What is your basic concept of God? Do you think of Father as far away, secluded in heaven, and isolated from the evils of this corrupt world? Are your sins intolerable to his holiness? Do you wonder how he could love you?
Such theology is old. It is common in many religions, including several that influenced the Jews. This belief requires a holy and pure god to remain separate from everything unholy and impure. Religious rituals bridge the gap to allow at least partial access and the hope of answered prayers.
The Bible references such ideas. One of the favorite “proof” texts is Habakkuk 1:13a “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing” (NIV). However, that passage is immediately followed by “Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (NIV).
The Hebrew word translated “tolerate” has the same base as “look on.” God does see. He sees every sin, every evil. Yet, he lets it happen. This inaction shows God’s normal behavior. He did not stop the serpent from entering the garden. Nothing hindered Abel from going into the field with Cain. God did not blind David to the beauty of Bathsheba. Theologians deduced the procrastination as segregation. They say sin repels God so much that he cannot interact with people to stop evil. Then, to repress the growth of sin in a community, God suddenly resorts to extreme anger and violence from a distance.
I ask, “Where is the justice in that scenario? How does that show the All-Mighty hand?” More importantly, “Where is God’s love?”
The theology becomes problematic with the first assessment of God. For humans to become pure, we must separate ourselves physically and emotionally from things that pollute our endeavor to remain pure. Mingling that into the description of God is wrong. It remakes him into our image.
Nothing we do sullies God’s holiness or his purity. This imperfect world is his creation: he made it. If he is everywhere, then God interacts with every particle of every atom throughout the entire universe. He even controls the space between the atoms. “Everywhere” includes the most evil human that ever existed. Our holy God was with them as they made their plans and committed their crimes. God was with them as they murdered good people. “Everywhere” also includes you and me. He is with us when we sin. We cannot hide.
That concept makes our head spin. We do not want God to hang out with evil people. We do not want God to know when we are bad. Yet, that is what the Bible teaches. God knows our wicked thoughts because he is with us. That intimacy is why sin makes God sad or angry. He is right there as we deliberately choose to do something wrong.
We ask, “Why would God subject himself to such horrors? Why doesn’t he just take away sin?”
The answer is simple: because He loves us. If God destroyed sin, then no human could exist, because we all sin. If God never gave humans the capability to sin, then we would not have the God-like ability to choose between good and evil. Giving us free will was God’s plan from the beginning. Our holy God gave us the choice to act like him, or not. He wants us to give love freely, and love cannot be forced.
God did not set up a hierarchy of big evils and little sins. Religion did that. Sin is sin, merely the transgression of the law. Evil is a conscious effort to harm someone unjustly or to persuade someone to sin. God desires that we realize sin is wrong and choose to make better choices. Our Creator set up a system to redeem us, where he took responsibility for humanity’s ability to sin. As Jesus, our holy God paid the price of death because he knew we could not do so ourselves. He continuously gives mercy when we falter. And, God freely grants forgiveness to each repentant heart.
He does the same for every generation within a nation. He sends prophets and teachers to guide and teach. However, when leaders repeatedly choose contempt over kindness, the population eventually considers evil as normal and goodness as foolishness. Love, mercy, and forgiveness become restricted to the few; their value hoarded for selfish desires and compromised on a whim. God will wait until the sins of that nation become irreversible. Only then does he act to cleanse the region of the influence of evil. The people chose their path and their judgment.
Our Father wants us to live as good people, where we mirror his love for humanity. God grants us mercy each time we transgress his law. This desire demonstrates his undying love. We sin repeatedly. Our Creator offers us complete forgiveness each time we repent. All we need to do is trust him to do what he says he will do. Then the God of Abraham will count our faith as righteous.
