Philip Yancey
Yancey's statement is a beautiful sentiment that needs some explaining. Until Jesus walked the earth, the only perception of God that existed was that he was a fearful, angry being that one needed to appease in order not to be punished. One only needs to look at the ancient depictions of the Babylonian, Mesopotamian, or Egyptian gods to see there animalistic faces with sharp teeth and blood dripping from their mouths to understand what I mean. One reads the ancient mythologies and discovers that people were fearful of the gods, some of whom might be warring against them. Then we come to the Hebrew Scriptures and we read, “Thus says the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do you commit this great evil against yourselves? . . . Why do you provoke Me to anger?” (Jer 44:7-8) (cited from blog entitled "My God is an Angry God"; an excellent blog showing God's depiction as angry in Hebrew poetry). We read other verses such as: "Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you," (Deuteronomy 9:8), "Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you" ( Joshua 23:16), "Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it" (Isaiah 13:9), and "While the food was still in their mouths, the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel" (Psalm 78:30-31) (cited from "An Angry God"). Prior to Jesus, God was seen as an angry and judgmental God. Essentially he had what they would call in the Public Relations department a "perception problem."
Then came Jesus. What is unique about Jesus (one of the many things) is that he came on the scene in a very unexpected way. He was born into a dirt poor family in a dirt poor environment. He was an illegitimate child living in a neighborhood where rumors swirled about who his "real father" was (We often read the account of the response Jesus got when he returned home as a positive response, which is ironic since the people nearly threw him off a cliff. Reread Matthew 13:54-56, but put a nasty tone into the people's mouths and you will really understand what they thought of Jesus' family life). Jesus was incarnated into the situation in which he was, so that he could relate to people in that same situation, and so he could approach people as God without them fearing Him. Philip Yancey gives us this wonderful illustration where he talks about how the fish in his aquarium react to him. He feeds them and makes sure their water stays clean. He is the sole reason they are alive, yet everytime he nears them, they react like he is about to murder everyone of them. This is how people have responded to God. We do not understand him, and so we have depicted him as this giant, nasty, evil, angry, wrathful, vengeful God. He finally decided it was time to become like one of us so that we would not run away at his approach. What was Adam's first response to God after the first sin, he hid because he was afraid. When Adam and Eve sinned, we no longer understood God's love and compassion. It was not until Jesus came along, gentle and loving, caring and compassionate, that we became free to approach God once again without fear.
So why do Christians still perpetuate this image of God being a God to fear. Being an angry, malicious, wrathful God? Why is it that so many people are so afraid to approach Christianity? We have forgotten what Jesus represents. We have misrepresented his teachings. Jesus came to say to everyone, "come unto me, for I love you and want to be with you." Many Christians perpetuate this message: "stop sinning or you'll go to hell." Jesus' emphasis was never on hell. He mentioned a place like hell occasionally, but it is my belief that on these occasions, Jesus was speaking about the religious leaders of his day that were going down to hades due to their oppression of the people. Hell was never intended as a motivation to turn to Jesus. Jesus' love and the lack of fear that he brings to those who come to him was all the incentive he needed. Yet, as Feuerbach said, "It is owing to the egoism, the vanity, the self complacency of Christians, that they can see the motes in the faith of non-Christian nations, but cannot perceive the beam in their own." Rev. Dr. Jerry states the problem eloquently in his blog "Hate-Mongering Among Professing Christians" when he says, "The ignorance and biases of the haters and hate-mongers who claim to speak for God, the Bible, and Christians hammer home God’s plea to each and every one of His children, 'O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.'" (Isaiah 3:12) We need to remember that Jesus was not a representative of fear against those perceived as sinners. Jesus was a representative of love and kindness and acceptance for those perceived as sinners. To read how Christians are perceived by non-Christians, to read how people view Christianity and "sin" as incompatible, read the blog: Not all Christians are to blame, but Christianity is. It is a shame that Christianity is perceived as incompatible with those we were intended to bring love and acceptance to. Let us work together to change that perception.
God bless,
-Brandon
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