I hesitate to write this, because I hate to give publicity to those who don’t deserve it, but since I find this line of thinking creeping into the heads of Christians in other subtle ways, I think it needs to be addressed, so here goes…

As I’ve listened to those connected to the Virginia Tech tragedy, I’ve heard some anger and outrage directed at a certain “church” out of the Midwest that had planned to come and picket the funerals of the fallen men and women.  This “church” (and yes, I’ll continue to use quotes to describe them and will not mention them by name) represents the very worst of “Christianity” (again, I need to use quotes) in their insistence on doing all in their power to spread the message that God hates America for its immorality, that the senseless deaths of soldiers and civilians should be celebrated because the gunmen and terrorists are agents of God’s judgment, and that homosexuals especially need to know how much God hates them.  Apparently this “church” agreed this week to forego picketing the Tech funerals in exchange for a three-hour time slot on a national radio show, so at least some grieving families will be spared further pain.

Examples of picketers at recent military funerals and Gay pride parades
 
I’ve been leading a small group discussion before church this month on “The Art of Spiritual Friendship” with the goal of educating our congregation on how to respectfully dialogue about spiritual issues with people in our lives.  This past Sunday we talked about rebuilding trust with those who have been hurt by the church or Christians, or who are put off by negative perceptions they have of Christians.  The truth is that there are so many reasons to reject Jesus, and most have to do not with Jesus himself but with the inability of his followers to treat people the way he did.  This “church” certainly at the top of the list when it comes to destroying the reputation of Christianity; we can only pray that like Saul on the road to Damascus, they will experience Jesus appearing to them and saying, “Why are you persecuting me?”

Thankfully, I believe the average American recognizes that this “church” is completely out of step with the way Jesus would handle a grieving campus, a lesbian, or a family of a dead soldier.  As outraged as people are that a church would actually think picketing a funeral is what God would want, I don’t think it causes them to be outraged at God, because they know this “church” isn’t what Jesus had in mind.  My concern, as I mentioned in the introduction, is that this “church’s” theological understanding of the relationship between God and Christians and God and sinful humanity has influenced some Christians in subtle ways. 

For example… I recently received an e-mail from someone who experienced the following in his church:

“Yesterday, our church was praying over the VT tragedy, and one participant began to pray about how we brought this on ourselves and also to pray that the country would repent from kicking God out of the schools, and defiling marriage. This caught me off guard, and I was further shocked to hear ‘amens’ exclaimed all around me. My mind immediately fell out of prayer. My heart dropped and I began to feel ill. Later the pastor reaffirmed these statements saying when we take God out of our lives we bind his hands preventing him from protecting us.”

What are the similarities between this line of thinking and that of the Midwest “church,” and what are the theological fallacies?  First of all, there is the belief that if you believe in God, then you will be spared from harm.  Of course, Jesus’ life shows that even the most perfect of people can experience horrific injustice in this world, and Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28, where he recounts all the beatings, imprisonments, hardships, and danger he has experienced as he follows Jesus, should put that line of thinking to rest permanently.  I believe that God protects his people spiritually (e.g. John 10:27-28 - I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand), but the roll call of Christian martyrs would testify that belief in God doesn’t protect you from unjust torture, suffering, or death.  The fallen at Virginia Tech included Christians and non-Christians, Americans and foreign-born people – there was certainly no discrimination.  Therefore, for a pastor to say that “when we take God out of our lives we bind his hands preventing him from protecting us” may be accurate on a spiritual level, but not on a physical level.  Instead of making such thoughtless statements, let us instead praise God for his spiritual protection, that “neither death nor life (nor homicidal gunmen), neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). 

The second fallacy I see is the belief that tragedies that strike America are God’s punishment on our country for forsaking him.  America is not a Christian nation, nor has it ever been (yes there were many Christians among its founders, but many deists as well), and God does not treat America or any other nation as he treated the people of Israel in the Old Testament.  God’s people, the church, is a people made up of men and women from every nation, race, and ethnicity.  I do not see Biblical basis for God treating America as an entity (if I’m wrong, please let me know).  In the Old Testament, when the Israelites turned away from God, he did remove his protection and allowed agents of judgment such as the Babylonians to defeat the people of God.  Therefore, it is probably accurate to say that when God’s people today (the church) turn away from him, he removes his blessing and presence from that church (or denomination).  This may be what is meant by the letter to the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5 – “You have forsaken your first love.  Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place” (the lampstand likely represents the church’s presence and witness, displaying the light of Christ).  I do not believe the Virginia Tech gunman was God’s agent of judgment, nor do I believe that God sent the plane that hit the World Trade Center or the flood that hit New Orleans as agents of His judgment.  They are simply the product of living in a fallen world.

The God I know as revealed in the person of Jesus weeps over the injustice of the world and the tragedies that befall humanity, including the Virginia Tech tragedy.  But more than that, he asks us to see them as wake up calls to our need for Him.  In Luke 13:4-5, he tells his disciples that the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them did not die because somehow they deserved it more than those who didn’t die.  But he also tells them to take that as a warning sign to turn from their sin to faith in Him, or they will one day perish.  God did not send the gunman, nor does he protect Christians physically from suffering.  However, we can take comfort and thank God for the fact that while a gunman might be able to end a physical life, nothing will ever separate those who know Jesus from His eternal love.

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