NeoTheism
Some Final Thoughts
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will
come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal
with and hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self and [utterly]
self-centered . . .5 For [although] they hold a form of piety (true
religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it
[their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all]
such people [turn away from them].
Amplified
One of the great divides between Christianity and all others is the type of answers certain questions produce:
- What is the meaning of life?
- Why did ---- die?
- Why did this tragedy happen to ME?
- What will happen now?
This is, obviously, not the lessons to address these questions, questions that have troubled philosophers and the common man-on-the-street for centuries and centuries. But, I might suggest, it is this type of question, in part that leads to neotheism and similar cults.
Cults generally arise out of either a great deal of self-ego or out of a great deal of self-pain. A person, or group of persons, view themselves as knowing all things (self-ego) and begin interpreting the Bible from this perspective of knowing everything.
Or, in the alternative, some terrible personal tragedy arises and the theologian or philosopher goes looking for answers to a very specific questions. In part, I believe neotheism arises from the search to alleviate the pain of the catastrophe of an early, unexpected death of a very close loved one. The argument might flow as follows:
- My loved one was good.
- God is in control of all things.
- My loved one died, therefore, a God Who is in control of all things "took" my loved one.
- But, if this is true, did not God "kill" my loved one by taking him earlier than was necessary or acceptable?
- But, this is not a God of love, so ...
- God either is mean or God does not know all things.
- If God does not act meanly, but only in love, then God must not have known my loved one would die so early in life.
- So, God cannot know all. Therefore, God takes risks.
The real argument may have been much more complex, but I think you get the idea. Certainly, God is in control, but we tend to look at all events from a personal point of view. If a child dies, we mouth that God took him in His good wisdom, but we view children as innocent and cannot understand why. Again, without getting into a lengthy discussion,
- God does now all things
- God uses all things for His purpose
- Some things He allows for the growth of others
- Some young people who die are old enough to have rejected the Gospel, and, perhaps, already so hardened their hearts as to never again be in a position to accept the Gospel. God may "allow" their death or, indeed, taken them away from earth early in life either as punishment or to remove them so they will not adversely affect others.
- Likewise, when God takes an innocent child home, perhaps, it is to bless them with the avoidance of all the grief and pain we humans endure during a normal lifetime. Or, maybe, it&s purpose is to refine some other saint.
It is not ours to know and understand all of the methods of God. What is clear from Scripture, as I have attempted to show in this study, is that God is fully and completely in control and HE does NOT take risks. He knows all of the future and acts as He desires to achieve His purposes. The fact that we cannot answer questions such as those proposed above do not change who God is. But if we go looking for a theology to fit the questions, we miss the theology of the Bible. We let circumstances interpret the Scriptures instead of allowing Scriptures to interpret themselves and then be applied to the circumstance.
I believe in my heart, after additional research and reading, that this is the source of Open Theism. The new theism of a God who risks is the answer to the question of pain and suffering. It would be better for you to read the book of Job and take comfort in a God in control than to follow the teachings of a false theology such as is presented by the proponents of neotheism!
