“Is ‘Uptightness’ Characteristic of the God of the Bible?”
Vol. X, No. 7, August 1997
[Introduction: The book, Beyond the Impasse?, was published in 1992 by Broadman Press, Nashville. Edited by one “fundamentalist,” David S. Dockery; and one “liberal,” Robison B. James; the book is composed of eight chapters and eight “responses.” Each chapter and each response is by a different author: four conservatives (David Dockery, Al Mohler, Paige Patterson, and Timothy George ... names every involved conservative should recognize) and four moderates (Walter Harrelson, John P. Newport, Robison B. James, and Molly Truman Marshall ... likewise widely known among liberals). This format is well designed to allow each author to present his own perspective and each to comment as he wills upon the words of his ideological and theological adversaries.
The following excerpts present just one example: the discussion by James of the ‘uptightness” of God and Mohler’s response on that point. I quote each fairly extensively so that readers can get the full sense of what each says. Evaluate the points each author makes, asking yourself what are the assumptions behind his words, the beliefs each implies. TCP]
James: “Is ‘Uptightness’ Characteristic of the God of the Bible?”
“... I should like to adopt the word uptight as a term of art and say that the God to whom we relate in the Bible is not uptight. By that I mean that He does not have a legalistic mind-set and a meticulous, hyperscrupulous nature.
“If the Bible is to be believed, God is far less uptight about some things than we are. If readers detect some irreverence in what I am saying, they are probably correct. But I hasten to explain that I got it from Jesus and Paul.
“There was a nonconformity about Jesus that was breathtaking. He resolutely refused to be uptight about a lot of things the legalists of His day wanted Him to worry about.
“In the parable of the prodigal son, the father abandons all dignity and runs—unheard of for a man of his age in that day—to embrace the despicably delinquent younger brother. And the older brother, the uptight fellow who punctiliously kept all the rules turns out to be the butt of the story (though the father loves him too, of course).
“And consider the string of stories in Mark 2:1 to 3:6, especially Jesus' important saying, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27, NRSV).
“Allow me to paraphrase that. Jesus says, in paraphrase, "God gave the rule about the Sabbath in order to meet real human needs. Human beings were not created in order to jump through the hoop of a rule that has no relation to their needs or interests."
“If we do not recognize that as humanism, we are not paying attention. Jesus was not a secular humanist, of course; but He was a humanist. And He thought His Father was a humanist, too.
“So far as Paul is concerned, we have already seen the shocking things he says in 2 Corinthians 3. There Paul confronts the Scripture, the very Instruction or Law of God, and says it will kill us and condemn us if we do not turn from the letter of Scripture to the living Lord, the Spirit, who meets us there.
“The fact that God is not uptight does not mean He is a picture of laid-back indifference, however. Far from it! God cares passionately. It is His will, stronger than death, to encounter us and to establish a relation with us, if we will have it so. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him . . . [might] have eternal life" (John 3:16, RSV).
“People become like the God they worship. That suggests that there may be something wrong with fundamentalist religion, because fundamentalists tend to be uptight, and God is not. Something about their view of the Bible makes it hard for God—the real God who is not uptight—to get through to them.”
Mohler:
“The most troublesome section of James’ essay relates to his discussion of whether God is ‘uptight’ (pp. 142-43). James wishes to employ the word as ‘a term of art,’ by which he means that ‘[God] does not have a legalistic mind-set and a meticulous, hyperscrupulous nature." As evidence he cites the ‘nonconformity [of] Jesus’ and the judgment Jesus directed toward the older brother in the ‘parable of the prodigal son’ (who must, we might surmise, have had a hang-up on doctrine). We must pause here to reflect that not even the most eager allegorist has yet extended the identity of the elder brother to God, uptight or otherwise.
“God is not uptight, but that ‘does not mean that He is a picture of laid-back indifference, however.’ James points to God's passionate will to encounter us and establish a relation with us ‘if we will have it so.’
“James suggests that ‘there may be something wrong with fundamentalist religion, because fundamentalists tend to be uptight, and God is not.’ He continues: ‘Something about their view of God makes it hard for God—the real God who is not uptight—to get through to them.’
“This conclusive statement causes me much grief, for it lays bare the magnitude of the impasse which looms before, above, and all around us. The God of those James identifies as fundamentalists is nothing more than a projection of their own ‘uptightness.’
“Yet, they are in good company, for the vast tapestry of biblical faith has been woven from the lives of those who have been claimed by the grace of a God who took human sin with full seriousness and yet willed to provide a means of redemption and reconciliation through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son.
“Completely absent in the notion of a God who is not ‘uptight’ is the essential category of holiness; Scripture clearly, repeatedly, and straightforwardly reveals a God who is jealous of His holiness, will abide no other gods, hates sin, and punishes the wicked. He is a ‘consuming fire’ of holiness and righteousness. What does it mean to propose that God does not have ‘a meticulous, hyperscrupulous nature’? In light of the biblical record, can this be a description of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of Rebecca, Rachel, and Ruth; the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?”
[Editorial Comment: What makes James’ statement so misleading is that it does contain an element of accuracy. All, or at least most of us, know Christians who have become so fixed on outward symbols (i.e., Sabbath regulations in New Testament days, hair length today) that they seem to lose the essence of the Gospel. But to say this is to say no more than that man is fallen, is subject to pride, and has a penchant for seeking to merit salvation.
Men are mutable, but “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17. God is unchangeable, sovereign. He is not laid back but is ever watchful of His glory. Exodus 20:5 “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;” and “Nahum 1:2 ¶ God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.”
Moreover, because we are so fallible, we tend to treat lightly the infringement of God’s laws. We ignore the fact that God is a different order of being, is sovereign, is holy, and that the slightest infraction of the command of the Creator fully merits eternal damnation. Praise God that He is also merciful and has provided a Savior who has borne all that we might spend eternity with Him.
God is not “uptight” but neither is He “laid back.” We have no right to approach Him casually but rather in fear and trembling, praise and abasement, and perhaps most of all a clear recognition of who He is, who we are, and the fundamental differences between the finite and the Infinite. As Isaiah wrote, “Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5. This was the uniform reaction of those in the Bible who saw God.
Can the God who designed every cell in your body, every star in the sky not be “meticulous”? Can the God whose primary attribute is that He is holy, holy, holy be other than scrupulous about His glory and purity? Could He be God were He not? TCP]