Sermon Tone Analysis

Series Review

We are continuing our series on The Christian Atheist.

Read chapter 5!!!

causes related to free will; hurt by someone else’s evil or irresponsible actions; still, why did God protect one person but not the other?

sickness: e.g.

Died from a lifestyle of abusing alcohol, drugs or unhealthy food; If I had known I was going to live longer, I would have taken better care of myself; (smoker, drinker, partier) - why does god allow one person to receive the consequences of their choices, while another gets off the hook?

sickness that can be traced to environmental issues - the air we breathe or the type of work we do; things like this are painful, but I am at a place where I can say, these are not things that we can lay at the feet of God - these have their roots in human action;

A contradiction in terms?

We would hope so, but can we honestly say that the 90% of the population who believe there is a god, act that way?

I’m not here to judge anyone: but I include myself in that 90% who believes in god and yet struggles to live that way.

Last week - we looked at the difference between believing their is a god, and knowing God.

Today we’re looking one of the causes of Christian atheism: We don’t always think God is fair.

I can’t always say that: 1) Children.

They are vulnerable.

Innocent.

All of the Scripture and reasoning in the world can’t help me when I’ve done a funeral for an infant.

Where is the justice in that?

2) Today is a timely message because of what has happened in Texas and Florida.

Our science text books can explain how the movement of the earth produces friction, which creates energy that is drawn to earth by gravitational forces.

There is no free will in any of that.

It’s hard to look at the devastation of the homes and see God’s justice in action.

It’s hard to read about repressive dictators who live in luxury while the population they rule are starving to death.

God, where is your justice?

Sermon Introduction

A few years ago I was at a playground with some of our kids.

I noticed a couple of boys that were harassing a little girl.

I don’t know if they were related to her, or knew her, but I saw them follow her around, make fun of her clothes, her hair, and call her names like ‘stupid.’

I noticed that I was feeling angry.

I don’t like bullies.

I don’t like to see the strong try to exercise their power at someone else’s expense.

I was also wondering why the parents had not intervened.

One of the boys grabbed the girl by the hair, and pulled it.

I could see the girl holding her head and she started to cry.

Then she shocked everyone on the playground.

She began to punch the boy that pulled her hair.

I’m talking about some serious blows to the body.

The boy tripped and fell to the ground and she kicked him a few times.

Now it was the boy who was in tears.

Then the parents finally noticed something was wrong.

They pulled the girl away, the boy received comfort from his mother, the parents received a false account of what happened by the other boys, while the girl received a harsh, loud scolding.

Was any of this fair?

Did the girl deserve to be bullied?

Did the boy deserve to be beaten and humiliated?

Did the boy deserve sympathy and comfort?

Did the girl deserve to be punished?

Or, why did I play the role of the distant spectator?

Why didn’t I intervene?

Why wasn’t I a force for justice?

“I believe in God, but I don’t think he’s fair.”

“I believe in God, but why doesn’t he intervene and protect the innocent and punish the wicked?

These are the types of questions we are asking this morning, as you read through the book, The Christian Atheist, and as you gather with a group.

Chances are, this isn’t the first time you’ve asked this, because life isn’t fair.

The wicked prosper.

Good people suffer for no obvious reason.

It was hard for me to choose a Scripture passage for today: not because it is hard to find an example of God not being fair, but because there are so many to choose from.

Just look at :

Prophets, priests and kings did not hesitate to bring their complaints before God.

Because they continually saw injustice.

They constantly said to God, “That’s not fair.”

If you have this expectation of God always meeting our criteria for fairness, you did not get it from the Bible.

God delivered his people from slavery.

But what about the 4 generations of people who experienced the misery of slavery for over 4 generations.

So many examples to choose from, both in the Bible and today.

This morning I chose John chapter 9, and the story of the man born blind.

Here the Word of the Lord:

This is the Gospel of our Lord.

Thanks be to God.

This is only a portion of the story - the story continues for another 30 verses.

But this morning I want us to look at how Jesus address the question: why do people suffer for no apparent reason?

Is this even fair?

Is there any divine purpose in suffering and evil?

I want us to look at how Jesus addresses these questions.

I want to draw out 3 lessons in this story that can help us when we can’t get past the fact that God doesn’t seem fair.

1. Be careful when drawing conclusions about suffering.

The answer Jesus gives is “neither.”

But notice here an assumption that has already been made.

There’s no question in the disciple’s mind - and probably everyone else’s - that this man was born blind because of sin.

Now was it his, or his parents, we’re just not sure.

But we know that God did it.

Have you ever looked at someone else’s tragedy or suffering and came to the conclusion that apparently God is punishing them?

With the exception of what I consider to be religious extremism, I don’t hear a lot of people making a connection between hurricanes and God’s judgment upon a wicked city.

However, I have heard people draw conclusions about my own suffering.

“God must be punishing me for…” “God, why do you hate me?” Or, “God, that’s not fair.”

I’ve heard these and I’ve made these comments.

These are not just questions, they are conclusions.

They are conclusions that we are not qualified to make.

This poor blind man.

As if being blind didn’t come with enough baggage for him and his family, not being able to go anywhere without being led by the hand, much less earn income.

His parents with no hope of economic security in their old age.

But his religious community has already made a conclusion as to why this has happened.

Yes, we read in Scripture that suffering is a form of punishment.

We also read that suffering is the result someone else’s evil.

We also read that God allows evil for a higher purpose.

Sometimes we get to see that purpose, sometimes we don’t.

What I’m saying is, it’s okay to ask the question: “God, why are you doing this?” Or, “God, why are you allowing this?”

But there’s a huge difference between a question and a conclusions we aren’t qualified to make.

themselves, is God punishing me?

Does God not love me?

I’ve wondered the same thing when I’ve suffered.

There is a difference between a question and a conclusion.