Facing the Father

This is my third attempt and final attempt at this idea, but this time I’m confident I know how to finish. I’ve had to change the name of this writing several times because our issues with the Father go deeper than fear. I’ve had to ask myself, “Where does this fear come from?” The simple answer of, “misunderstood love” isn’t satisfactory, even though it’s a simple answer. There is more worth exploring and struggling with that yields profitable answers. One of the things I’ve had to remind myself is when we look at the Trinity the issues are not black and white: they are colorful. There’s a rich complexity searching for answers and solutions, and even though my initial ideas have been confirmed, they’ve been broadened and enriched by further study. For when I first started writing and exploring our issues with Father, I knew my ideas were valid, but my explanations were poor. I didn’t have the words to functionally describe what I knew to be the truth. That and I was pigeon holing my format. Needless to say after four weeks of kicking these ideas around in my sleep deprived head, which included a week of crisis response training and working with troubled/abused children, I have a greater vocabulary to communicate my ideas and am more certain of my explanations, even though they may still be rough.

Initially, I wanted to look at legalism and liberalism, for both isms are faulty views of God and the written word. The training I received reminded me that behavior is second to personal needs and experiences. In other words legalism and liberalism are symptoms of deeper issues. They are responses to unmet needs and painful experiences. The legalist tries to control an out of control world through harsh discipline and a literal letter by letter interpretation of the Law. The liberalist rejects the Law because they have never experienced the Law correctly applied. The issue is not the Law itself, but the perception of the judge behind the Law. The legalist fears a constantly angry and unpredictable God, who punishes without warning and punishes in the extreme: an abusive Father. The liberalist spits in God’s face because God neither sees, cares, nor acts; the liberalist scorns the Law of the Father out of frustration, experiencing a negligent Father. The core of issues of abuse and neglect are the same: pain. It hurts to be in an abusive and/or negligent relationship. An overly harsh disciplining Father frustrates his children because the children become afraid to act. A negligent never-present Father frustrates a child in the opposite way: the child can never seem to get their father’s attention. This causes the child to act any way that they want, because there are no ramifications and the Father won’t act. The legalist tries to follow the Law, hoping the Father will be pleased and will not enforce punishment; they live in fear of punishment, because they feel they’re constantly being scrutinized. Both the legalist and the liberalist desire love from the Father, they simply don’t know how to find or experience it.

Looking at legalism and liberalism, we need to go deeper than surface behavior, and go to the heart of their issues. How they view and experience God the Father.

Legalism: the abusive and angry Father

This view of God comes from an Old Testament heavy focus. It’s mostly a misinterpretation of the prophets, who called God’s people back to a healthy relationship with God, and warned them that God would act justly if they did not change their ways. What ‘ways’ were these? The prophets spoke out against the injustice in Jewish society; they spoke out against fraud, stealing property, mistreating the elderly, mistreating orphans, mistreating widows, unfair wages, mistreatment of immigrants and foreigners, cheating their own people, and unfair taxation. They addressed these issues, as well as others, as central to following God’s Law. They pointed out people were going through religious motions while ignoring matters more important to God: the treatment of others. As the prophets pointed out these problems within society, they also claimed that God would not remain silent, that he would act and bring justice to those who were abusing others. The prophets called people to account who were living in liberalism: meaning the people who were doing whatever they wanted with no fear of God or man. Our misinterpretation of the prophets focuses on the punishment of God, which, though a part of the prophets’ message, is not the entirety of their message. It’s from the prophets that most legalists justify their abuse of others.

A great example of this comes from the religious leaders in Jesus day. Here’s what the leaders understood. As the Jewish people didn’t listen to God’s word through the prophets, He brought them to justice and exiled them from the Promised Land. Even though God brought the people back and sent more prophets to them to help them rebuild their nation, the people still rebelled. God gave them warnings they would be removed from the land again, and then stopped sending prophets. Because God stopped sending prophets, the religious leaders lived in fear of losing their nation; for they knew God would hold true to his word and deal justly with his people. The leaders taught the people if they followed God’s Law to the letter, God would not remove them. What started out as a movement to teach people how to live God’s Law became empty religious gestures. The gestures multiplied over time, becoming more and more difficult to follow. Just like their ancestors, they built an empty religion based on religious deeds, instead of living out God’s Law and practicing what was just and right. The religious leaders lived in fear of God’s wrath, and dealt harshly with anyone who upset their control over the people. This is why they executed Jesus. He upset their balance of power by condemning the empty religion created by their fear, greed, and desire to control people. Their legalism led to the abuse of power and the abuse of people.

Like the religious leaders in Jesus day, there are current religious leaders who use their authority to abuse others. They preach from the prophets that if people practice their version of the Law, society will stay together and God will not pour out his wrath. These religious leaders focus on the wrath of God, using it to scare people into obedience. This is a form of oppression and control. These false religious leaders oppress others, especially those who disagree with their strict fear-driven ideologies. They don’t have the patience to listen to those who look to practical matters like justice, as the prophets and Jesus did. These false religious leaders see their traditions as more important than the implications of living out the social aspect of the word of God. They think their traditions set them apart and will make people take notice of how holy they are. They have an inflated sense of self, for in the end they are only concerned with how holy they are in their own eyes and the eyes of those they can control. Anyone who functions outside a false leader’s tradition is branded a heretic, a liberal, or a fool. Confrontation with these leaders involves outbursts of anger, as they attempt to dominate conversations, and dictate other’s behaviors.

Abusive leaders create abusive followers. Occasionally those leaving a strict legal perspective will jump to liberalism, which is opposite to the abuse of legalism. For legalism is active abuse, but liberalism is a passive abuse.

