The Sequence of Judgment and Consequence

A correspondent who read my previous post on judgment and the Bush administration wonders if I might clarify what I mean by "judgment" and how it differs from, say, "natural consequences." I'm happy to do so. And while I talk about a national "we" here, I mean the Christian church primarily and the American citizenry only secondarily.

I abhor talk about God's judgment against the "immorality" of New Orleans by unleashing Hurricane Katrina on millions of poor people along the coast. I was disgusted by Falwell and Robertson claiming that 9/11 was a judgment against the United States by an angry God. Further, I am virtually always going to assume that when bad things happen -- to good people, bad people, or any mix thereof -- it's either a reminder that we live in a fallen world, or it's a consequence of bad choices and behavior. When a tree fell on our tenant's car a couple of years ago during a windstorm, it was a reminder of how puny we are in the face of weather and a confirmation that in a fallen world, things don't always go so well. But if, for example, I were to drive recklessly and then either hit another car or get a ticket, those things are consequences of bad behavior on my part, behavior that God and humankind would judge as "bad," but whose resulting circumstances are simply a consequence of a sinful, stupid choice. I would neither benefit nor be further condemned if someone wrongly suggested that what happened was "God's judgment." Consequences tend to speak much more loudly and clearly than do judgments from on high.

In short, then, I reject that horrible scenarios are always, even rarely, a judgment from God. However, I do believe that God, in His judgment (providence, justice, omniscience), can allow to NOT intervene favorably for us when we rush to do wrong, and I consider that decision of His not to intervene -- to not rescue or deter us from our own madness and sin -- a choice that He makes as a way of chastening or disciplining us.

I believe that this country is harvesting the fruit of unrighteousness, and that both the initial damage and suffering as well as the weight of its realization are permitted by God to spur us to repentance. We clamored for war, and we got it. Our suffering, and the suffering of the Iraqi people, is a consequence of our sinful priorities and un-Godly actions. We were sure we had it right, even when it bore no resemblance to the Gospel, and we were secure in our rightness instead of seeking individual and national righteousness.

So our country is seriously off track -- which, I believe, may be the greatest understatement I'm likely to ever make -- and it's certainly a consequence of our having placed our hope in our armaments, our strength, and our anger. Still, whether the judgment of God simply allowed for the full brunt of those consequences, or actively brought them about, there is no doubt in my mind that we are nation under chastening, reaping the bitter fruit of our warmongering and still far from recognizing our own culpability in doing so. God didn't "make us" start the war, and He takes no pleasure in the death of even one soldier or Iraqi citizen. But we chose to turn away and ratify that choice at virtually every turn, and perhaps there's no need to suggest a curse from the Holy One when we've proved time and time again that we're quite able to curse ourselves. It seems to me that this is how a people either wandering away from God or already bound by His condemnation acts. That He judges our failure for what it is and chooses not to rescue us is a judgment that, better stated, is a consequence permitted for a nation hell-bent on ripping the Fruit of the Holy Spirit away from public policy and grinding the faces of the poor into the rot.