According to World Net Daily: "Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is backing a Church of England report that claims viewing God in masculine terms can validate "overbearing and ultimately violent patterns of behavior" in intimate relationships and "contributes to domestic abuse," the London Daily Mail reports. "
The report, entitled "Responding to Domestic Abuse, Guidelines for Pastory Responsibility" claims that "misguided" or distorted views of God, based on the Old Testament portrays Him and His power in "unhealthy and oppressive" ways. Things like crediting God with violent acts and atittudes "requires 'careful' interpretation, the report warns." Apparently this view of God, in addition to Him being male, is at the heart of some who want to validate their own violent and abusive behavior.
This anti-biblical, liberal garbage is not new. However it continues to perpetuate a few things:
1. Pagan/gnostic feminism; 2. abusers are not responsible for their own actions, and 3. an unclear reading of biblical texts. What Scripture says seems to be clouded in mystery, which only the RCC or EOD, apparently, can interpret for us. It also echoes "Hath God really said?" from the Devil himself.
I have quoted John MacArthur on the pagan and gnostic roots of feminism here. What comes to mind regarding the Church Of England (COE) and its archbishop's view (Rowan is an honorary druid), is that they are trying to blurr the line of who God claims to be: masculine and Sovereign owner of His creation. In doing so, they change God into who they want Him to be, and they also perpetuate the anti-male notions that man is bad, violent, and a caveman; woman is best, loving, gentle, and kind. Pagan feminism has at its roots these ideas, with the solution of woman being the savior of people. Of course, this is also a slap in the face of Jesus Christ as Creator God and only Savior.
Abusers aren't totally at fault for their behavior because they, apparently according to this liberal thinking, are only acting on what they think is true about God... and thus try to what, immitate Him?
First, abusers are always at fault for their abuse. God expects and indeed calls to account man's sin. To abuse another is sin. For example Exodus 21 covers this. Secondly, God doesn't abuse anyone. All punishment He gives is completely owed to the one who has disobeyed. Thirdly, abusers aren't interested in who God is and loving Him and following Him. Rather, they are all about Self and their wants/needs/desires/demands. So to lay abusers' behavior back on God is a pitiful arguement. This view ties in with the gnostic/feministic view of man versus women (see the article I reference above with quotes from MacArthur showing this very thing).
Scripture clearly reveals who God is (Scripture is inerrant and infallible, making wise the simple, as God says)
Personal masculine pronouns used for God
Psa 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble His way.
Isa 40:10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and His arm rules for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. 11 He will tend His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms; He will carry them in His bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.
Isa 45:18 For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is God!), who formed the earth and made it (He established it; He did not create it empty, He formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Gen 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen 5:2 Male and female He created them, and He blessed them and named them Man when they were created.
Deu 32:39 "'See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Psa 2:4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. 5 Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury….
Psa 150:1 Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in His mighty heavens! [“Him” and “His” is used 13 times in this chapter of 6 verses.]
God refers to Himself as a bridegroom and husband:
Isa 62:5 For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. [See John 3:29.]
Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
God refers to Himself as a Father
Jer 31:9 With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Psa 68:5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.
God is King
Psa 22:28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and He rules over the nations.
“Father”, “Son”, “Prince” used in reference to Jesus Christ, who is God:
Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
God the Father and Jesus the Son are masculine
Mat 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel" (which means, God with us).
Joh 5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing. And greater works than these will He show Him, so that you may marvel.
Heb 1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world.
Rev 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.
The Trinity is masculine:
Joh 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. You know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.
As far as attributing violent acts to God, Scripture says the following:
God took credit for destroying the whole world and all but eight people on it
Gen 6:17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. [Gen. 7:17-24 we see that indeed it happened just as God said He would do it.]
God took credit for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah
Gen 19:28 And he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley, and he looked and, behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace. 29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Mat 10:15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
2Pe 2:6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes He condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
God took credit for bringing disaster upon Israel
2Chron. 7: 20 then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 21 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why He brought all this disaster on them.’”
Jer 25:8 "Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts: Because you have not obeyed my words, 9 behold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, and make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
Jer 25:10 Moreover, I will banish from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the grinding of the millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
[Indeed we see this happen in the historical book of Daniel.]
God took credit for moving kings to bring war to nations
Deut. 2: 30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
Josh. 11: 20 For it was the LORD Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Prov. 21: 1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; He directs it like a watercourse wherever He pleases.
God took credit for killing the firstborn in Egypt
Ex. 4: 4 So Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. 5 Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. 6 There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
Ex. 12: 12 “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn—both men and animals—and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
Ex. 12: 29 At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
Note: God uses evil men for His purposes. However, at the same time, Scripture says that God lays the sin at the feet of each person. The balance between this is seen here:
John 19: 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
Jer. 25:9 and 27:6 calls King Nebuchadnezzar "My servant" and uses him to destroy Judah, Israel, and Egypt. However, He later punishes Nebuchadnezzar, because his heart was filled with sin and unbelief. The good news is that Nebuchadnezzar was saved and given a new heart and faith and he praised God and was humbled by Him. See Daniel 4.
Jer 44: 2 “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You saw the great disaster I brought on Jerusalem and on all the towns of Judah. Today they lie deserted and in ruins 3 because of the evil they have done.
Acts 4:27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
God destroys other nations:
Is. 14: 24 The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. 25 I will crush the Assyrian in my land; on my mountains I will trample him down. His yoke will be taken from my people, and his burden removed from their shoulders.” 26 This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. 27 For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?
Rev. 17: 16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. 17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish His purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled.
God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is immutable. He doesn't change like shifting shadows. The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament. God is love, patient, perfect, merciful, kind, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He is also pure, holy, righteous, just. Because of this He must always deal with sinners and their sin. His attributes are not in opposition to each other but actually work in harmony; therefore we cannot omit the attributes we dislike and talk only of the ones we do. To ignore any of His attributes as if "that was God then, not now" is to reject the God of Scripture.
Here are a few other New Testament verses about God's coming wrath:
Rev 19:15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
2 Thes. 1: 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power.
Act 5:9 But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
I suggest reading Jonathon Edward’s “Sinners In the Hands of An Angry God” here.
May such men like Archbishop Rowan take heed:
Heb 10:29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?
Heb 10:30 For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
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