The Bible Paradox with Tim Mackie, PhD

[Music] see when when suffering when hardship hits our we go back to our default our core assumptions about god rise to the surface and if god really is controlled really because my circumstances seem to say otherwise now this let's process this a little bit so this might seem kind of trite to some of us right so yeah i'm struggling the world's falling apart my world is falling apart and i'm wrestling where is god what's he doing is he anywhere to be found has he forgotten about me and isaiah's 40 isaiah 40's answer its response is strong reminder god's in control and he's good let me say okay yes okay but i'm struggling here like i'm i'm wrestling when i read the book of psalms it's just people prayer after prayer people venting against venting that god just struggling where are you i cry out to you and you know where to be look at my life is falling apart this is this is the wrestling match of god's people with the reality of hardship and suffering but yet somehow affirming god's goodness and his power how do those two go together how do those two go together it's very it's very challenging it's very complex very complex so the bible gives different perspectives on why we end up in situations of hardship and and suffering so one of the main ones and this is kind of a core part of the biblical story is the biblical story begins with god uh making humans in his image and he gives uh these humans humans freedom he gives them moral freedom to choose good or evil are they going to choose and submit to god's wisdom and his guidance or are they going to define good good and evil for themselves you're going seizes that sees autonomy and so on and he gives them the moral freedom to choose what kind of world they're going to make and how does that story go well we know how that story goes the humans choose evil and so this is a very common this is a very core insight that the bible has to offer about why this world is the way it is the world as we experience it it's compromised it's broken it's it's not the way it's supposed to be because of the misuse of human moral freedom and so the bible one of the bible's explanations is that a huge amount of suffering of tragedy of hardship that we face in our lives is because of human sin and evil or that we live in a world broken by human sin and and evil i suffer because of the dumb decisions i make we end up in hardship because of dumb decisions other people make and that create broken communities broken structures in our societies unevennesses and how human communities relate across the planet and huge vast amounts not all human suffering you have to you have to think through natural catastrophes and this kind of thing but but the vast amount the vast amount this is one of the bible's insights but yet at the same time that the bible affirms this the bible makes another affirmation and this is what isaiah 40 is kind of shouting from the rooftops it's it's that even though god has given us freedom and we've chosen to ruin our world and our lives this does not have god like on the edge of his seat biting his fingernails you know what i'm saying isaiah 40 is very clear that god's in control and kind of the biblical or the theology term uh that's often used to talk about this is that god is sovereign he's sovereign it's a royal image or a royal metaphor he's in control and this basic affirmation is this is the god's not biting his fingernails he's in control he's given humans freedom to choose but even the brokenness and evil and sin in our world that we choose it doesn't fall outside of god's control the train is not off the tracks because we chose evil god is working out his purpose even through and in spite of our choice towards evil now this is very challenging because this is one of these areas where like you really gotta you gotta love god with your mind and you gotta think this through because remember like when you're in the midst of suffering and tragedy it's not really the time to say okay now let me sort out my theological beliefs about suffering and god sovereignty you know no you're just going to go back to your core assumptions and so you need to at some point in your journey love god with your mind and think think this one think this one through this is a very complex question christians have disagreed with what exactly the bible is saying about these things and so on and so i'm going to solve it in about seven minutes here right yeah so definitely not definitely not i don't want to sketch the playing field because i think that's very important this is not just theology here this is where your mind and your heart are gonna go when you're in the midst of a difficult situation and so some views throughout christian history it's like a pendulum between these two got sovereignty human freedom and chose joe's evil some people's views of god tend to swing this way emphasizing god's sovereignty over human freedom entirely and so when you swing the pendulum this way you end up with a view of god something like this god is the all-powerful cause of everything every single thing god is like shakespeare writing hamlet shakespeare finishes the play inc is drying it's all set every little thing is set beforehand it just now has to be performed and so in this view of god god has a plan or a decree every single little thing in time space and history is determined beforehand and that's how that's how it goes but the mystery the problem that's raised immediately in many of our minds we say if that's what sovereign god's sovereignty means then what does that say about the role of evil in the world god obviously then knew about evil and so theologians played with this one he allowed evil or he permitted evil but if you push and probe this view of god further it was absolutely certain that evil would come about in the first place and it locates that right back in god and scripture is very clear that god is not responsible for our choice to do evil james james chapter one remember when you are being tempted do not say god is tempting me but god has never tempted to do wrong and he never tempts anyone else temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away and these desires give birth to sinful actions and when sin is allowed to grow it gives birth to death god is not responsible for my abuse of my moral freedom was my choice he didn't determine it to be so is my choice the scripture is very clear and it's just day-to-day experience we choose we choose so christians end up swinging the pendulum the other way and you get a view of god that takes as it's kind of grounding center point human freedom and god's sovereignty gets reshaped in light of human freedom you end up with a view of god like this that god limits his knowledge or his power to honor human freedom or some christian theologians uh believe that god simply is limited in his knowledge and his power because of human freedom and so in this in this idea of god that some people fall back on god's and he's not like shakespeare he's like a chess player a real like master chess player and he doesn't know the moves that you're going to make we can always outmaneuver you he'll always maneuver you but there's a risk there's risk involved right because he doesn't know he cannot maneuver but there's it's not certain it's not determined there's there's freedom and so the big problem that raises with this view