A Militant God?

In an earlier post I began discussing the correct view of God. The two major ones being that God is totally loving, and that he is militantly against sin. I have already pointed out that the God of love view is incorrect because it gives no way of motivating people. It also leads to a culture where there are no real absolutes. But is the militant view (God of judgment) any better?

The God of judgment view focuses all of its attention on his holiness. Because of this those who hold to this view spend the majority of their time pointing out commands of God for our lives. Of course I don't believe that there is anything wrong with proclaiming how a Believer should live. But placing a huge amount attention on what we should not do many times does more harm than good.

The high school that I attended as a teenager definitely believed in the God of judgment view. That does not mean I didn't enjoy being there. During my years there I developed many close friendships, and learned a lot from my teachers. God used the experiences in that High School to make me a stronger person, and I was able to be part of the student government for two years. I still have many fond memories of my days there.

But my love for that high school could not change the fact that it preached a God of judgment. Many sermons preached in our chapel services were little more than men yelling at us about what we were doing wrong. And out of those sermons came rules concerning what we should or should not do. Those rules were shared and explained in almost every Bible class, most devotionals given during the week, and basically every sermon we heard. After a time it seemed as if following those rules was the most important thing in our walk with God.

The danger of this view concerning God appears in two ways. Number one is the fact that when following the rules becomes the most important thing in life, it is very easy to start preaching personal opinion. Looking back at the sermons I heard at my high school it appears that at least 80% of them were using Scripture to preach personal opinion. The real danger with this is that in time if personal opinion is preached from the pulpit it is viewed on the same level as doctrine.

Personal opinion issues were defended at this school as strongly as Salvation by grace through faith. This leads to what I feel is the true failure of the God is judgment view. It focuses on the outer person instead of the heart. Now I don't feel in any way that it is wrong to enforce rules in christian school or elsewhere. But making those rules the most important thing just creates a generation of Pharisees. Christ called those men white washed sepulchures because they looked good on the outside, but on the inside they were filled with dead mens bones.

I thank God that during my time at the high school there was a group of young people who truly wanted to give God control of their lives. But that is not the normal result of holding the God is judgment view.

There is a very well known story of a man who came forward following a service at a church to be saved. The pastor of this church held very strongly to the God of judgment view. He brought the man before the church and told them that the gentleman wanted to be saved and join the church. He then told them that would happen as soon as the man cut off his long hair. This was to be done by a barber who was kept at the church for just such an ocassion.

God desires much more than a person who follows the rules. He desires believers who will develop an intimate relationship with him. A relationship of dependence that involves giving him control of their lives every day. And that is what will lead a person to follow the rules in a correct way. Not because they are being watched all of the time, but because they want to.