The Art of Conservatism

Lying about God (“...Isn't Fixing This!”)

Written around December 4, 2015

As a classical music lover, I came to appreciate Rock music relatively late in life, around age 15, but ultimately I came to love it like the rest of my generation did. It was fun, and still is. In my entire classic rock experience, I was only truly offended once. The song was, “The Soft Parade” by the Doors. As the song begins, lead singer, the late Jim Morrison, says arrogantly, “They Say, that you can petition the Lord in prayer.......petition the Lord in prayer.......” repeated several times. And then, at the top of his voice, he screams, “YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD IN PRAYER!!!”

 

I was so offended that I felt distinctly uncomfortable. I soon got over it, and I didn't think of it again--until now. It came back to me via the front page of the December 3^rd New York Daily News, where the headline screamed, “God Isn't Fixing This!”

“How dare they??” Those were the very words that popped into my head the moment I saw that front page headline. I know exactly where those words came from, too. It wasn't from either this world, or from anywhere in the drive-by media, either. 

 

My grandfather, the theologian Dr. P. E. Kretzmann, once taught me, “Anything you say about God, limits him, at least in our minds”. It isn't that the headline writer on the Daily News is saying that God isn't fixing this. Rather, the writer doesn't want God getting involved. Limiting, arrogant, and fruitless. 

 

Oh, God will fix it, all right, despite what that atheist headline writer says. But, He needs us as well. That writer hasn't a clue about God, about His abilities, and more importantly, about those of us who believe. God does indeed 'fix this', and a lot more, including other disasters, both of world proportions, and tiny ones, especially when it comes to those which are created by evil people. Always has. And, while He will use all of us as he sees fit to do his Will, He 'fixes it' best through those who will listen and believe. 

 

All of us who believe further understand that 'God fixing this' usually starts with prayer. But all too many who would pooh-pooh the idea of prayer, like that aforementioned Mr. Morrison, don't get the secret that prayer works because prayer is a conversation. It's never just one way, from us to Him. At some point, God will talk back to us, and we have to listen. Maybe not in so many words, although He can do that (remember, do not limit him in his ability to communicate, either). Rather, as I've come to find, He also talks back to us through opportunities, through circumstances, through momentary co-incidents, and yes, too, with that legendary 'still, small voice' of His. But when people, such as the folks at the Daily News, are so into themselves that they've shut out the ability to conceive of God as a necessary part of their lives--well, as the daughter of Billie Graham once put it, “Being the gentleman that he is, God goes away from where He's not wanted.” 

 

The history of the world is rife with examples of what I'm talking about. As just one example: I personally don't believe that World War II could have been won by the Allies without God's help. Too many circumstances and co-incidents happened which tipped the battle in favor of the Allies, at just the right time, which, if they hadn't have happened, would have made the Allies World War II lose. God knew which side to be on, and it wasn't the one of tyranny, cruelty and genocide. I believe that, in the final analysis, God will fix this, the war on the haters of His Word, and on the genocidal, will be won, and that includes with the help of those within that hijacked faith, because there will be those of all faiths who will listen to that still, small voice within them, or see the circumstances, and be able to discern the truth. That's where I think God is working to mend this and end this, and for that is what we should all be praying, whether we be Christian, Muslim, or Jew. 

 

In another commentary I mentioned that the excesses of ISIS is sowing the seeds of their own destruction. I say it again, because within this context I see that as an opportunity, for God, and for us, if only we will see the truth, and believe, and pray to God to let us know how each of us, in our own way, can help “fix this”. And leave those who disparage our, and His, efforts, to rot in their own unbelief, while at the same time, wondering how He, and we, fixed it.

For Art of Conservatism, I'm Art Reis.