God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions

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.

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[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)

[4]    http://www.northernsun.com/5643.html

[5]             C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain,(New York: MacMillan Publishing Co, 1962) 40

Heads or Tails?

The lottery. It’s a mania in this nation. CNN reports, “More than half of us have played the lottery in the last year…”¹

I don’t play the lottery. But if I'm honest, I have to say I've fantasized about what I would do if I won it. I'd get a Harley-Davidson, that's for sure. But because I never play, I will never win the lottery.

I know of a native American girl who won … twice. Once for a six figure payoff, and once for five figures. What are the odds?

People play the lottery because of the possibility of hitting it really big. The odds are mightily stacked against them, but it’s that hope of something wonderful and life-altering that keeps them playing. Human behavior expert, Dr. Wendy Walsh says, "We have the Cinderella complex -- there's a fairy godmother who's going to come in and save us."²

What if winning the lottery was decided by a flip of a coin? Seventeenth Century French Philosopher and Mathematician Blaise Pascal wrote about something just as dramatic. It is called Pascal’s Wager.

Pascal posited that all of us are facing a flip of the coin. We wager our life on the fact that either God is or He is not. We can't avoid playing. By means of reason alone we cannot be sure if there is a God or not. Pascal writes, “Let us weigh up the gain and the loss involved in calling heads that God exists… if you win you win everything, if you lose you lose nothing.”³ It's sort of like hitting the lottery. Win and I'm cruising on a Harley. Lose and I'm out five bucks. Much to gain, not much to lose.

Why don't we do that in religious matters?

The Hindu religion says that all ways-- Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Krishna, trying to be a nice person, - all lead to God. (Although, Hindus don’t really believe that. Just ask one to allow his daughter to marry a Muslim or a Christian, if you don't believe me.) Contrary to Hinduism, Christians believe in the exclusiveness of Christ based on his own statements such as, “no one comes to the Father except through me.”⁴ No one.

If Hinduism is right, and the coin comes up tails, a Christian should still be okay. All roads lead to God. He doesn't have much to lose except maybe a Hindu wife. But if Christ’s claim to exclusivity is true, and the coin comes up heads, the Hindu has missed his chance at eternal life… he missed the Mega Millions jackpot.

From pure logic it makes no sense to be a Hindu or an Atheist.

I do realize logic is not all that is entailed in religious commitment. It's just one factor.

Pascal urges us, “Do not hesitate then: wager that He does exist… wherever there is infinity, there is no room for hesitation, you must give everything.”⁵

Famed missionary martyr Jim Elliott once said, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." 

Call it, heads or tails?

1 Jacque Wilson, Why You Keep Playing the Lottery, CNN, May 17, 2013 http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/15/health/psychology-playing-lottery-powerball/index.html

2Ibid

3 Blaise Pascal, Pensees (London: Penguin Books, 1995) Series II, The Wager(233) p 123

4 John 14:6 (ESV)

5 Pascal, Ibid