Is God a Moral Monster? Paul Copan

Quotes from the book 'is God a moral monster?' 

Introduction:

Israel - expressing an orthodox view of Israel:

unlike national Israel, God's new people - the new and true Israel - are an interethnic church with a heavenly citizenship.

the need for a faith that isn't remote:

Christ's disciples are to live out God's kingdom values, being salt and light and doers of good. The Christian faith has this-worldly implications. If it doesn't, it's not Christian; rather, it's a detached gnosticism that ignores culture and ultimately denies reality.

Chapter 1: Who are the Neo-Atheists?

The state of America's religious perspectives:

According to Gallup polls, 4% of American were atheists back in 2007 - the same percentage as in 1944! Rumours of God's death have been greatly exaggerated. And when we look at the non-Western world, people are becoming Christians in record numbers. The Christian faith is the fastest-growing movement around, often accompanied by signs and wonders, as Penn State historian Philip Jenkins has ably documented  

A good line about the Neo-Atheists's theology and approach to debate:

Michael Novak: there's an odd defensiveness about all these books - as though they were a sign not of victory but of desperation

Christians are often to blame, but...

Jesus shouldn't be blamed because of the abuses of his professed followers.

A swipe at Dawkins:

a quick check of Dawkins's documentation reveals a lot more time spent on Google than at Oxford University's Bodleian Library

and from Rodney Stark:

"To expect to learn anything about important theological problems from Richard Dawkins or Daniel Dennett is like expecting to learn about medieval history from someone who had only read Robin Hood"

Daniel Dennett is also a selective source quoter. Quoting from David Hume and celebrating his atheism but ignoring the next line in which Hume implies a sympathy toward faith:

"Happily the first question, which is the most important, admits of the most obvious, at least, the clearest, solution. The whole frame of nature bespeaks an intelligent author; and no rational enquirer can, after serious reflection, suspend his belief a moment with regard to the primary principles of genuine Theism and religion.'

But the New Atheists never accept any of the blame laid at their door for things done in the name of atheism or as a result of atheistic philosophy:

The New Atheists aren't willing to own up to atrocities committed in the name of atheism by Stalin, Pol Pot or Mao Zedong, yet they expect Christians to own up to all barbarous acts performed in Jesus's name.

Another example...

What about serial murderer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer? Dahmer reasoned, 'If it all happens naturalistically, what's the need for a God? Can't I set my own rules? Who owns me? I own myself." He wondered, if there's no God and we all just came 'from the slime,' then 'what's the point of trying to modify your behaviour to keep it within acceptable ranges?'

The reverse side of the coin is (and I've often had atheists use this one):

The New Atheists refuse (or show great reluctance) to acknowledge the profound, well-documented positive influence of Christian faith in the world. This list of contributions includes preserving literature, advancing education, laying the foundations of modern science, cultivating art and music, promoting human rights and providing better working conditions for persons, and overthrowing slavery. These contributions are acknowledged by atheists and theists alike. 

Richard Dawkins' oft quoted comment about the God of the OT from the God Delusion:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. 

Christopher Hitchens also chimes in with:

The Old Testament contains a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slaver, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human animals. And the Ten Commandments are proof that religions is manmade. For one thing, you don't need God to tell you that murder is wrong; this information is available to all humans.

Chapter 3: God's appetite for praise and sacrifice
divine arrogance or humility? 

He asks the question

so does God have an unhealthy self-preoccupation? Do our atheist friends have a point? Not on this one. On closer inspection, God turns out to be a humble, self-giving, other-centred Being.

Commenting on the creation of mankind as evidence of God's graciousness:

When God created human beings, he uniquely equipped them for two roles, as the early chapters of Genesis suggest. The first is our kingly role: god endowed us to share in ruling the creation with him. The second is our priestly role of relating to ('walking with') God and orienting our lives around him. Being made in God's image as priest-kings brings with it the ability to relate to God, to think rationally, to make moral decisions, to express creativity, and (with God) to care for and wisely harness creation. This is privilege, not bondage! 

The 'religious gene'

The inventor Thomas Edison said that humans are 'incurably religious.'

The need for more than purely physical:

The physical domain doesn't contain the source of coherence, order, morality, meaning, and guidance for life. Humans, though embodied, are moral, spiritual beings;

What of God's command to worship?

