250 The Red Letter Answers - 3

In this episode we address the question Did Jesus ever portray God as an abusive deity? Most of Christianity portray God as an abusive deity that says obey me and I will bless you and disobey me, rebel against me and I will have to destroy you. If a man was to propose to a woman and say marry me and you will have every thing your heart desires but refuse to marry me and I will have to shoot you. We would call him abusive. It is the same with God. In the Old Testament we have created a God in our own image and Jesus comes and shows us a picture of someone far better. A God that asks for the forgiveness of those who are nailing him to a cross. Amazing.

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SHOW NOTES

3. Did Jesus ever portray God as an abusive deity?

Salvation is often presented as: “Obey God and live happily afterwards. Disobey God and be tortured with fire.” If a man proposed to a woman in this way she would run to escape if it was possible. Often abusers have created a situation where the victim cannot escape. This is the situation we have on the planet as portrayed by well-meaning Christians. We cannot opt out of the supposed divine punishment.

To think in this abusive manner indicates at least the failure to distinguish between

punishment and consequence. There is pain and suffering on this planet because it is dominated by a sinful kingdom. Sin means to choose one’s own way at the expense of others. God does not do sin. God does not take or retain anything at the expense of others. Jesus spent his short life giving to others. He gave healing, exorcism, resurrection, kindness, encouragement, positive motivation, safety and security, hope and food. However, the best gift he gave us was the knowledge of the unconditional mercy, compassion and love of God.

Jesus wept on 2 occasions

John 11:34-36 NLT “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord,

come and see.” 35 Then Jesus wept. 36 The people who were standing nearby said, “See

how much he loved him!”

Jesus is weeping for the hardness of their unbelieving hearts. No one believed he could raise Lazarus. He has been dead for more than three days yet Jesus is about to call him back to life.

Their imaginations cannot grasp this power and love of God displayed in Jesus.

In the same way no one believed that Jesus was going to die and resurrect. He is their divine Messiah but they cannot grasp this reality. They are so filled with their own traditions and explanations they are blinded to the true about Jesus.

They did not hear his call to them to enjoy eternal life. It was so frustrating to Jesus that he burst into tears. Their Saviour was standing in their presence and in a few days, they would be baying for his blood in their hardness of heart.

Here is the second time Jesus was visibly overcome with sorrow.

Luke 19:41-44 NLT But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep.

42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace.

But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes. 43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every

side. 44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not recognize it when God visited you.”

Jesus was the visitor from heaven who was standing on the middle of them. They would not believe he was the long-promised Messiah. Their animosity towards Jesus was so strong thatthey did not understand themselves. The cross was about to reveal our hostility towards God. We rejected him, ridiculed him, abandoned him, betrayed him, tortured him and finally executed

him. It was our actions that resulted in his death. God did not inspire these actions. God did not need the death of Jesus. We needed his death.

We need to take responsibility for ourselves and stop blaming God for our dastardly thoughts and actions. In the Punitive Substitutionary theory of Atonement we have taken our desire to violently murder Jesus and placed it on God. Eve tried to blame God via the serpent but that route and it did not work.

Sadly, even now, most Christians don’t see the picture of God they project is that of an abusive deity. They are willing to attribute hell, even eternal hell to God. In this way they are attributing the work of the devil to God. Jesus called this blasphemy.

Matthew 12:31-32 NLT “So I tell you, every sin and blasphemy can be forgiven—except

blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which will never be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks

against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit

will never be forgiven, either in this world or in the world to come.”

The Spirit was speaking to the religious leaders, convincing them Jesus was the Messiah, they rejected the witness of the Spirit and attributed the work of Jesus to the devil.

However, atheists and agnostic’s can see that God is presented as an abuser by most Christians and so they reject his very existence. In this way they are more insightful than most Christians.

Thank you Jesus for telling us the truth about your father. He is wonderful in his mercy and compassion.

Luke 23:34 NLT Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are

doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.

It is in our moments of crisis that our true nature is revealed and Jesus was at the final crisis of his earthly life. There was no revenge or punishment in his nature or God’s nature. He is so filled with mercy and compassion that his reaction was that of forgiveness and understanding—"they don’t know what they are doing.”

This action by Jesus did not illustrate God’s control of the planet but revealed his love for broken people. It was not a momentary action outside his character but the heart of God which was speaking and revealing his nature.

There are actions at the end of the parables Jesus told that indicate a violent end for revels against love and we will decode these in the next podcast.