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1 Doubting God's Goodness: Life in a Time of War Rich Nathan May 20 Doubting God’s Goodness: Life in a Time of War Rich Nathan May 20, 2012 Apologetics: Doubting God Series Ephesians 6:10-12 I recently heard Dr. Greg Boyd, a pastor from Minneapolis, give the following illustration. I’m expanding on it with a huge degree of pastoral liberty. But the basic idea came from Dr. Greg Boyd. Imagine its June 5, 1944. You are living in France and have rented a beach house and you are planning to vacation with your family on the beach at a place called Normandy. You’ve been working hard all year and are looking forward to kicking back, relaxing, drinking good French wine, swimming in the surf with your children, and enjoying the beach for the next month. Well, to your surprise, that night, June 5, 1944, the sounds of planes flying overhead disturb your sleep. Paratroopers start dropping into your yard. And in the morning, before dawn, flotillas of landing craft land on just the spot you’ve planted your beach umbrella. You, of course, are very upset especially after one of the beach invaders breaks your favorite beach chair when he rolls over it with his tank. And then you have to contend with all the shooting and shells that are landing in your yard. You are in the backyard trying to get a little peace as you lie in your hammock. You finally lose your patience and start screaming at everyone, “Stop it! Stop it! I’m on vacation!” Dr. Boyd’s point was that the problem most Christians have and, indeed, most people have with all of the suffering and pain that exists in our world is that we basically believe that life should be like a vacation instead of like a war. You know there is a difference between being on vacation and being in the middle of a war. Listen to the following description of a spa that is in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you are looking for a desert climate and an overall recharging vacation, we recommend the W Scottsdale where the spa will leave you ultra- pampered and relaxed. Guests of the hotel are just steps away from Old Town and unlimited shopping options at the waterfront. The Bliss Spa, with its seven tranquil treatment rooms, has a full menu of rejuvenating facials and many highly trained masseuses. Our two top picks are the Blissage 75 and the Hot Milk. Also, the sought-after Fat Girl’s Slim Treatment will have you feeling great in your itsy-bitsy bikini and ready for some serious tanning time. After the treatments are finished, head up to the posh, open-around-the-clock-pool. The thirteen cabanas are equipped with flat-panel TVs and Internet for those who don’t want to completely disconnect. These can be reserved during the daytime for $250.00. While © 2012 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org 1 at the pool, swim by the tanning concierge for tips and the best sunscreens. Also, if the sun is working too slowly, get an organic airbrushed tan in your guestroom bathroom. This is part of one of the many luscious amenities. Now, isn’t this the American dream of what normal life should be like all of the time? You’re pampered, you’re protected; everyone else in the world exists to take care of you and your needs. You have money to burn, no hassles, no stresses. You spend the day soaking in hot milk before you go in for your Fat Girls’ Slim Treatment . Let me read to you, by way of contrast, what it was like to live as a soldier in the trenches during World War I: Trench life was, however, one of considerable squalor, with so many men living in a very constrained space. Scraps of discarded food, empty tins and other waste, the nearby presence of the latrine, the general dirt of living half underground and being unable to wash or change for days or weeks at a time created conditions of severe health risks (and that is not counting the military risks). Vermin including rats and lice were very numerous: disease was spread by them, and by the maggots and flies that thrived on the nearby remains of decomposing human and animal corpses. Troops in the trenches were also subjected to the weather: the winter of 1916 to 1917 in France and Flanders was the coldest in living memory; the trenches flooded in the wet spring sometimes to waist height whenever it rained. Men suffered from exposure, frostbite, trench-foot (a wasting disease of the flesh caused by the foot being wet and cold all the time, constrained to boots, for days on end, that would cripple a man), and many diseases brought on or made worse by living in such a way. What is it like to fight in a war? A quick Google search will bring up dozens of images of the horrific conditions that U.S. soldiers experienced during World War II. You will see faces that are etched with the pain of their experiences – war- weary men who are transporting their wounded comrades for medical care. It is not only the soldiers that are injured in the war, but also there is all of what we call today “collateral damage.” There is an image of a little baby who was picked up by an American G.I. The baby nearly died as a result of the battle. It is not just men, women and children that are affected. All of creation is affected by the war. I ran across a photo of American G.I.s patching up a dog that was injured in the crossfire between the Americans and the Japanese. I’ve been doing a series that I’ve titled Doubting God . I’ve been away the last couple of weeks. Marlene and I had the privilege of teaching at a leadership conference in Copenhagen where we gathered together hundreds of pastors and © 2012 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org 2 leaders from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. While I’ve been away, I’ve heard rave reviews about Charles’ and Insoo’s preaching over the past two weekends. Isn’t it great being part of a church that has so many gifted young teachers? A few weeks ago, I did a message titled Doubting God’s Goodness . I said, then, that of all the barriers that people have to faith, the greatest barrier is the sheer amount of suffering that exists in the world. Why, if the Christian story is true and God does exist and God is love and he does choose to interact with this world, then why do so many people in the world suffer? Why so much violence? Why so many unexpected tragedies? Why so much pain? In the first talk that I did on Doubting God’s Goodness , I spoke about how we as human beings misuse the gift of freedom that God has given us. Rather than love God and love our neighbor, we human beings turn our backs on God and we often abuse and injure our neighbor. We talked about the impact that sin has had upon the well-being of this world. Why do so many people suffer? Certainly, a part of the answer has to do with the misuse and abuse of human freedom. But among the answers that we must consider regarding the extent of human suffering is this answer: We are not currently on vacation. We are, and the whole universe is, in the middle of a war. I’ve called today’s talk, Doubting God’s Goodness: Living in a World at War . Let’s pray. Ephesians 6:10-12 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. I want to make a very simple point today. You cannot understand the world at all that you read about or listen to regarding crime, teenage suicides, child abuse, or various wars - you cannot understand the world that you are looking at outside this church; you cannot understand inside the Church - the Vineyard or the various kinds of battles between churches, the unrest in the Church, various heresies that have arisen in church history; you cannot really understand your whole life or what your family may be going through without setting it against the backdrop of what the Bible would call “spiritual warfare”. By spiritual warfare, we mean this great cosmic battle that is going on between God and his angels and Satan and the demons that follow his lead. When we see that the world, and life, is played against this backdrop of spiritual warfare, things make a great deal of sense. We begin to understand that, as in © 2012 Rich Nathan | VineyardColumbus.org 3 all wars, there are casualties. There is a need to fight. There is a need to keep up our morale and have exhortations and pep talks. There is a need for weapons and a certain kind of battle-ready urgency. We need to be aware of the tactics of our enemy. So we understand that the backdrop of life is spiritual warfare with Satan – God’s enemy – who hates and wants to destroy everything that God loves. God loves the world, so Satan goes out of his way today to destroy the world God made.
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