Why does God insist that we worship him? For the same reason that parents tell their young children to stay away from fire or speeding cars. God doesn't want humans to detach themselves from ultimate reality, which only ends up harming us.

God's calling for our worship isn't a manifestation of pride - of false, overinflated views of himself. The call to worship means inclusion in the life of God. Worship expresses an awareness of God's - and thus our - proper place in the order of things, and it also transforms us into what we were designed to be.

Actually in the Bible, God isn't the one commanding us to praise him. Typically, fellow creatures are spontaneously calling on one another to do so - to recognise God's greatness and worth-ship. Praise naturally flows from - and completes - the creature's enjoyment of God.

Appropriate rewards quote by C.S. Lewis; how joy and pleasure is the appropriate reward for and therefore motive for seeking God:

Money is not the natural reward of love; that is why we call a man mercenary if he marries a woman for the sake of her money. But marriage is the proper reward for a real lover, and he is not mercenary for desiring it... Those who have attained everlasting life in the vision of God know very well that is is no mere bribe, but the very consummation of their earthly discipleship.

A muslim asks: why do you wear a cross around your neck?'

Once a muslim expressed to me his disbelief and even scorn at the idea of Christians wearing cross: 'How can Christians wear with pride the instryment of torture and humiliation? If your brother were killed in an electric chair, would you wear an electric chair around your neck?' I replied that it depends: 'if my brother happened to be Jesus of Nazareth and his death in an electric chair brought about my salvation and was the means by which evil was defeated and creation renewed then he would have transformed a symbol of shame and punishment into something glorious.'

Chapter 4: God's jealousy

TV icon Oprah Winfrey said that she was turned off to the Christian faith when she heard a preacher affirm that God is jealous.

When the word 'jealous' is used in scripture it's within the context of idolatry and false worship. When we choose this-worldly pursuits over our relationship with God, we engage in spiritual adultery, which provokes Go's righteous jealousy.

Here's a helpful prod of secular and often Christian contemporary culture. The Westminster Shorter Catechism is famous for giving us the 'chief end of man' which we're told is: to glorify God and enjoy him forever:

For many in the west (including professing Christians), the chief goal of many individuals is 'to further my interests and to enjoy myself forever.' Or if God exists, then the Catechism's answer is subconsciously revised to this: 'The chief end of God is to make me as comfortable and pain-free as possible.'

A wife who doesn't get jealous and angry when another woman is flirting with her husband isn't really  all that committed to the marriage wthout the potential for jealousy when an intruder threatens isn't much of a marriage. Outrage, pain, anguish - these are the appropriate responses to such a deep violation. God isn't some abstract entity or impersonal principle, as Dawkins seems to think he should be. He is an engaging, relational God who attaches himself to humans.

Chapter 5: Child Abuse and Bullying?

The law of Moses condemned child abuse and it was one of the things God judged the Canaanites for.

One biblical scholar calls this 'a monstrous test.'

God appear to use his authority to violate basic moral standards. God seems to be a relativs of sorts.

Bigger picture: Israel, Abraham & Moses

One argument that seems to hold true is that much of the Pentateuch contrasts Abraham with Moses. Abraham is seen as the man who (despite not having the law) trusted God and was commended for his faith. Moses on the other hand is an example in contrast to this. His faith failed him (despite having God's law). Psalm 106:32-33 reinforces this presentation of Moses. Num. 20:12 is addressed to both Moses and Aaron. Moses spoke rashly and didn't believe God.

Exodus 20:20 Moses instructs Israel with words matched in the trial of Abraham and Isaac: God has come to 'test' you in order that the 'fear' of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.'

Genesis 12:1 - God tells Abraham to 'go' [lek-leka] 'to the land' ['el-'erets]. Remarkable act of trust based on the promise that God would make his descendants great.
Genesis 22:2 - God tells Abraham to 'go' [lek-leka] follow by the familiar sounding ['el'ha'aarets] to the region/land of Moriah.

Bells would be going off in Abraham's head. God is clearly reminding him of his promise of blessing even while he's being commanded to do what seems to be utterly opposed to that promise.

In 12. God promises to make his descendants as numerous as the stars. Here in 22:17 he confirms that promise. Genesis makes a connection between Abraham's call (12) and his subsequent obedience (22).

