Consider the bumper sticker, “God bless the whole world;
No Exceptions”
This slogan has been the subject of many blogs and Christian
sermons. I'm not the first by any means. One blogger points out that the
thought of God blessing everyone is probably not a biblical notion.[1]
I have to agree.
God does bless everyone, in a general way. “... for he
makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and
on the unjust.”[2]
But notice there are categories of people in that verse: the evil and the good,
the just and the unjust.
These are categories that are established and decided upon
by God. Christians err when we take the role of the judge. It is not ours. But
because God will never bless evil, He will not “bless everyone, no
exceptions.”
Would you want God to bless the guy who had imprisoned and
abused the girls for years in a cellar in Cleveland? What about the Boston
Marathon bomber? A person whose error proves fatal to another? Would a rejected
wife, whose husband is leaving her for another woman want to bless him?
You see,“No Exceptions” is not a philosophically
consistent position. There seems to be a barb. Is it directed at people whose
worldview recognizes exceptions? I mean people who view categories like evil
and good, just and unjust. “No Exceptions” seems to be saying ''You're
wrong. Live and let live. Don't judge.'
But there are clearly times and reasons for God or us to
withhold blessing from someone.
In the Bible, we find a man named Achan. He disobeyed God
and lied about it. He later confessed his wrong under duress, but he was
clearly not blessed. “And all the Israelites stoned Achan and his family and
burned their bodies.”[3]
They were an exception.
A marketing company, Northern Sun, who claim a copyright on
the bumper sticker, have added a further
explanatory statement on their “No Exceptions”order page: “Through
unity and tolerance, religions can coexist.”[4]
That's an idealistic slogan but it does not live where the rubber meets the
road. Just ask someone who has suffered in the Muslim-Hindu communal riots of
India, has been victim of the “Christian” Ku Klux Klan, or who has been
imprisoned for following Jesus in China.
To be sure, religions must coexist and must be
tolerant and respectful, or we descend into darkness. But we must not slide
into a cookie-cutter 'unity' based on conformity or compromise. All
religions are not the same. We must agree to disagree.
A God who blesses the whole world, no exceptions, is a God
without any discernment. He has no standards. He would be as C.S. Lewis wrote, “a
grandfather in heaven – a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see
young people enjoying themselves,’ and whose plan for the universe was simply
that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by
all.’[5]
God bless the whole world, and lead us into Your truth.
[1] A. L. Blair, God Bless the Whole World.
No Exceptions, January 14, 2006 http://abelardsghost.blogspot.com/2006/01/god-bless-whole-world-no-exceptions.html
[2] Matthew 5:45 (RSV)
[3] Joshua 7:25 (New Living Translation)
