Sermon 47, Job 12:14-16
As I read the sermon today I thought “wait a minute, this Biblical principle probably that is being explained probably has a modern psychology analogy or equivalent?” And, yes it does. Three, in fact. But first, what Biblical principal? That we curse God for bad stuff, but don’t thank him for good stuff. This leads to discussions such as “If God is good then why suffering?” But there are rarely discussions among the same groups such as “…and everything worked out perfectly, which must be all God’s work and nothing to do with me.”
Here are the psych analogies:
1: The fundamental attribution error. This is is usually given at a more human level. If I am a late for a meeting it’s because other people were driving poorly, or someone else had an accident, or I didn’t sleep well because someone else is causing me stress. However, if someone else is late for a meeting, then that must be because they are lazy, stupid or rude.
2: Self-serving bias. Basically the same. When things go right it’s because I’m smart, intelligent, hard working etc. When things go wrong it’s the situation, it’s someone else mistake.
3: Locus of control. If I succeed it’s because everything was under my control. If I fail it’s because everything was against me, I wasn’t in control.
In today’s sermon Calvin discusses under whose control everything is. The answer is easy, God. This, however, opens the door to difficult discussion. Is satan under God’s control, and if so isn’t God the originator of Sin and Evil?
Calvin takes what I would call a pragmatic approach although this is clearly difficult. Firstly, he is unequivocal, EVERYTHING is under God’s control. So what about Evil. Our failure to comprehend and join the dots here is, for Calvin, exactly that. It’s our failure. We are too dense to understand. I think Calvin is probably correct and again I admire the simple honesty. Does God use satan to deceive man? Yes. Why? We can’t know.
To deny God’s agency is to deny God’s power. This is sinful. “They are arrogant beasts who cannot concede all power to God unless they subject him to their mindset and fantasy.”
Although difficult to process it does seem that modern psychology addresses this through the three (probably more) principles above. We’re quick to lay the blame of seemingly unjust suffering at God’s feet, yet we rarely thank him that the sun rose this morning and gave all living creatures, especially those made in his own likeness, new breath. Our thoughts are demonstrably inconsistent regarding attribution of good and bad, it’s no different here. Any bias is really evidence of confusion, which is evidence of a fallen world. It’s the intellectual fall out of the original sin. I learned today that it’s what reformers call the “noetic effects of the fall”, namely that we sin using our bodies and our “noesis”, Greek for intellect.
At lunch yesterday we discussed whether there were such things as coincidences. Calvin says there are not. This actually impacts my “other people problem” because it means that everything that happens to me, every action of people around me has been ordained by God. And so for me to get angry at these things is to attempt to elevate myself above God’s wisdom. If I think everything is stupid then I must also think that I am more intelligent than God. No bueno.