Transcending Time's Indifference

Yesterday, The National Review republished a 2014 article on the passing of time, called "Sinners in the Hands of an Indifferent God: New Year's and the Tyranny of Time" by Kevin D. Williamson.

The article questions the rationality of the Biblical doctrine of salvation and the character of God, and points to a lesser "god" with a little "g," called time, who is consistent in spite of what we do, and really does not care what we do.  The writer identifies the futility of life and closes with the indifference of time to what we do.  Below are the first paragraph, parts of the second, and the last paragraphs of the article, however, I would encourage you to read the whole thing.

The God of Abraham is enigmatic, paradoxical, capricious, or so He must always seem to us, our understanding being imperfect, the limitations of our minds severe and unnegotiable.  On Christmas, we celebrate the fact that He, in His incomprehensible goodness, chose to dwell among us, for our salvation.  Emanuel, God Who is With Us.  The journey that begins in Bethlehem and ends (but does not end) at Golgotha must for our mortal days be the subject of faith -- the reasoning mind recoils from it.  

But there is another, less enigmatic, less mysterious god (and capital letters are not his thing) who reminds us of his austere presence during those abbreviated days of winter: the god of passing time . . . His law is inscribed not on our souls but on our cells.  His church is every place where we are laid prone with our names written at our heads: every nursery ward, every graveyard . . . You can make jokes about the god of passing time -- he does not laugh, he is not offended, he is completely indifferent, as cold and remote as the star over Bethlehem.  If we make  jokes about him, we make them for ourselves.  The proverb tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  But nobody needs convincing when it comes to the god of passing time.  we are born terrified of him and the darkness of his eternal shadow . . . 

With apologies to the Reverend Jonathan Edwards, we are sinners in the hands of an indifferent god . . .

How dieth the wise man?  As the fool.  

But there is work to be done, and champagne to be had (in moderation -- we resolve to amend our ways), and even though everybody -- everybody -- knows that everybody -- everybody -- at every -- every -- New Year's Eve party is only pretending to enjoy himself, we observe the proper offices and come together in our little pools of light in the brumal darkness.  And we may even raise a glass to the god of passing time, who is there, too.  He is not unwelcome.  He does not wish us ill.  He does not wish us anything at all.  

(Read more at http://www.nationalreview.com/article/367293/sinners-hands-indifferent-God) 

Ironically, the Bible supports the writer's point of view . . . but not as you might imagine.  It, too, talks about the passing of time -- but offers a different perspective.  Perhaps there is value to understanding both.

The writer is not the first to state that God is capricious.  However, given understanding of God's character, those same people might not consider Him capricious at all.  Instead, God is consistent in character and willing to be known if you search for Him with all your heart.

As contrary to human understanding as it may seem (hard to believe Someone would want to do that), the Story of sin, Christmas, the cross and redemption, is not something solely taken on faith that does not stand up to reason.  It is the only story that makes sense of what some call "The Problem of Pain."  People point to the love of God and say that if God is a loving God, why does He allow so much pain and suffering in the world?  Why would He send people to Hell?  Valid questions.  On the surface, perhaps embracing Agnosticism or Atheism allows you to get past these questions and treat them as show-stoppers.  This is what the writer appears to do in reference to the ability of mountains to withstand the passing of time compared to humans -- of all religious persuasions -- and the apparent futility of people of all faiths responding to the death of their loved ones.  But on closer inspection, taking the path of Agnosticism or Atheism has problems that cannot be adequately explained, and they are just as much a belief system.   Every human believes in something.  And Agnosticism and Atheism also have to explain the Problem of Pain to be legitimate as a worldview.  So instead of treating them as separate (fatalism/nihilism and worship at the alter of time or acknowledging its existence and its indifference as the article explains so well), perhaps, Atheists and Agnostics need to be grouped with the Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs all praying fervently at the foot of the bus that fell into the gorge.  Did evil evolve?  Is there purpose beyond Me and those things that benefits Me in this life, given Death?  What about purpose to/from pain and suffering apart from the love of God?  Some try to explain it as the Universe -- giving the Universe god-like, but impersonal qualities for bringing purpose out of suffering -- but that begs the question.

The Story is also in line with God's character and how He has set up the world.  There is an element of faith, but that comes with humility: instead of getting angry in frustration at a capricious God who is unnegotiable because the Bible says we cannot save ourselves, acknowledge that God loved us so much in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (in our place).  It shoves comparison out the door.  It shoves being good enough out the door.  "Sinners in the hands of an angry God"?  Sure -- God experiences wrath every day, but God is also slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness (mercy, among other things having to do with provision).  Would God be God if either were untrue? Or better yet, what kind of god would he be?  Someone you could respect?  But God, in His mercy, provided a way to pacify His wrath in Jesus Christ.  The Bible, in Romans, calls Jesus the Just and the Justifier because being sinless, He could pay for the sins of the world.  For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Thing is, God respects our free will.  He, Himself, has free will -- and we are created in His image -- and in His free will, He decided to die for our sins (Jesus) and defeat death (the physical and spiritual, eternal consequence of sin) by being raised on the third day.