Abraham had left his home and given us his past for the sake of God's promise. Now he was being asked if he would trust God by apparently surrendering his future as well. Everything Abraham ever hoped for was tied up in this son of promise.

Hagar & Ishmael:

At Isaac's weaning feast Ishmael and Hagar mocked the child. Sarah insisted that they both be sent away again. Abraham had a dilemma and had to again entrust the future to God. God has promised that Ishmael would be a great nation one day and that God would greatly multiply his descendents. And so Abraham 'rose early in the morning' (21:14) just as he would do with Isaac (22:3) and sent them both away.

All he could do was trust God's promises and obey. Somehow God had to come through! Abraham's obedience, we now see, was carried out in the context of his awareness of God's earlier deliverance of Ishmael and of God's act of providing the miracle child of promise through Sarah.

Genesis 22:

Those are the surrounding biblical texts. Both the larger context of Moses and the narrower context of Hagar and Ishmael.

Four things about God's character emerge:

1) we are tipped off first that God is testing Abraham. God doesn't intend for Isaac to be sacrificed. 
2) God's directive is best translated 'please take your son.' or as another scholar puts it, 'take, I beg of you, your only son.' This sort of command is rare.
3) God reminds Abraham of his covenant 'your only son Isaac.'
4) The land of Moriah is derived from the Hebrew word ra'ah 'provide, see, show.' Hagar uses the same word 'you are the God who sees' when relaying to Abraham how God rescued her.

In the above ways we see God's faithful tenderness cushioning what is an otherwise startling and harsh command. It's as though God is saying: I'm testing your obedience and allegiance. You don't understand, but n light of all I've done and said to you, trust me. Not even death can nullify the promise I've made.'

We can't separate God's promise in Genesis 12 and 17 from God's gentle command in Genesis 22.

Philosophical reflections

If God commands a person to do something, they should do it.
Taking innocent life isn't always immoral: eg eptopic pregnancy or suicide bomber
Taking an innocent life is only immoral in a world where people don't come back from the dead . God had made promises to Abraham and so Abraham saw that God is a God who acts in history and is able to make good on those promises, therefore it isn't immoral for Abraham to obey God.

Jesus the second-Isaac

God asks Abraham to do something that he is willing to do himself. God gave 'his only' sonjust as Abraham did. Abraham did it as a demonstration of his faithfulness to God. God did it as a demonstration of his faithfulness to us.

So deep is God's love for us that the Scottish theologian Thomas Torrance was willing to go so far as to say that 'God loves us more than he loves himself.'

Dawkins considers this command as tantamount to 'child abuse and bullying.'

Henri Nouwen Quotes:

Notes on ‘Beloved’ by Henri Nouwen: from 'The Only Necessary Thing'

Jesus’ spiritual identity is ‘beloved son’ and the temptations in the desert are temptations to move away from that, to believe he was someone else: you are the on who can turn stone into bread. You are the one who can jump from the temple. You are the one who can make others bow to your power. Jesus said ‘no, no, no. I am the Beloved from God. I think his whole life is continually claiming that identity in the midst of everything. There are times in which he is praised, times when he is despised or rejected, but he keeps saying ‘others will leave me alone, but my Father will not leave me alone. I am the beloved Son of God. I am the hope found in that identity.’ Prayer then is listening to that voice - to the one who calls you the Beloved. It is to constantly go back to the truth of who we are and claim it for ourselves. I’m not what I do. I’m not what people say about me. I’m not what I have. Although there is nothing wrong with success, there is nothing wrong with popularity, there is nothing wrong with being powerful, finally my spiritual identity is not rooted in the world, the things the world gives me. My life is rooted in my spiritual identity. Whatever we do, we have to go back regularly to that place of core identity. 

p72-73

It strikes me that the wayward son had rather selfish motivations. He said to himself, ‘how many of my Father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here I am dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my Father.’ He didn’t return because of a renewed love for his father. No, he returned simply to survive. He had discovered that the way he had chosen was leading him to death. Returning to his father was a necessity for staying alive. He realised that he had sinned, but this realisation came about because sin had brought him close to death.

I am moved by the fact that the father didn’t require a pure heart before embracing us. Even if we return only because following our desires has failed to bring happiness, God will take us back. Even if we return because being a Christian brings us more peace than being a pagan, God will receive us. Even if we return because our sins did not offer as much satisfaction as we had hoped, God will take us back. Even if we return because we could not make it on our own, God will receive us. God’s love does not require any explanations about why we are returning. God is glad to see us home and wants to give us all we desire, just for being home.

