Tests

During my devotions this morning, I started thinking about different kinds of tests. Here's Mark 15:32, for instance:

Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe.

Now that's a convenient test for doubters. From a strictly Biblical standpoint (and the Pharisees, were after all, strictly Biblical folk) coming down from the cross would have been the one thing to disprove the divine validity of Christ's mission. Doubters of all stripes are not dissimilar. I know, because I've been a doubter on occasion myself. Most of us have. We pick a test that God could not possibly pass, and then point with wise and saddened visage at the reality of God's indifference or non-existence. But what we're really pointing at is God's non-cooperation.

Now look at this test, just a few verses later in Mark 15:39

And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God

You couldn't get a more ironic juxtaposition. Which test flavor would you like: pharisee or centurion? Pharisee flavor will give you a crazy carpenter; Centurion will give you the Son of God. Just pick your test, and you'll get what you want.

I'll make my point several ways:

When we administer a test on God, the results can't be separated from the assumptions we started with. In particular, testing God begins with the primary assumption that God is testable. From a scientific viewpoint, however, God is not testable. Unless....unless...you define God ahead of time. Otherwise, you can't give God a test and make any conclusions about why he failed or passed. The God of your definition may have failed/passed for reasons x, y, and z, but the real God is always potentially out there, beyond your testing scope.

Inescapably, we come to questions about God with our minds already primed for a certain answer. And we will always get what we want. You might want an intelligent, sensitive, and despairing affect, for instance. In that case, deny God's involvement or existence but believe in your heart that you wish things were otherwise. Or you might want a blustery, invincible faith. In that case, embrace God's direct involvement in your life and blow off the doubters with circular arguments. These two possibilities are not even the most common (just the ones I've experienced in my own life). There are so many flavors available! You might even decide to explore several combinations until you get just the blend of rationality and spirituality you are looking for.

Or you could forget the tests and simply approach God