The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life by Timothy R. Jennings M.D

Author:Timothy R. Jennings M.D. [Jennings M.D., Timothy R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780830884315
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2013-04-06T04:00:00+00:00

12

The Judgment of God

Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives, and remembering what one receives.

Alexandre Dumas Père

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, my favorite part of church was children’s story time. Each week before the sermon, the children would rush to the front of the church, reverently of course, while the pianist played “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Every story was something new. At different times the storyteller brought puppies, a snakeskin, balloons and strange-looking masks from Africa. Perhaps the cutest was the time we got to pet ducklings. I loved children’s story time, but there was one tale that haunted me for years.

The saga began with a little boy who stole a cookie. As the narrative unfolded, an angel appeared onstage—someone dressed in a white robe with long blonde hair, glittered face, golden halo and white wings, and holding a golden clipboard and pen. My eyes grew wide as I watched the angel almost float across the stage. As the storyteller described various infractions—talking back to mommy, fighting over a toy or making an ugly face—the angel dutifully wrote on the clipboard.

We were told that God sends his recording angels to follow us everywhere we go and faithfully write down every sin we commit in heaven’s record books. Only by confessing our sins and asking Jesus to forgive could the sins be erased from those heavenly ledgers. If we didn’t ask Jesus to forgive, our sins would remain in the books and, at judgment, when God saw them, he would punish accordingly.

I experienced so many restless nights, so many nightmares because of that story. Most alarming of all, I found myself becoming afraid of God. I worried I might forget to confess a sin and not get it erased. In my imagination I could see that angel with the golden clipboard following me around, hounding my every step, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t feel God’s love as much as I felt his scrutiny. I didn’t want to make mistakes, so I worked hard to do everything right. I paid my tithe, read my Bible, prayed three times a day and imagined all the good things I did were being recorded by the angel and hoped it counted for something. But I didn’t have peace. All my actions were based on fear of punishment, not love for God and my fellow human beings, for love does not flow where lies about God are retained.

Policeman in the Sky

A friend recently told me of an encounter she had with a pastor at a local bookstore. The pastor was cautioning her about the impact that my book Could It Be This Simple? was having on members of his congregation. He was not pleased because his message was very different from mine. Then he said, pointing upward, “God is the Great Policeman in the sky. He watches for any violations of his law and enforces justly the penalties for disobedience.”

Have you ever been driving along and had a police car pull in behind

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