The Great Paradox

With the recent election of Barack Obama, conservative Christians mostly responded with a two-fold voice. This two-fold voice was not something that separated the conservative Christians in two groups; rather, it was a voice that ran down the middle of most conservative Christian individually.

This two-fold voice that spoke loud after it was announced that Obama was our Commander-in-Chief elect. The voice was something like this: “How could America elect such a man to the nation’s highest office” and “We must trust God because it was He Who put this man in office, and He did so with a reason.”

Both replies, I believe, have truth in them. The second is definitely true, and I believe for various reasons not pertaining to this blog that the first is a valid question. But the two may seem contradicting: if God was the One Who put this man in office, then how can we blame the American mob for electing him? Was it not in God’s plan that He would lean the hearts of the majority of Americans to Barack Obama?

Christians who were against Obama believe both that this was an American mistake and a Sovereign plan, because they essentially recognize this as a paradox. The Bible is full of paradoxes. How is Jesus both God and man? How is Jesus both God and the Son of God? How are there three persons in one God? How is God all-knowing, yet Scripture shows us certain emotions God feels at a certain time as if He did not see what was coming (the best example is perhaps God feeling sorry for creating the man in Gen. 6:6)? How is Mary both virgin and mother (no, not step Mother, but the one who gave birth to Christ)? The list could go on, but these are just obvious examples from Scripture. We must realize that these questions are answered in the supernatural world, not the world that our sinful ignorant hearts and minds can fathom.

Therefore, Christians against Obama find no problem in accepting this paradox of the election of the “wrong yet right” man. But this again is only the most recent obvious example. The attacks of September 11, 2001 could be a similar example. We trust that God is in control, yet we grieve with the evil that has taken place, and we feel anger toward those who caused the evil. Perhaps orthodox Christians do not understand this relationship, but they nevertheless accept both God’s Will and the responsibility of man.

But for some strange reason, we argue about this where it matters the most: our salvation. We cannot accept this as a paradox. For some Christians, the word “predestined” that Paul uses simply means “God always knew,” and some Christians on the other end ignore or twist the parts of Scripture that tell us Christ died for all, or we should preach God’s Word to all, etc. Why can we not simply accept God’s absolute Sovereignty in our salvation, while also keeping the existence of human free will? The two do not have to be in disconnect. The Bible teaches both, so both should be taught and accepted.

There may be some disagreements in emphasis, but that should be it. This should not be something that splits a church or calls one’s salvation into question (unless they are completely one-sided beyond any real orthodox teaching). Christ’s death was completely in the Sovereignty of God, yet those who put the nails into his body are not held guiltless. Sure we don’t understand. That’s fine. God does. In the same way, we should not hold the ones who reject Christ guiltless just because we see their rejection as predestined. Both human responsibility and the Sovereignty of God exist. Sure, I can’t explain it. But I cannot fully fathom (or even almost fathom) the Trinity, yet I believe it.

We can deepen our minds and try to fathom these paradoxes. Some people call that a waste of time, but I honestly don’t mind. Perhaps God in knowing what decisions mankind would make when left to their own will, places certain decisions in front of them, knowing their results, to carry out His plan. Perhaps God put a predestined plan in motion at the beginning, knowing what would happen through human choice, and then engages in the world with emotion by hiding certain things from Him at the beginning as well (where God has a free will and a sense of vulnerability that was predestined by God before the world began). I am not saying either of those views are correct completely or even to any degree at all. We don’t know, we can only exercise our minds in the paradox. But nonetheless, we must accept both God’s Sovereign plan and our responsibilities in every facet of life, even our own salvation.

What do you think?

God bless America

Pray for our Troops

God bless His Church

February 6, 2009

Ryan Hampton