“It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in these middle years of the twentieth century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity” (A. W. Tozer).
“To declare that the Creator’s original plan has been frustrated by sin, is to dethrone God. To suggest that God was taken by surprise in Eden and that He is now attempting to remedy an unforeseen calamity, is to degrade the Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal. To argue that man is a free moral agent and the determiner of his own destiny, and that therefore he has the power to checkmate his Maker, is to strip God of the attribute of Omnipotence. To say that the creature and burst the bounds assigned by his Creator, and that God is now practically a helpless Spectator before the sin and suffering entailed by Adam’s fall, is to repudiate the express declaration of Holy Writ, namely, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain” (Psa 76:10). In a word, to deny the sovereignty of God is to enter upon a path which, if followed to its logical terminus, is to arrive at blank atheism” (A.W. Pink, The Sovereignty of God).
Arthur Pink’s book was originally published in 1930 which was 31 years before Tozer’s book on the attributes of God came out. What we see is essentially the same idea. Man has attempted to dethrone God and assign to himself powers that he never had and never will have. While this seems absurd to many, let us remember from Romans 1:18-32 the terrible results from lowering our views of God. Whenever men exchange God and His glory for other things, man is turned over to a hardened heart and a darkened understanding which leads to more and more sin. Man has indeed exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image of something else (Rom 1:23). That passage of Scripture must ring in the ears and through the minds of believers today. Correct theology can be made to serve man in his pursuit of his own glory as indeed anything else can. But in all that man does in reference to turning from the truth of God man is doing nothing but exchanging the glory of God for something else that will serve him as he wants.
What is man doing by wanting to dethrone God as Pink says above? He is exchanging the glory of God in His supreme sovereignty and lordship in an effort to put himself on the throne as much as possible. In this man is exchanging the glory of God in order to gain glory and power for himself. What is man doing by degrading the Most High to the level of a finite, erring mortal? He is trying to make God out to be like himself. As in the business world where people step on others to go higher in the company and as in the everyday world (and churches) where people gossip and slander others for the real purpose of exalting themselves, man is attempting to do that to God. Man wants to bring God down to his own level so man can imagine that he is free to do as he pleases. How utterly dangerous and damning this is to the concept of God.
Why does man want to strip God of the attribute of omnipotence? In order that man may exercise his own power and imagine that he has the power to overcome God and even to help God out. Whenever man drags the name of God down, man is simply seeking his own control and glory in the situation. Man is at war with God over who has the glory, honor, and control. Is it any wonder that Scripture represents man as being at enmity with God? The most precious thing to God is His own glory. Yet man feels free to attack that glory and reassign it to himself. Man is at war with God in trying to drag the truth about God down to his own level. However, God has declared with clarity and severity that He will not share His glory with another: “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images” (Isa 42:8). The attack on the name and glory of God by sinful man in order to make God like themselves and for them to try to take what is His for themselves is idolatry of the highest order.
Indeed our day is at a point of moral calamity in terms of how we view God. We are at a moral calamity in how we view and treat God. We are at a point of moral calamity in how far we have fallen into sin because of how we have treated the name of God. The so-called Gospel preached by most in our day will do nothing to restore the concept of God in our land and in our churches. The Gospel is to be all about the glory of God in the face of Christ (II Cor 4:4-6) in order to restore the glory of God. But instead we have such low views of God that we preach the Gospel in a man-centered way. A man-centered gospel is really no Gospel at all since it does not declare the glory of God.
God Loves... Himself 
May 5, 2010 at 3:01 pm |
Just wanted to say I enjoyed the post. You have really put a lot of time into your article and it is just great!