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Whose Side Are You On?

"God doesn't take sides."

The radio show host Dennis Prager discussed this slogan repeated on Jon Stewart's show when his guest was former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Dennis correctly pointed out that if God doesn't take sides, if He doesn't have a moral will, then He's not a God who deserves our love and trust. Did God have a preference between the slaveholders and the abolitionists in the Civil War? Between the Axis and the Allies in World War 2? Of course, He did.

If you believe in right and wrong - morally or otherwise - and I would think God knows the difference, then doesn't God take a side based on what's right? So if God is right and I turn out to be right, then aren't we on the same side? I'm on His side and He's on my side?

Do we always know what side God is on? In many cases we may not, but that doesn't mean God doesn't prefer one circumstance represented by a side over another. He may not always intervene to tip the balance leaving it to us to act, but it doesn't mean He doesn't care about what will happen.

I've heard some who toss out this slogan say that believing God is on our side leads to arrogance and all of the failings and recklessness that can follow. And then follows a list of the sins of the West. Certainly it's possible to justify atrocious actions, but the antidote is not the idea that God is agnostic about the acts of mankind. It seems that, as well, can lead to appalling behavior. Witness the greatest atrocities in human history committed by atheist governments. Believing God favors our side doesn't give us license, or He won't be on our side anymore.

"Well, they believe God is on their side, too." Maybe so. Let's look at the facts and what we know about God. Just because someone else makes a competitive claim doesn't automatically nullify the first. And just because people make such claims when they have no right to do so doesn't mean it isn't true sometimes or we're left with agnosticism.

For those of us who care about which side God takes, don't we do our best to try to get things right? And if we think we're right, and God certainly has everything right, wouldn't we then naturally think we're on the same side as God? I think most of us are cautious or unlikely to actually claim that God is on our side, but isn't it the implication at least of thinking we've got our own position right?

The companion to this slogan is a quote by Abraham Lincoln that it's more important that we are on God's side. Absolutely true. But if we believe we are on God's side can we then suppose that He is on our side?

Many times I think "God doesn't take sides" is a dismissal and a ad hominem. It's a way to dismiss someone who makes a truth claim and avoid making a counter argument. It's a convenient way to avoid engaging an argument while making the other person look arrogant that God has sided with them. In reality, it's rare to hear someone actually claim God is on their side. What I hear is people, including me, trying to find the truth and, along with Lincoln, be on God's side. The truth is God's side and isn't it good to care about the truth?

Stand to Reason

Posted by Melinda at May 15, 2006 10:54 AM Culture

Comments

It's also possible that both sides are "wrong", at least in their actions. For example, even if we believe God is an abolitionist, does he approve of John Brown tactics of brutally murdering those who believe in slavery?

Posted by: Samantha at May 15, 2006 11:14 AM

Oh, I forgot to say that it was Dennis Prager who first introduced me to the idea that the existence of objective morality depended on the existence of a moral God. I was practically a Dennis Groupie and was even invited to sit in on his show in LA, which I did. I even have pictures of us together ;-)

Posted by: Samantha at May 15, 2006 11:34 AM

"God doesn't take sides" is a dismissal, but sometimes a needed one, because people get ridiculous. Abraham Lincoln's " it's more important that we are on God's side" puts us in the right perspective, but I think when we say "God is on our side" we have several things we are saying within that.

One, is that we have determined that something has outraged our sense of what we deem God's position on something. i.e. If we oppose slavery on the basis that we believe it wrongs God who made all men, and his commandments to treat men in a way that slavery trespasses.... then we may say, as we fight slavery, "God is on our side". Especially if what we fight is something that is institutionalized and upheld by something difficult to combat, such as the prevailing government policy.

In Samantha's question, it would not be that God is an abolitionist... that is a category we use for convenience when saying someone opposes slavery to the point of desiring to abolish it. Even within the human set it doesn't distinguish properly between those who hold the view, how can God then be included? But we can say ...based upon given supporting proofs, that God is for or against something ... that God is on our side as we oppose slavery. Then we can decipher God's intended method for us to follow to enforce this in our lives and in our jurisdictions. There were many things to do before the extremes of John Brown, and what he did was in direct contradiction to his own moral stand. People have a tendency to do that when they are desperate.

Once thinking that God is on our side we have to keep checking whether we are staying on God's side in the fight.

====
and, yes, it is good to care about the truth, but not to deny it in the process of upholding it.

Posted by: ilona at May 15, 2006 11:46 AM

I don't think God acknowledges sides the way that we define them as oppositional stances facing off across an ethical divide. I envision God as more of a circle-guy, someone who loves, unconditionally, the inside of a person wherein lies the potential for spiritual union with him through Christ, even as he weeps at the outside actions that derail designed desire and devotion.

In this circle vision, can we all radiate from God, concentric and overlapping, the answer to a stone's tossed question in the pond?

Do our spheres overlap as, perhaps, the abolitionists not only detested the slave trade, but also prayed for the slave traders?

I realize this post is a departure from the logical argument, but I'm not a philosopher, just an interested reader.

Amy

Posted by: amy at May 18, 2006 11:18 PM

An instructive passage on this topic is Joshua 5:13-15. When Joshua asked the commander of the army of God whose side he was on he said, "Neither."

The question is not whose side God is on. The question is who is on God's side.

Just a thought.

Rod

Posted by: Rod Pickett at May 24, 2006 11:23 AM

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