of god well if there's genuine freedom and god doesn't know we're going to do and he's not fully in control how can we be certain much less how can god be certain that his purposes will actually work themselves out in the world and on this point scripture is pretty clear passage like psalm 33 that yahweh foils the plans of the nations he thwarts the purposes of the peoples but the plans of yahweh stand firm forever the purposes of his heart through all generations and so what the bible doesn't allow you to do is to say that we are all just puppets in a little play playing out the scene but at the same time what the bible doesn't allow you to say is that we have such freedom that we can actually threaten what god is doing in the world and so the bible forces you it it has passages that seem to affirm both but it forces you to stand right here in the middle like this this middle ground and to say what does god's sovereignty mean in a world like ours and when our lives look like ours do it means that there are things that happen in our world that god does not want but god does not want but the fact that evil and suffering and tragedy does happen in our world does not mean that god is surprised doesn't throw him off and it doesn't mean that things are out of control he's in control and this is this is a paradox that's at the heart of the christian worldview it's a paradox do you know what a paradox is it's different than a contradiction okay this is very helpful for me elise has been along the way a definition of paradox a paradox is a statement that seems self-contradictory but in reality may express a possible truth that i cannot see from my limited perspective niels bohr the nobel prize-winning physicist said it this way the opposite of a correct statement is a fault statement any news there no but the opposite of a profound truth may be another profound truth [Music] the spiritual journey proceeds with a trembling confidence that god's truth is too large for the simplicity of either or it can only be apprehended by the complexity of both and there's a bigger picture here and the moment that you and i can claim to contain all things in heaven and earth in our heads then we can solve this one but we don't we're humans we're small and this is not intellectual laziness or sloppiness this is humility before a great mystery in our universe and so the bible pushes us to affirm in faith and in hope that despite what i see going on around me the brokenness and the evil due to human sin god is all-powerful and that he's good and that this is not whistling in the dark it's not whistling in the dark is that though i can't unpack exactly how these two work together that god's sovereignty is his ability to redirect and work out his redemptive purposes in our world despite evil and death and sin and and tragedy and there is one moment in the biblical story where god's sovereignty and human freedom and evil come crashing in to one another so the core of the biblical story right is that god gives humans freedom moral freedom but yet god is working out his plan human freedom and evil does not surprise god in fact the whole part of the storyline of the bible is god working to answer the problem of human evil in the cross see the bible does not exist to answer it's not like a divine theology answer book it doesn't give us the question of why in any given circumstance you are in a difficult place or why this scenario has entered into your life why you're suffering it doesn't answer that question for us but the bible does tell us what god is doing about the problem of evil and suffering in our world this is the story of the gospel and so in the story of the cross it's the shakespeare does write himself into his own play he's not this distant absentee stern authoritarian god or whatever he cares deeply he's like a shepherd he cares he cares and in his sovereignty orchestrates the story for him to enter into his own world as a human being and to carry and to shoulder the weight of human sin and suffering into himself on the cross and to conquer its power to bring life out of death in the resurrection and in the hope of new creation for our world and so it's the cross where our freedom and evil come crashing into god's sovereignty and who's gonna win this one that's a bad question who won this one this is the empty tomb the empty tomb one you would take whatever your questions are and let's go let's go on a field trip let's go to the cross let's bring our questions our wrestling why god what are you doing why allow this what is going on and we won't we won't receive an answer as to why the mystery is not impact for us for one reason or another we're not told why we are told what the answer is not at the cross we are told what the answer cannot be as to why we are suffering and in hardship the answer cannot be that god does not care or that things are out of control it cannot be you can't because the story would it would an uncaring evil deity do something like this for you see this what this what the cross says is that god is shouldering your abuse of your own moral freedom he's taking the consequences into himself for you on the cross and not only that the cross is not only god's suffering and dying for us it is god coming to suffer with us on the cross god identifies with our suffering he shoulders human pain carries it absorbs it into himself there is nothing you and i have been through that hasn't already been taken into god's own being on the cross he knows your suffering he's been there have you been wronged by someone some injustice some relational wrong look to the cross look to the cross where a innocent man is condemned by an unjust corrupt government look to the cross where jesus is abandoned by every person that he loves and he cares about have you lost a loved one look to the cross where the father gives up his son for you and for me is your body broken are you in physical pain look to the cross at jesus's broken body do you feel abandoned by god in your circumstances like he's not listening he's not paying attention he's left you out to dry look to the cross and the paradox of jesus's cry when he quotes psalm 22 and says my god my god why have you forsaken me the mystery of the cross is that god becomes god forsaken to identify with you in your suffering so we do not get the answer why to our question but we are told what the answer cannot be it cannot be that he does not care and it cannot be that he is not good and it cannot be that things are out of control so i don't know what word the cross and the resurrection speak to you today this is very challenging for each of us as we enter into times in life and we will wrestle we wonder what god is doing where what resurrection could god possibly bring out of the circumstances that you're in i have no idea no idea but the cross and the resurrection allow us to take a step of faith and hope and affirm that god is good and that he's in control and the gospel issues you

Channel: Bible and a Bicycle

Views: 1,389

Rating: 4.9428573 out of 5

Keywords: Timothy Mackie PhDYeshua, Tim Mackie, Bible, evil, freedom, sovereign, Jesus, YHWH, God, free will, choice, caring, loving, compassionate, trials, hard times, struggling, doubt, promise, faith, Christ Messiah, Christian, the Way, religion, religious

Id: CUon1BuyIo4

Length: 18min 31sec (1111 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 02 2021