) – death, sin, disease, Satan, disaster, war, sadness, hunger, violence, cruelty … ?”

It’s a long list, and a question that separates many people from God.

The Bible tells us God created a perfect world in Genesis 1 and 2. “So,” we syllogize, “if that’s true, then …” we demand an explanation. We want answers and reasons. We want to know who’s in charge and what can be done about fixing things.

C’mon God, get with the program … I’m waiting here!

God the Creator Almighty, humans reasonably assume, is the very best place to lodge complaints, voice issues and seek answers about The Way Things Are. That’s one reason people seek God, go to church, get religion, etc.: in order to Fix Things.

When the fix they want doesn’t happen, when human expectations are unfulfilled, God begins to seem unreasonable, and logic tells us, “I’m at the wrong window. Surely there’s an answer, and this guy (God) doesn’t have one.”

So, we lose faith in God. Based on our reason, He can’t possibly love us.

Fresh into 2011, let’s examine reason as it relates to God, His love and our faith.

First, reason is a human thing, not a God thing. God didn’t reason the World into existence, He … created it. Reason is a tool God gave to mankind, presumably, to survive, express our freedom, and to help us discover God. I think this is true, or at least a good guess, because the Bible says nothing about “reason” applicable to God, only to mankind.

Besides, God would have no more need for reason than for a wristwatch. Where God lives – in eternity, in perfection, in community (the Trinity), in love, in His omniscient and omnipotent forever – the calculus of “figuring things out” – reason – would be utterly superfluous. It’s already figured out.

Second, divine love isn’t about reason. Humans use reason to define love, and then wonder why they lose it. God is pure love, and God giving us Jesus Christ – pure grace – should be all the evidence we need.

Third, the Bible says God will know our love by our faith, not by our reason.

Go ahead and ask God for reasons, but don’t be surprised when His answer is, “Love me, and have faith.”

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) hid the real problem inside the question. Satan is why things are so screwed up; he excels at giving us reasons to doubt our faith.