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The difference that knowing  you’re loved and accepted has on how you receive trials:

When we keep listening attentively to the voice calling us the Beloved, it becomes possible to live our brokenness, not as a confirmation of our fear that we are worthless, but as an opportunity to purify and deepen the blessing that rests upon us.

Physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the blessing is experienced in ways radically different from physical, mental, or emotional pain lived under the curse. Even a small burden, perceived as a sign of our worthlessness, can lead us to deep depression - even suicide. However, great and heavy burdens become light and easy when they are lived in the light of the blessing. What seemed intolerable becomes a challenge. What seemed a reason for depression becomes a source of purification. What seemed punishment becomes a gentle pruning. What seemed rejection becomes a way to a deeper communion.

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Reminding each other that we should not forget to pray in our busy lives is like reminding each other to keep breathing! Prayer is the essence of the spiritual life without which all ministry loses its meaning. It is the fulfilment of the great commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind.

BOOK: Paul Miller - A Praying Life

Chapter 1: What good does it do?

This chapter asks the question in the title about prayer. Miller identifies with a lot of our prayer-weariness and struggles to believe in prayer. He starts the chapter with a story of one of his daughters searching for her contact lens on the grass. When he suggests that they pray, she bursts into tears 'what good does it do?' she bawls, 'I've been asking God to help Kim to speak for a long time now, and still she can't' Kim is one of Paul's daughters who was born with several disabilities including severe autism.

Miller's advice in this chapter on how we need to rethink prayer is very helpful and refreshing. To begin with he points out how strange it is that we have an inbuilt desire to pray, that everyone who's ever lived looks to God at some point in their lives, but none of us find praying easy. On this observation he comments:

Something is wrong with us. Our natural desire to pray comes from Creation. We are made in the image of God. Our inability to pray comes from the Fall. Evil has marred the image. We want to talk to God but can't. The friction of our desire to pray, combined with our badly damaged prayer antennae leads to constant frustrations. It's as if we've had a stroke.

This is similar to something he concludes with in the final chapters when he says about Kim that 'when you're disabled, nothing feels natural at first' and then likens that to prayer since we're all born 'disabled' spiritually speaking.

On the effect of modern life on prayer:

America is probably the hardest place in the world to learn to pray. We are so busy that when we slow down to pray, we find it uncomfortable. We prize accomplishments, production. But prayer is nothing but talking to God. It feels useless, as if we are wasting time. Every bone in our bodies screams, 'Get to work.'

When we aren't working, we are used to being entertained. Television, the internet, video games, and cell phones make free time as busy as work. When we do slow down, we slip into a stupor. Exhausted by the pace of life, we veg out in front of a screen or with earplugs.

If we try to be quiet, we are assaulted by what C.S. Lewis called 'the Kingdom of Noise.' Everywhere we go we hears background noise. If the noise isn't provided for us, we can bring our own via iPod.

Even our church services can have that same restless energy. There is little space to be still before God. We want our money's worth, so something should always be happening. We are uncomfortable with silence.

A further observation on another prayer-killer:

Because we can do life without God, praying seems nice but unnecessary. Money can do what prayer does, and it is quicker and less time-consuming. Our trust in ourselves and in our talents makes us structurally independent of God. As a result, exhortations to pray don't stick. 

He imagines going to see a 'prayer therapist'. The therapist asks him 'what does it mean that you are a son or daughter of God?' to which we reply with a theologically truthful answer:

The therapist smiles and says, 'That is right. You've done a wonderful job of describing the doctrine of Sonship. Now tell me what it is like for you to be with your Father? What is it like to talk with him? 

With this he begins at a diagnoses to our problem, namely that we don't have a close or intimate relationship with our Father in heaven.

The chapter ends with God answering their prayer to find Ashley's contact lens. God is a Father who cares.

Chapter 2: where we are headed

The praying life, Miller says, is like dinner with good friends. Conversation and communication flows not because we think about it but because we enjoy being with our friends. If we focus on the conversation, the conversation dries up. The praying life is about being with God, a person:

When Jesus describes the intimacy he wants with us, he talks about joining us for dinner. 'behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.' (Rev. 3:20)

A praying life feels like our family mealtimes because prayer is all about relationship. It's intimate and hints at eternity. We don't think about communication or words but about whom we are talking with. Prayer is simply the medium through which we experience and connect to God.

