Sometimes the best most interesting thoughts I get come from my teenagers…
I was talking to my 19-year old (who is currently in police academy) the other day and he mentioned that humans don't look up. He says that's why snipers often are in a position up high…
He said it's why often in ancient times that when they wanted to protect a city they'd put guards on the rooftops because bad guys would attack from above. He mentioned a bunch of other examples that all boiled down to the fact that humans are vulnerable from above because we're not wired…to look up for danger.
Right away, of course, I realize this means something.
Romans 1…says…
"…that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse."
So…humans…aren't wired to expect danger or harm or pain from above…this is to tell us something from within and without…
God was really awesome to leave this type of truth for us in the Creation. We can't change physics. Gravity is always the same. Biology is always the same. It's just a matter of discovering it and uncovering the truth it's intended to tell us! No one's culture, language, or bad translations can take those unchangeable truths from us.
So, if humans are not wired to expect attack from above…what would this tell us about God?
First of all…it would tell us that we don't need to be afraid of God. Bad things don't happen because of God. God doesn't attack us. God is not a source of pain. When we do look up "toward the heavens" we see the beautiful sky…and for the most part looking up brings us relaxation and pleasure.
Second of all…what about small people? (More commonly known as kids?) Children are noticeably smaller than adults, aren't they? All their lives until they hit reproductive maturity they are generally forced to spend their whole lives looking up. So, just like adults…when children "look up" at us, what do they see? Do they see something to make them feel at peace? Do they look at us and find refuge and a reason to breathe a sigh of relief? Do they look up at us and sometimes find themselves in awe of us? Or, have we driven them to go against the way God made them and have given them something to be afraid of?
God has wired humans to not look up to expect an attack, that would seem to tell me that as the parent…as the one the child is looking up to…that I should not be a threat...yet that is exactly how most children live.
God has wired humans so that we aren't to look up for danger, yet, pick up just about any "Christian" parenting book and you'll find the instruction give your child something to fear from above. And, according to statistics most children in America live in perpetual fear of their parents hitting them on their butts with something every time they are naughty.
Seems to me something's off…
Is hitting our children on the butt with something to cause them pain (spanking) when they're naughty really God's way or not? With the debate over this truth and the battle of the verses forever waging how can we know?
I'd say we actually do know…because God says He's made it clear and evident to us…so if we're ignorant of it it's because we have "suppressed the truth in unrighteousness"…and that makes Him mad.
And, because of this suppression…we end up raising people who expect what God has wired them not to: to expect pain from Him.
And, the end result of raising up children to fear their parents is that in 2012 we have a church who believes that God has a "plan" for everything and that everything (including bad/painful things) that happens is part of it. Even if they believe He's not doing it He's allowing it (and therefore still responsible). Every terrible fearsome act that happens on the planet gets attributed to having "come down from above"…
Despite what Romans 1 says… (everything knowable about God is knowable thru the Creation)
Despite what James says… (every good and perfect gift comes from above)
Despite what the life and sacrifice of Jesus says…
The church can fuss about elections. Fuss about the "non-Christians" pushing their agendas. But, the real enemy…the real "anti-Christ" is anything that puts itself against the knowledge of Christ…and that is what most Christian parents are actually doing when they teach their children to look up and be afraid…which is why God can lament, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…"
