Theology Matters: May God Grant You an Interview

Today I began reading a book that is both troubling and sad. It is Bart Ehrman's new book, just came out, well actually yesterday, today is the 20th of February 2008 if you're watching this at a later time.

This came out on the 19th, it's called God's Problem, How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question, Why We Suffer. Now I really have the feeling, having read the book, that I don't think Dr. Ehrman came up with that subtitle, because that's really not what he addressed.

He doesn't even begin to prove how the Bible fails to answer our most important question. He in essence says the Bible gives a number of different answers, he thinks that they're contradictory answers, I think he's wrong about that.

But he doesn't prove that the Bible fails to answer this question, that sounds like a marketing technique, to be perfectly honest with you. But it is interesting what he says, as hopefully you know, if you're not familiar with Dr. Ehrman, he is an apostate, that's the technical term, that's not a term of derision, that's an accurate description of someone who once made a profession of faith, in fact he pastored a church, and today considers himself an agnostic.

He doesn't say he's an atheist, but he doesn't believe God exists, and so that makes one an apostate, he doesn't believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, he doesn't believe that Christ is his Savior, etc. etc.

There are a lot of insights into Dr. Ehrman's reasons for his apostasy found in this book, and that was one of the reasons I pre-ordered it even before it came out. But he says here on page 7, it was my belief then, and continues to be my belief now, that different biblical authors had different solutions to the question of why God's people suffer.

Some, such as the prophets, thought that suffering came from God as a punishment for sin. Some thought that suffering came from God's cosmic enemies who inflicted suffering precisely because people tried to do what was right before God.

Others thought that suffering came as a test to see if people would remain faithful despite suffering. Others said that suffering was a mystery, and that it was wrong even to question why God allowed it.

Still others thought that this world is just an inexplicable mess, and that we should eat, drink, and be merry while we can, and so on. It seemed to me at the time, and seems so now, that one of the ways to see the rich diversity of the scriptural heritage of Jews and Christians was to see how different authors respond to this fundamental question of suffering.

Now, Dr. Ehrman seems to believe that these various answers, and I wouldn't necessarily agree with all the categorizations, are contradictory to one another, rather than some being the means by which something else is accomplished, and it's not my intention in this particular video to really critique the entirety of the book.

Just noticing that John Shelby Spong is one of the endorsers gives you some idea of some of the problems with the book, but in essence, the reason I very quickly wanted to put this video up was, Dr. Ehrman's a fascinating fellow.

Sometimes what he says is just very clearly true. He's done a lot of study. He's a very intelligent man, and yet, in the midst of that intelligence, there is a, well, to a Christian, a maddening unwillingness to let two and two equal four, to allow two and two to be equal four, to allow the scriptures to speak for themselves, to allow them any level of self-consistency, for there to be any kind of larger message than, well, Dr. Ehrman wants to allow.

And sometimes he makes statements that just are truly amazing. He goes through the issue of Job and Job's sufferings, and he makes this statement on page 173, he says, and God, who appears at the end of the poetic exchanges, refuses to give a reason.

Job, Suffering, and God's Answer

And I stopped there because one of the first things I began thinking of as I was looking at this book was God's response to Job, found in chapters 40 and 42. And it reminds me a little bit of, that statement he made reminds me a little bit of the people who say that Paul, for example, never gives an answer to the great question of predestination and election and God's will in Romans 9, and I think he gave a very, very clear answer.

If we will but listen to what Paul said there, and I believe that God did answer, not in the human realm, the sense of putting himself in the witness chair and saying, okay, well, I'll now give you an answer for every bit of suffering, Job, that you have experienced that has brought about your current situation.

But I think Job recognized that God did answer, and the fact that Bart Ehrman cannot hear that answer says a lot about the nature of apostasy. What do I mean? Years ago, back before the internet, I was active in something called the BBS, the bulletin board systems, Fidonet, for those of you who are old enough to remember those things.

And in my mail reader, I had a tagline, sort of like you'd have a signature file on emails today or something like that. And it was specifically for Mormons, because Mormons have a very low view of God.

He's an exalted man, lived on another planet. And one of my taglines was, may God grant you an interview. And the scriptural reference was to Job chapter 40. And the whole idea was, if God would but come to you, and I believe he does this through the ministration of the word, ministration of the spirit of God, bringing about regeneration, but if God would just come to you and reveal himself for who he really is, you would see yourself for who you really are.

Listen to these words from the scriptures. Job chapter 40, the first five verses, then the Lord said to Job, will the fault finder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it. Then Job answered the Lord and said, behold, I am insignificant.

What can I reply to you? I lay my hand on my mouth. Once I have spoken, I will not answer, even twice, and I will add nothing more. But God does not stop there. He continues his revelation of who he really is and how he's the creator of all things.

And then in Job chapter 42, we read, then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?

Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Hear now, and I will speak, and I will ask you, and you instruct me. I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes sees you.

Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes. This is not Job saying, oh, I should never have asked questions. This is Job recognizing that he is a man, and he is recognizing the holiness of God.

We think of the holiness of God as merely moral purity. It's not. The root of that meaning is that that term means uniqueness, separateness, otherness. And God is completely other. And when we see ourselves in the light of his own self-revelation, then we begin to realize that we have no right to harbor within ourselves an accusation of injustice on the part of God.

We cannot even begin to plumb the depths of his wisdom, let alone his sovereignty and.

Power.

And Job recognizes no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Job has come to understand that the purposes of God will be accomplished. God answered Job. He just didn't answer Job the way that Bart Ehrman would like him to.

And that's where the problem really lies, because Job was a spiritual man. The natural man does not understand those things. And so, I'll have more to say in the future about God's problem. It's not God's problem, it's Bart Ehrman's problem with God.

And that's the important difference.