A popular Bible teacher has once again shared a tweet misrepresenting God. She wrote the following: This idea that God puts up with secret sins from His servants for the greater good is a total crock. He waits, warns, waits, warns then comes for us with a blazing bulldozer. I know because Scripture says. I know because I’ve experienced it. God will not be mocked.
The idea that God warns His children and waits, but then goes after them with a bulldozer is not the God I know, nor is it the Father represented in the story of the prodigal son. The father simply gave his son what he asked for, then waited patiently for him to return home. The father didn’t go after him with a blazing bulldozer and drag him back home.
Furthermore, Scripture says that it’s God’s lovingkindness that leads people to repentance. If God were to bulldoze down his children, there’d be no true repentance. Repentance comes with a changed mind and heart, not bodies that are mowed down in the middle of the street. God is not a terrorist.
Also, since Jesus has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west and has tossed them into the depths of the ocean, nevermore to be remembered, God is not in the business of making us pay for our wrongdoing. He sees us as he created us: holy and righteous. The consequences we suffer for our wrongdoings are those we bring upon ourselves, not because an angry and fed-up God is plowing us down.
God is Love, and love covers a multitude of sins. It’s not God that exposes secret sins; those usually come to light out of our own guilt and shame or by those we’ve hurt. Take, for instance, Roy Moore, who has thumped the Bible harder than anyone else in politics. He has seemingly hidden under the cover of fundamental religion for decades for his own political power and gain. It wasn’t God who exposed Moore’s behavior; it was the women he abused, and rightly so. I’d like to say there’s no forgiveness or grace for a man like Moore, but that’s not true. God still waits patiently with lovingkindness for his repentance.
As for the Scripture reference to God not being mocked, I’ve addressed that before in a post you can read here. The idea is that God will prove himself faithful so that any opportunity we take to mock him will fail.
Also, taken in context, the Scripture about God not being mocked is in reference to taking care of one another’s needs. In fact, just a few verses earlier, Paul says, If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day is out (Gal. 6:1, MSG). That doesn’t sound like instructions from a bulldozing God, but One who is kind and patient and has forgiven all things.
Let’s not try to turn God into a bulldozer driver who leaves our guts spilled in the streets. That’s what Pharisees do.