What about time?

God (the Bible) also speaks about time as merciless:

1. Ecclesiastes admonishes to remember our Creator in the days of our youth before we grow old and decrepit and can no longer do the things we could in our youth.  

2. Ecclesiastes admonishes to rejoice in the wife of our youth and to let her breasts satisfy us at all times.

3. Ecclesiastes admonishes us to recognize that given the futility of all our efforts (we all die) that the only thing that gives people lasting purpose is to understand that meaning comes in living life with an eternal perspective.  That even wisdom is futile in and of its own because we all die and any gains due to wisdom could be lost on the next generation.  

4. Ephesians 5 talks about being wise in how we live, as wise, not unwise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. 

5. The Parable of the Talents is all about making the most of what we've been given to the glory of God. 

6. The Bible says that one day, each of us will be held to account for what we have done in this life, whether good or bad.  

7. One day, all humanity will run out of time.  First by death ("the human condition" -- as alluded to by the writer); but second -- for those still alive when it occurs -- with the return of Jesus Christ.  

8.  Ecclesiastes states that God has set eternity in our hearts -- the reason we long for something to hold onto, to provide meaning as an anchor for our souls -- and that God has set things up so that none of use knows what will befall us in life, whether good or evil.  

9. II Corinthians 5:17 (NASB): "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold new things have come." 

The vicissitudes of time are real.  Sure, time is consistent in that it marches on in spite of us.  Just ask my body.  But time, if worshiped, is capricious, because of its indifference.  But with God (Jesus), a few things are secure:

1. God's character.  God does not change -- He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God does not lie.  Does He change His mind?  Sure.  But it is consistent with His character.  

2. The Bible is truly a living book: "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12, NASB)  And speaking of time, with each passing year, although the words do not change, I am convicted in different ways, reading the same content.  It's amazing.  

3. God's promises are certain.  All of the prophecies in the Bible have come true to date, including the ones about Bethlehem, with the exception of those pertaining to the future.  There is something to that.  But beyond fulfilled prophecies, I can bank on who God is, who He says He is / will be, and what He says He will do.  God is a Rock, a Shelter, and an ever present help in trouble.  Sure, much of God is unfathomable and unknowable to us -- but God says that "draw near to God and He will draw near to you" and that if we seek Him earnestly with all our hearts, He will let us find Him.  God, after all, sent His Son that we might know Him and the power of His resurrection.  He is the God that can be known.  But beyond that, He is the God who knows us -- who knows the number of hairs on our heads, the number of our days, and who says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  He knows us intimately, and is involved in our lives.  

4. People might say, the opposite of love is hate.  In my mind, hate stands on it's own.  In my mind, the opposite of love is indifference.  God came down to earth to die for me.  Where's the indifference in that?  Jesus loves me (even me).  I don't deserve it.  I never will.  But I love Him for it.  And that -- what Jesus did and His love for me -- does not change with the passing of time.    

Beyond that, there's hope.

Go ahead.  Worship time.  And see where it leads you: selfishness, self-centeredness, chasing youth, chasing adventure, chasing immortality in the form of fame, chasing wealth and material comforts, chasing health and a long life, chasing lasting relationships, chasing pleasure, chasing happiness.  This is the climax of the book of Ecclesiastes.  It leaves you empty.  Because on the one hand, time overtakes us all and we don't have a clue when that time is / will be up, or what we will experience in between).  And on the other hand, no matter what good we do, no matter what we accumulate, no matter what we experience, that can all be flushed down the toilet by someone else's decisions and 5, 10, 20, 50 years out -- in most cases - that life is just a grave stone, which itself degrades over time and is remembered no more.  Indeed, the graveyard outside outside a 17th century church on Manhattan Island has headstones where it is no longer possible to read the names on the stones.

Instead, focus on the One who provides life based on the truth of who He is (God), what He's done (His death and resurrection), and who we are (sinners); and who provides meaning for making the most of the time, because one day -- no matter what we experience -- we'll get to be with Jesus in Heaven, where all wrongs will be made right, and all actions justly rewarded.

Time.

Yep.  Time is indifferent.  God is not.

God broke through time and sent Jesus to experience time Himself . . . and then defeated it.

It is time.  Time for what?  Time to choose.  You become like those you worship.  Choose fatalism in view of your coming death, you'll reap the rewards of placing your hope in things that pass.  We are all bound by time -- but life in Jesus transcends it.  So think in view of Eternity. Choose Jesus; choose life.  Then live in view of Eternity.