Liberalism: the neglectful and inattentive Father

Some view the Law as oppressive and too strict. These individuals often look at the extreme application of the Law instead of the correct and just application of the Law. Rather than seeking out the purpose of the Law, liberalism tries to defeat the Law by explaining it away. In other words liberalism is an attempt to free people from the Law, meaning getting rid of the implications of breaking the Law. This in effect creates lawlessness, because there is nothing holding people accountable. Liberalism hides in the guise of liberty: that people should be free to do whatever they want, regardless if it’s just and right for individuals and society at large. The call for liberalism goes too far, for in it’s attempt at removing oppression it ends up justifying oppression, because everyone is free to do as they wish, including mistreating those who cannot stand up for themselves. This is a form of neglect. How? Because those who cry out for justice are ignored, because even though people are free to do as they want, this includes oppressing and abusing others. Liberalism neglects powerless people, paying them little attention because it’s too busy taking care of those who have the power to take care of themselves.

During the decline of the Kingdom of Judah and Israel, liberalism was a rank problem. People began to do whatever they wanted, including worshipping whatever God they wanted. The God of Israel taught people to follow the Law, to act justly, to admit mistakes, to be purified and be made clean. The other gods promoted promiscuity, child-sacrifice, war, terror and oppression. In defense of the other gods, they didn’t lead their followers into all of these sins, but the acceptance of these sins, and worshipping whatever god or gods you wanted, including the God of Israel, meant you could do whatever you want so long as you claimed a religious following. This is why the God of Israel calls himself a jealous god, because you cannot serve the God of Israel and other gods. Either you follow Him and the Law, or you follow them and their sins. There’s no middle ground, because one accepts behavior without question, while the other actively works to change behavior. You might be wondering, “Why would the Israelites stop following their God?” The simple answer is this, because they could. The God of Israel gave people His people liberty. He didn’t force them into obedience; He promised justice, even though He patiently applies it. This is where inattention and neglect become our central issue, when we wait for God to act.

Skeptics of God say, “Prove God exists,” expecting a display of power and wonder, or at least continuous divine justice. When people consciously break the Law for the first time they expect an abusive and angry God to show up and deliver swift justice. As the God of Israel is not abusive, but just, He doesn’t act because we provoke Him; He warns us of the ramifications of our actions and holds us accountable, being patient with us and giving us time to change. Many take His short term inaction as long term inattention. That God does not care whether or not we follow His Law. For if He doesn’t enforce His Law, why should we follow it? This is why He sent the prophets to Israel, to call the people back to following the Law, warning them that justice was coming if they did not change their ways. God gave His people a chance to respond, a chance to change and a choice to change. Many took God’s silence as neglect, and since God wasn’t enforcing His Law, they could do whatever they wanted without fear of ramification.

Liberalism sees a neglectful God who simply does not care; an inattentive God who lets injustice reign. These injustices are explained away as freedoms, for if there are no direct ramifications for breaking the Law, then breaking the Law is of no consequence. These views of God are contrary to the prophets’ message. God saw the injustice in Israel. He warned His people through the prophets, giving them the opportunity to act freely and return to the Law, responding without being forced into action. As the people did not choose to follow the Law, God brought justice. This came as a shock to many Israelites, for they thought the prophets’ warnings were too legalistic. The Israelites didn’t take the prophets’ seriously. For Israel believed they could do as they wished: that God have given them free reign. In reality God gave them a responsibility, one they could not free themselves from, even if they chose not to follow God’s Law.

The True Father: fulfillment of the Law through love

The greatest commandment is to love the LORD your God with all your heart, mind and strength; and to love your neighbor as yourself. This puts God’s Law first, but places the fulfillment of the Law through the treatment of others. As a just Father, God set down rules, boundaries, and ramifications. When we break the Law He gives us the opportunity to respond, coming back into a right relationship with Him. As God warned Israel and Judah of their behavior, God does the same for us. He warns us before taking action and dealing out punishment. Only when we have so hardened ourselves to the point we no longer care about following God’s Law, through legalism or liberalism, does God punish. In the case of Israel and Judah He waited until society had completely disregarded His Law before taking action. God is patient. God lets us know where we stand with Him. He never punishes or disciplines without reason or warning. God is just. His goal is to show us how loving people through difficult times and places can transform them, even though we’d rather demand strict adherence to the Law or do away with it entirely. God gives us a choice, but He holds us accountable to that choice and its ramifications.

Working with the abused and neglected is simple: let them know what is happening; pay attention to their needs; be consistent in your behavior; be consistent in your expectations; and give grace. It is incredibly difficult to shed an abused or neglected mentality. Love is the only way to break through these mentalities and create lasting change. The same is true of legalism and liberalism. God does breaks through these mentalities through the love inherent in His Law. As such the Law is more than following a legal code. For legal codes do not move us to a place of love, and neither does letting people do as they wish move us to a place of love. Love comes from identifying with someone in pain. God calls Himself our Father, not to show how high an authority He is above us, but to show how much He loves us because He claims us as His dear beloved and cherished children. He claims us as His own, even though we often stumble to claim Him and His Law. Our Father gives people freedom to respond; we need to do the same, without forcing them to do as we wish. God doesn’t force us to behave, but He does enforce justice, even though He is patient and gracious with us, so much so we can become frustrated with the precision of His movements. This kind of love is difficult, but God has modeled it for us through His Son, who is the fulfillment of the Law. The Law points to the Son, the Son points to the Spirit who dwells within us to help us change, and the Spirit points back to the Father, who has put it all in place to show how much He loves us, looks out for us, and wants us to choose His ways, not ours.