Love Me…Or Else?

This story was posted on the ‘Christians vs Atheists Debate Group’ on Facebook as a challenge to Christians. I think it was very well put together. (Note: To the original author – I’ve quoted you anonymously because I didn’t want to mention you without permission. But if you want I’ll happily credit you and if you have a website or anything I can link.)

Hey yall. Once again, have another thought to share with yall. I have a question. Everyone think about this carefully.

If I saw a girl somewhere, and I thought she is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. So I want to go ask for her number, take her on a date, etc.

So I approach her and I say, "Excuse me. I just want you to know I think you’re beautiful and I would love to get your number and get to know you and take you out for dinner. Now if you choose not to, that is completely fine. You have the free will to choose who to love and who not too. Totally ok. HOWEVER, if you DONT get my number and go on a date with me, then I’ll grab a gun and shoot you."

She agrees to the date.

Did this woman CHOOSE to go go on a date with me? Or was she avoiding a worse outcome?

This post is not about dates……

Do you see what the poster is getting at? They’re posting this on the Christians vs Atheists Debate Group because they’re actually making a point about God. Is the God of the Bible like the man in the story? I thought this was a great challenge, and tactfully put. We can agree with the implications – the woman in the story is not facing a fair choice! Anyone (including God) would be horrible to do what the man in the story did, and we all know it.

But that situation is not analogous to Biblical teaching about God (even though its true that some of us Christians will unwisely present things in ways that are more similar to that when trying to make other things seem more palatable to sceptics).

The Missing Piece

There are two main aspects of how God interacts with to us:

1. One aspect is how he interacts with us relationally – his attitude towards us and his hopes for us as a being of pure love.
2. The other aspect of how God interacts with us is his responsibility over us as a being of impartial justice. You see, people are right when they ask "How can God allow such evil and suffering?" – since it’s his universe, even though we are often freely rebelling against him it is still ultimately his responsibility to uphold goodness and prevent evil. If he doesn’t bring that to completion sometime soon, he will be shirking his responsibility.

So there is a relational aspect and a responsibility aspect of how God interacts with us.

From the Christian Sources – AKA I’m Not Making This Up:

In the Bible, we face the prospect of God’s judgement because of God’s responsibility to enforce goodness and sweep away evil. We have committed moral crimes and he can’t rightly abdicate his position as judge, or delay judgement indefinitely. We see this aspect at work in passages like Romans 1:29-2:2 (and I’ve added verse eleven at the end):

They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. … (V11) For God shows no partiality. ‭‭ Romans‬ ‭1‬:‭29-‭2:2‬ and then 2:11‬ ‭(ESV‬‬ translation)

But there is another aspect. Relationally he has a personal love for us like a loving parent, and his attitude is eagerness to help, forgive and help us to live in a way that will enable us to thrive eternally and not be destroyed by getting what we justly deserve. We see this in passages like:

Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ‭‭ Ezekiel‬ ‭18‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV ‬‬

And

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV Note: Remember that the same Biblical writers teach that Jesus is God himself absorbing the penalty for our injustices…not just some random innocent human.‭‭

As it turns out, these two aspects of God are foundational to his character, and have been from the start – we see this combination in the famous Exodus 34 passage where the Lord speaks to Moses:

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…”

Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭6‬-‭7‬

Moses got the point, in verse 9 he replies:

And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We are not like a woman who is being forcefully coerced. We get God’s judgement because we deserve it. We are offered a merciful (and costly, to God!) plea bargain because he loves us. And yes that restores our friendship with God.

If we refuse the deal, we’re not punished because God is personally offended (though after all it cost him to redeem us, our refusal is offensive), but rather we are punished because God is doing what he was always going to do anyway – he is passing sentence on our evil actions, words and intentions. If we do respond to his offer and are forgiven and transformed, it is not because we deserve it but because God (in essence) held himself responsible (as our creator) and voluntarily suffered our death himself.

I hope that’s a helpful perspective. If you like, I can try to post a story like the above but with the ‘responsibility/justice’ aspect included so that it’s a better analogue to the Christian teaching on our relationship and responsibility. Or you can have a go yourself in the comments section! Anyway, that’s enough from me for now.