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guess who moved
Categories: forty-blogs-of-lent
Tags: God, Christianity
Date: 21 March 2012 23:47:39
Forty blogs of Lent
26
There's a bit of theology I am not keen on It keeps coming back in a number of guises, but basically it is:
If you are feeling far from God, guess who moved?
It is poor theology on a number of grounds. Firstly because of the leading question, it implies either you or God have moved, it implies that if you don't feel God's presence, then God is not actually there. My blog yesterday about the dark night of the soul shows that many people over the years have felt far from God when it was at that very time that God was working in their lives.
Secondly because it contradicts scripture. More on that later.
And Thirdly because it is bad pastoral advice.
Back to the Scripture bit:
Psalm 139:7-8
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
You cannot move far from God, even if you want to. The statement should read:
If you think you are far from God, you're wrong.
Suppose someone is conscious of sin, and feels they can't approach God, what do we do? Do we assure them of God's love and forgiveness, that He longs for them to turn to him, and is ready to forgive. No. We tell them that they feel far from God because they've moved, confirming their worst fears that God is not present. And worse. We make it out to be their fault, making God sound remote and making it harder for them to turn to God than it was before.
Like the Pharisees before us we build burdens on people's backs and not lifting a finger to help. Instead we should be encouraging faithfulness to a God who is faithful.
-o0o-
Based on a blog I posted on 10 February 2008 on St Pixels.