I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO…
While I don't want to condemn Johnson (as I probably did this plenty of times in middle school and high school basketball) there are some great lessons we can learn from this statement.
1. This is what happens when Calvinism is worked out to its logical conclusion...
Johnson may not be but he sounds like a thorough-going Calvinist. Why? Because in Calvinist theology God is directly responsible for causing all that occurs, including human sin and mistakes. Taken to its logical conclusion Calvinism can "blame" God for anything and everything - thus taking away personal responsibility. You're obese... it's God's fault. You failed your test... God's fault. Your girlfriend broke up with you... God's fault. Your team lost... God's fault. We need to understand that not everything is the fault of God. Sins are the fault of sinners, Satan, and demons... not God. While dropping a pass isn't a sin, you could see how Johnson's theology might be off concerning other more important matters.
2. Johnson doesn't really care about glorifying God (at least in this statement) he cares about glorifying himself.
Johnson never humbles himself in this situation. Say God did cause him to drop that pass. If so, GOD IS IN THE RIGHT AND WE HAVE NO RIGHT TO QUESTION HIS ACTIONS. One of the true tests of your devotion to the will and glory of God is when God decides to do something that you don't agree with. Do you complain? Or do you submit and find joy in God's will? Can you truly always pray, "Yet not my will, but yours be done"?
3. Johnson seems to believe God is obligated to bless him since he worships God.
This is the root issue here... and the logic is completely backwards. Johnson is essentially saying, "I worship you so you must bless me in the ways I see fit." He's trying to control God based upon his own supposed righteousness. First of all, God does not owe us anything. He created us and we owe him perfect obedience, which we have all failed to give him. Second, God's favor does not depend upon our works but on Jesus' death on the cross. God is not even required to give us eternal life because we worship him 24/7... he gives it because Jesus accomplished it for us by taking the punishment for our sins.
4. We've all probably thought something like this, but we should recognize how silly these thoughts are when broadcast to the world.
Let's not be hypocritical here. We've all probably blamed God for something God didn't directly cause before. However Johnson's post on Twitter allows us to see how ridiculous this type of thinking actually is. Don't tell yourself you'd never think this... you just might be smart enough not to post it on the internet.
5. God probably doesn't care that much about who wins a sports game
Contrary to what UK Basketball fans think God probably doesn't care what happens here... caught pass or dropped. I like what Tim Tebow, former QB for the Florida Gators said when a reporter who knew about his faith asked him if he thought God was on the Gators' side. Tebow replied something to the effect of, "Honestly I don't think God really gives a flip who wins a football game." I think he's right.
in point 3, you identify the root issue, and every calvinist i've ever read or met would agree: at some point we all tend to want to believe we have done something for God that puts God in our debt, such that He owes us and we can make demands...whether it's personal wealth, football catches or healthy children...and that belief is simply foolishness.
ReplyDeleteJob35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand?
you said: "we owe him perfect obedience, which we have all failed to give him."
i would agree, but your logic says that He can only demand perfect obedience if we have the natural capacity to be perfectly obedient. do you really believe that we are capable of being perfect in and of ourselves? if it's impossible for even the best of men to be perfectly obedient under their own strength (Mark10:27), then by your logic, God cannot demand it, right? this is the foundation of your whole issue with “calvinism.”
you said: "Taken to its logical conclusion Calvinism can "blame" God for anything and everything - thus taking away personal responsibility."
i'd like to see you do the logic on this one - as calvinists believe both that God is sovereign and man is responsible, which is what the bible teaches.
noncalvinists like to say that they believe that "God is sovereign" but usually only in the sense that a human king might be “sovereign”: God can only set laws and impose punishment. but calvinists start with a more biblical definition.
Dan4:35 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”
Isa46:10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’
Prov16:4 The LORD has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil. (NASB)
Prov16:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Prov16:1 To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue.
Isa45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.
Amos3:6 When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
Lam3:38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
Prov21:1The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.
Psa33:10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. 11 But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
Psa135:6 The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.
…yet you would complain that that sort of sovereignty would make God responsible for everything that happens... so again, let's look at scripture:
look at job: “the LORD gave and the LORD has taken away” (1:21) and “shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10) and note that in saying these things (i.e. "blaming God"), job did not sin. even if God did not “cause” job harm “directly,” He was ultimately responsible for job’s losses and trouble (just as He was responsible for the good in job's life). job was dealing with much worse than a dropped football yet he refused to curse God.
continued-
Ruth 1:20 "Don't call me Naomi," she told them. "Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me."
ReplyDeletetake a look at gen50:20 - God did not “allow” joseph to be sold into slavery, as you might prefer it to read. God “intended” it. his brothers were to blame but God was responsible also – so joseph could forgive his brothers and trust that God would ultimately make things right.
1kings22:23 is an interesting case for you. and who "incited david," exactly?
2Sam24:1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah." (Cf. 1Chron21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.)
the prophet habbakuk cried out to God that violent, wicked men were coming to kill them and steal their land, and God responded that habbakuk might find it hard to believe, but He raised those men up to do precisely that. isaiah10 is similar.
i can go on and on - i mentioned a couple of other situations in a comment on 10/16/10. for the writers of scripture – if it happened, they often simply wrote that God did it. God is sovereign over everything and He is responsible for all that happens…even if He is not the “direct” or “proximate” cause...and the calvinist confessions agree: “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” He ordained it. He intended it. (maybe it's easier to understand that “ordained” is logically somewhere between “caused” and “allowed.” maybe not.)
does He “cause” evil in the sense of compelling or forcing men to act in a certain way? nope – no calvinist would say that at all. men are free to act as they want (the problem is that we naturally want to act selfishly and independently of God). but another problematic question is this: in Whom do evil men “live and move and have their being?”
do you support BP as a morally-praiseworthy corporation? they did not “cause” the rig explosion after all – they didn’t bomb it. they merely “allowed” it to happen. they should have foreseen the consequences if they were not more hands-on in the process, but are you really ok with the argument that they are off the hook if they simply “allowed” the death and damage that was caused? similarly, i don't see how saying that God “allows” evil means that He is not responsible.
you seem to believe that God must not interfere with our "free will." so did God interfere with jonah's "free will" choice to avoid nineveh? saul's freely chosen desire to murder and imprison the christians in damascus? when ananias and his wife freely conspired to deceive the young church, was God helpless and unable to inform peter and judge them instantly, taking their lives? the God of the bible seems free to interfere as He chooses – He does all that He pleases. it's ok to say that God “allows” evil – although it's notable that the bible almost never does – but certainly you'd have to step outside of scripture to say that He has no choice but to “allow” it. so calvinists believe that the bible teaches that in choosing which evil to “allow” and which to restrain, God is accomplishing His plan and purpose.
again, a lot of this goes back to you and Rom9:19: if God intends (or “wills” or “ordains”) that a certain event happen, you (and the wrongheaded fellow in v19) demand that human responsibility is “taken away.” the bible says otherwise. the bible repeatedly maintains that the story goes as God intends for it to go – and at the same time, that man is responsible for disobedience. your foundation here is simply not scriptural.
looking at the rest of your blog, it's interesting how much we agree on. but when it comes to “calvinism” you seem to put the bible aside and assume that calvinists have to accept your unbiblical logic rather than the bible. if you spot a so-called calvinist teaching that men are not responsible for their actions, i and every calvinist i know would back you that such teaching is unbiblical. but again i encourage you to examine your logic and see if it really has biblical foundations...
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