Monday, May 18, 2009
Nice and Evil
IS GOD "NICE"?
I am willing to bet most will answer, quickly - Yes! But stop and think about it for a minute. Let's consider a couple of posts on the same blog, but written by two different people. The first, by Matt Anderson, is advice to a person wronged. It's good advice, but it is in some sense, cruel. It advises a poor and tortured soul to, more or less, continue to stew in the emotional torture and trust God to work it out. Again, good advice, but in my experience cruel. When faced with injustice I typically find action better than inaction - smiting preferable to prayer - so much so, I find the suppression of those emotional urges to be almost physically painful.
Then there is this post by Tex in which he argues that political decisions are, currently, made with a bent to compassion, and little else. In other words, Tex seems to think political decision are made to be perceived as "nice." Tex even points out that sometimes nice is anything but, and that such is relatively easy to see on the micro scale:
In every case here the problem appears to me to be one of perspective. Do we focus on ourselves or the other? In the case Matt is discussing, his advice may appear cruel, but his point is God has a bigger picture in mind that we may not have. Short term satisfaction may feel good and therefore seem nice, but if it harms the long term good, it can be anything but. So the case with the child and the homework.
The political case(s) Tex discusses are the most personal of all. Decisions are often made by our nation to be perceived as kind and compassionate - which, if you think about it is entirely self-serving. Short-sighted people perceive things in a short-sighted manner, but that is not reality, nor is it necessarily "nice."
The nicest teacher I ever had was Merle Schulenberg - high school chemistry. Spent two semesters calling me, publicly and often, "retard." Did I hate it - absolutely. Then I started college chemistry and absolutely beat the crap out of everyone else in the department. What was Merle doing? Well, he knew I had a talent for chemistry so he ratcheted the bar higher for me than the rest of the class. Anything less than perfection and the accusations of "stupid" came flying my way. Motivation - that's all it was. (There are lessons about my acquaintance Bob Knight in here somewhere too.)
Just remember this, God's character is good, but it is far from nice. He has obliterated civilizations, destroyed cities, and even murdered His own son.
I am willing to bet most will answer, quickly - Yes! But stop and think about it for a minute. Let's consider a couple of posts on the same blog, but written by two different people. The first, by Matt Anderson, is advice to a person wronged. It's good advice, but it is in some sense, cruel. It advises a poor and tortured soul to, more or less, continue to stew in the emotional torture and trust God to work it out. Again, good advice, but in my experience cruel. When faced with injustice I typically find action better than inaction - smiting preferable to prayer - so much so, I find the suppression of those emotional urges to be almost physically painful.
Then there is this post by Tex in which he argues that political decisions are, currently, made with a bent to compassion, and little else. In other words, Tex seems to think political decision are made to be perceived as "nice." Tex even points out that sometimes nice is anything but, and that such is relatively easy to see on the micro scale:
A child comes to her mother, math homework in one hand while wiping away tears of frustration with the other. Mom, being the loving and caring sort, sees her daughter’s predicament and is filled with pity. Her pity motivates her to try and help her daughter, but her prudential wisdom, her understanding of her daughter’s real needs, and her beliefs about growth and education will determine if her pity moves her to do her daughter’s homework for her, or to sit down and help instruct her on the finer details of long division.(Tex leaves out an alternative more commonly practiced today than any of us would care to realize - the mother decides it is the school that is cruel for making her precious one learn long division in the age of the calculator and begins a crusade, attacking the school, the curriculum, and personally lambasting the teacher. This just proves that "nice" can be terribly selective.)
In every case here the problem appears to me to be one of perspective. Do we focus on ourselves or the other? In the case Matt is discussing, his advice may appear cruel, but his point is God has a bigger picture in mind that we may not have. Short term satisfaction may feel good and therefore seem nice, but if it harms the long term good, it can be anything but. So the case with the child and the homework.
The political case(s) Tex discusses are the most personal of all. Decisions are often made by our nation to be perceived as kind and compassionate - which, if you think about it is entirely self-serving. Short-sighted people perceive things in a short-sighted manner, but that is not reality, nor is it necessarily "nice."
The nicest teacher I ever had was Merle Schulenberg - high school chemistry. Spent two semesters calling me, publicly and often, "retard." Did I hate it - absolutely. Then I started college chemistry and absolutely beat the crap out of everyone else in the department. What was Merle doing? Well, he knew I had a talent for chemistry so he ratcheted the bar higher for me than the rest of the class. Anything less than perfection and the accusations of "stupid" came flying my way. Motivation - that's all it was. (There are lessons about my acquaintance Bob Knight in here somewhere too.)
Just remember this, God's character is good, but it is far from nice. He has obliterated civilizations, destroyed cities, and even murdered His own son.
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