Collapsing Bridges, Repentance, Judgment, and God as the Divine Punisher

Turbulent Cleric, in an interesting post from yesterday, wrote that he found this article by John Piper concerning the recent bridge collapse in Minnesota notably unhelpful. TC (if I can use the initials), says that the paragraph that caused him to struggle in particular was this one:

The meaning of the collapse of this bridge is that John Piper is a sinner and should repent or forfeit his life forever. That means I should turn from the silly preoccupations of my life and focus my mind’s attention and my heart’s affection on God and embrace Jesus Christ as my only hope for the forgiveness of my sins and for the hope of eternal life. That is God’s message in the collapse of this bridge. That is his most merciful message: there is still time to turn from sin and unbelief and destruction for those of us who live. If we could see the eternal calamity from which he is offering escape we would hear this as the most precious message in the world.

TC goes on to add:

I know of many churches where this would get a loud Amen. But I refuse to see in the unfairness of a collapsed bridge and with it collapsed lives, God giving a great altar call. the very thought is grotesque. So when I see dreadful disasters, I am reminded of the fact that our world is imperfect even if it is the best world possible. I am reminded that unfairness is all around and that I and others need to help the process of healing. And I am reminded that God weeps with us for these things are not God’s wishes. But when my answers run out, I am not going to seek a Divine plan. On the contrary, I will let God feel my anger full on.

The quote from Piper and TC’s response reminded me of several things.  First, I think about the many times in recent memory when a tragedy or natural disaster was labeled as a punishment for sins committed.  9/11 had Jerry Falwell up in arms proclaiming that it was all the fault of homosexuals and radical feminists.  Many blamed the Tsunami in Asia a few years ago on the sinfulness of those affected.  And I have heard more than one preacher proclaim that AIDS was God’s punishment upon those with a homosexual lifestyle.  My feeling about this is that unless someone has been anointed as a prophet by God to speak for God, then he or she ought to keep his or her mouth shut when it comes to placing blame for natural disasters or other tragic events.  These things happen, and in the case of bombings and other human-caused tragedies, there is an element of sinfulness present (though the sin has less to do with those hurt by what happens than it does with those who commit the hurt).  Most, if not all, of these kind of pronouncements are at best both repugnant and repulsive, and paint God as some kind of cosmic monster.

However, it is not so easy to dismiss the many claims found in scripture where God’s anger or wrath is poured out in judgment against a sinful people.  There are just too many of them to be swept under the rug.  From the wholesale destruction of humanity (save Noah and his family) in the great flood, to the deaths of the firstborn of Egypt’s sons before the Exodus, to the slaughter of the Ammonites in I Samuel, to the destruction of both Israel and Judah by Assyria and Babylon respectively, (and I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture), Scripture testifies over and again that God is not to be mocked, that one reaps what one sows, and that the Day of Lord is a day of judgment and even punishment.  Further, it seems to me (at least it does most of the time) that it is disingenuous to say that all these examples (and the many more found in the Bible) are only human interpretations of things that are going on in the world.  That is, human beings are merely putting their own spin on what happens and are basically saying that those who suffer deserve their suffering because it is from God’s own hands, and is a direct result of their own ungodliness.  Do you know what I mean?  Do I like this particular understanding of God.  Absolutely not, but so much of the Bible sees God in this way.  How can one ignore the evidence of such without stripping away whole sections of the scripture as just being irrelevant or merely human theologizing, rather than the inspired word of God.

Another thought that came to my mind while reading TC’s post was a passage from Luke, which I quoted in a comment on TC’s blog.  The comment was (and here I quote myself):

I agree that what Piper has to say is at best “cold comfort,” but it seems to me that he is just following Jesus’ example in the following passage from Luke, which is also very cold comfort:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:1-5 ESV)

What do we make of this seemingly heartless response to two well-known tragedies of Jesus’ day?  Imagine them reading as follows instead:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the people in the Twin Towers whose blood the Muslim extremists had mingled with their own when they crashed two jets into the building and over 3000 of them had died. And Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these people were worse sinners than any other people out there, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or what about the dozen or more people who died or who are missing because the bridge they were trying to cross collapsed:  do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Minneapolis? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Talk about offensive!  Jesus would be run out of town on a rail for saying something like that today, don’t you think?  The nerve of that man.  The gall!  And yet something very much like it is right there in the Bible, in black and white, or if you have a certain type of Bible, in bright red.  What do we make of this passage of God’s word?  It seems to me that Piper’s response above is one attempt to use this passage and the tragedy in Minneapolis as a kind of wake up call for people.  For most of us live our lives as if we have forever, when in fact, we have no idea if and when some tragedy will come calling and the routines of our everyday existence will be shattered.  So wake up!  Don’t drift along.  Be ready for anything, and make sure, above all else, that your soul is ready to meet its Maker.

But is this the only way to interpret Luke 13:1-5?  Thankfully it is not.  We are doing a Bible study on the parables of Jesus at my church this summer, and the main text I am using as the teacher is Robert Farrar Capon’s excellent book “Kingdom, Grace, Judgment.”  After the study this morning, I thought I would check out what Farrar might have to say about this passage, if anything.  Below is a lengthy quote (found on page 248).

Luke 13:1-5 (Jesus on Current Horror Stories):  Some enthusiasts of the kind of journalism featured at supermarket checkout counters (”Mom Ices Baby in Freezer!”  “Scoutmaster Goes Berserk with Bazooka!”) regale Jesus with an atrocity story.  Pilate, they tell him, killed some Galileans and poured their blood on their own altars. “So?” Jesus replies. ”You think that because these Galileans suffered such a horrible death, they were some kind of super-sinners?  No way!  But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  Then [Jesus] adds an item of his own from the tabloids (”Siloam Tower Collapses, Kills Eighteen!”).  His point?  Well, I hardly think he was saying that if they could manage to repent of their sins, they wouldn’t die:  the way the Gospel works out, even being sinless can’t guarantee that.  In fact, it guarantees just the opposite:  a still more horrible death on the cross.  Maybe what he was telling them to repent of was actually their rejection of death - a rejection they compensated for by whistling in the dark and telling horror stories.  Maybe they were to stop pretending death was something God sent only to bad guys and realize it was his chosen way of saving even people with lives as carefully lived as theirs.  “You’re all going to die,” Jesus them in effect.  “But since I am going to die for you and with you, maybe you should stop trying to keep death at arm’s length.  You have nothing to lose but your horror.

Now whether or not this is a suitable explanation for these verses is up to you, my gentle readers.  But I, for one, like the idea that this interpretation changes the focus from punishment for sins committed to a different kind of wake up call altogether.  What do you think?

Anyway, these are a few of my long and meandering thoughts about the subject at hand.  If anyone else has some other thoughts for us to consider, by all means leave a comment.  (And if you have made it to the end of this post, congratulations, and thanks for your perseverance.)

For another perspective on the Piper article click here: Leaving Munster.  To go to Turbulent Cleric’s original post go here: A Christian struggles with a collapsing bridge, which was posted on Monday, 06 August 2007.