...many people struggle to learn how to pray because they are focusing on praying, not on God. Making prayer the centre is like making conversation the centre of a family mealtime. In prayer, focusing on the conversation is like trying to drive while looking at the windshield instead of through it. It freezes us, making us unsure of where to go. Conversation is only the vehicle through which we experience one another. Consequently, prayer is not the center of this book. Getting to know a person, God, is the centre.

He argues for working to not restrict prayer to a narrow part of our Christian life, 'a prayer time' but instead to view it as the way we build a relationship with God:

Because prayer is all about relationship, we can't work on prayer as an isolated part of life. That would be like going to the gym and working out just your left arm. You'd get a strong left arm, but it would look odd. 

A good piece of advice about the feeling of intimacy in prayer:

So don't hunt for a feeling in prayer. Deep in our psyches we want an experience with God or an experience in prayer. Once we make that our quest, we lose God. You don't experience God; you get to know him. You submit to him. You enjoy him. He is, after all, a person

 There's that regular refrain again: he is after all, a person.

People often talk about prayer as if it is disconnected from what God is doing in their lives. But we are actors in his drama, listening for our lines, quieting our hearts so we can hear the voice of the Playwright.

Many Christians haven't stopped believing in God; we have just become functional deists, living with God at a distance.

As you develop your relationship with him, it will change you. Or more specifically, he will change you. Real change is at the heart level.

Love changes us, just as love changed God:

We keep forgetting God is a person. We don't learn to love someone without it changing us. That is just the nature of love that reflects the heart of God. Because God's love is unchanging, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus of Nazareth, now has a scarred body. The Trinity is different because of love.

He identifies the lifeblood of a good prayer life when he says:

A needy heart is a praying heart. Dependency is the heartbeat of prayer.

Learning to pray doesn't offer you a less busy life; it offers you a less busy heart. 

Part 1: Learning to pray like a child

Chapter 3: Become like a little child

come messy. Praying like children means, praying without pretence, without having it all together:

This is the gospel, the welcoming hear of God. God also cheers when we come to him with our wobbling, unsteady prayers. Jesus does not say, 'come to me, all you who have learned how to concentrate in prayer, whose minds no longer wander, and will give you rest.' No. Jesus opens his arms to his needy children and says, 'come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and i will give you rest.' The criteria for coming to Jesus is weariness. Come overwhelmed with life. Come with your wandering mind. Come messy.

I love that idea to do with 'come to me all who are weary' it's something we can easily forget. Come to Jesus with your mess and only with your mess, only as you are. Miller adds:

Private, personal prayer is one of the last great bastions of legalism. In order to pray like a child, you might need to unlearn nonpersonal, nonreal praying that you've been taught.

He's right. Unlearning how we've 'learnt' to pray is a crucial part of actually learning to pray. Great advice!

The only way to come to God is by taking off any spiritual mask. the real you has to meet the real God. He is a person 

That's the point of prayer.

Many Christians pray mechanically for God's kingdom, but all the while their lives are wrapped up in their own kingdoms. You can't add God's kingdom as an overlay to your own.

This is a call to lack of pretence in prayer again. Strip away religiosity and and formulaic praying and be yourself.


Below: Graphs I made based on the chapter in the book on story. Produced during our 'Killing Prayer' series in which I identified three 'killers' to prayer: religion, rebellion and restlessness. 

5 Big Preaching Questions...

From Andy Stanley.

1. Information. What do they need to know? try and get it into one key sentence.

2. Motivation. Why do they need to know it? answer this otherwise what you're saying is perceived to be irrelevant.

3. Application. What do they need to do? be highly specific if you can.

4. Inspiration. Why do they need to do it? imagine your family/school/workplace... think concentric circles of application (self, family, friends, workplace, community, country, world).

5. Reiteration. What can I do to help them remember? homework helps...

Another tool:

1. What question does this text answer?
2. What tension does this text resolve?
3. What mystery does this text solve?
4. What issue does this text address?

Quote: Before I draw people’s attention to a solution, I want to make sure they are emotionally engage with the problem. If the text answers a question, I dare not go there until everyone in the audience really wants to know the answer