I live about 45 minutes outside of Los Angeles and watched the L.A. Riots in real time. I believe the worst about human nature, so it wasn’t a complete 
shock to see thugs wandering the streets, pelting cars with bottles, breaking storefront windows, and looting the very businesses they once frequented. Sixty-three people died that day.
But perhaps the most disturbing image of all was the feed from a camera crew circling above the intersection of Florence and Normandie as one Reginald Denny was pulled from his truck and beaten into a coma, while his attackers celebrated. Despite being a hardened cynic, that disturbed me.
There was much debate about what factors may or may not have contributed to the riot. But the shrinks, politicians, and talking heads always seem to miss the real issue.
Same thing happened in New Orleans. The devastation from hurricane Katrina was only the beginning. It was what came afterwards that’s the “teachable moment.” As the United States scrambled to send troops and aid into areas devastated by the storm and subsequent flooding, chaos erupted in the streets. Desperate refugees rioted, looters ravaged abandoned stores, snipers fired on rescue teams, and corpses littered public areas. People who, maybe hours before, had been civil, courteous, friendly and compassionate, suddenly became animals.
What makes incidents like these so disturbing is not how close we may be, at any moment, to societal collapse, but whether societal collapse isn’t a genuine reflection of our true natures.
Society collapses because we already have.
So I’ve been coming back to this verse in the Bible lately. It’s kind of an obscure verse, but the basic concept behind it is rather compelling.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed. . . (2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 NKJV).
Pre-tribbers like to use this as a proof text for their theory that when Jesus secretly removes His Church before the Great Tribulation (the Rapture), the Anti-christ (or “lawless one” here) will be revealed. For the record, I don’t hold to a pre-tribulation rapture (the Church has historically believed that she will endure the Great tribulation). Which makes the interpretation of this verse all the more fun.
My takeaway: God actively restrains the spread of evil on earth.
Many see God as detached, uncaring, uninvolved in the minutiae of human affairs, turning His back on injustice and evil. Yet here, God (or God’s Spirit, depending upon your interpretation) is portrayed as actively holding back mankind’s wickedness. He is the One “who now restrains.” And just as the levees of New Orleans broke, allowing floodwaters to breach the walls and engulf the city, so one day, God will release His “restraining” hand and the full-force of human depravity will flood the earth.
I find that idea fascinating for two reasons.
First, is the obvious one — God demonstrates His love not just by giving us something, but by withholding or keeping something from us. You are better off because God is “restraining” a spiritual / moral levee, both in and outside you.
Secondly, human nature may be the primary tool of God’s judgement. I mean, what is God restraining? He’s restraining US! He’s built a dam against our destructive natures. Thus, God’s judgement is not so much sending something upon as it is letting go of something inside us.
God judges us by letting us go.
WE are God’s judgement upon us. All He needs do is remove His merciful hand and we descend into chaos, hate, barbarism, nihilism, despair, wickedness, immorality. The better angels of our nature are safe as long as God restrains the devils in our ears. There, but for the grace of God, go I.
And without the grace of God, we all go.
Agreed, Mike. I’m just thankful that the godly are not alone in this country. Elijah was feeling pretty down about his stand for God and then God gave him 7000 more who hadn’t bent the knee or kissed Baal. There are many MORE righteous than that in the USA.
If you read the OT, you realize things could be a LOT worse. Sometimes, you’re right–God opens that dam of our own wickedness OR he lets Satan move against us (Satan “moved against” Israel when David numbered the children of Israel).
Regardless, we shouldn’t feel alone in this, or like God’s abandoned us.
(And BTW–under the “Secondly” para–you misspelled “dam”–just thought I’d let you know.
🙂
Thanks, Heather. I appreciate when people point out my mistakes, in the same way I appreciate having my teeth cleaned. Hate needing it done. Glad having done it.
Yes, a fresh minty breath rivals furry teeth.
Exactly. Sin BRINGS judgement and sin IS judgement.
Great post, Mike. My wife and I were talking about the portion of scripture where God tells Israel of the consequences of disobediance. One of which was children being eaten by their parents. We had watched a commentary who described this as God’s punishment, with your blog attached I would agree. God punishes us with ourselves. I mean how many people starve and do not eat their children? It happens a lot, but as you said we’ve collapsed inside. So the fact that God said people would eat their own was not a sign of God’s wrath it was an observation of the inner wickedness manifesting itself.
Gives new meaning to what happened at Babel too. God said “nothing they imagine will be restrained from them.” Was he saying that they would build anything and rule the universe? Hardly, I think he was saying anything evil they can imagine they can no accomplish. If you are divided evils, then at least one evil will restrain another. Or a just person might be able to restrain two opposing wicked people.
But praise God, the one who restrains all the weight of man’s evil is also the one who is able to preserve his remnant to the end. Even if a couple of us need to get beheaded in the meantime.
“God judges us by letting us go.”
Yowza. Well said, g.
Good stuff. I couldn’t help but think of Walking Dead, in which most of humanity exists as carnal, base-minded drones intent on killing those who aren’t to sate their hunger.
When humans are, in a word, “unleashed,” they probably won’t be dumb, covered in sores or plodding along. Worse, they’ll still have full capabilities of their minds.
Excellent stuff. And so true. The story of Saul and David repeats itself over and over again historically.
Personally, I think God prefers situations where the odds don’t appear to be in His favor. Makes for a better story.
Well said, Mike.
But as awful as things have been, can be, the Bible says quite clearly a more serious, thorough judgment is yet to come. God help us all.
“And if the righteous are scarcely saved…” 1Pet.4:17-18.
At fifteen, I came to Christ at a modest little evangelical church where pre-trib was the teaching, so I accepted that. Over the years, I found verses that disturbed me re that position. By the age of 33, I fully rejected pre-trib, and moved to a pre-wrath to post-trib position (ie, yep, we don’t get an “out” card when the horrors come down just as the early church didn’t get an “out” when persecution came down.)
And I do believe God restrains. When I pray, I ask Him to restrain MORE. I fear Him letting go of that restraint. Fear it a whole fricken lot. I want Him to intervene MORE, because we’re monsters. Anyone who doubts we are monsters when the most corrupt in us takes over and His restraint lets go just needs to read some history or the newspaper. Just in RECENT history… The Rape of Nanking, the Nazis, the Cambodian Killing fields, the massacres in Rwanda, the Sudanese massacres, the “strange fruit” in the US south, the purges of Stalin and Mao, the vicious tyranny in North Korea. That’s US, without restraint.
I will note that during the earthquakes and the recent awful Tsunami in Japan, you didn’t see looting. It’s to our American shame that when we get whapped by natures winds adn waves, our citizenry descends into a state of thievery and opportunism. A damn shame. The cultures are different, natch. Social restraints there are stronger, sense of civic duty in that way. But I’d like US to be the nation where storms and earthquakes don’t bring out the thief and thug in us, but the nobler parts.
Restrain more, God. More. More! And Pour grace on us that we might be more like your Son.
Mike, not to offend, but I found parallels in your post and in the idea behind John Shore’s recently quoted HuffPo piece that you wrote about previously.
Especially this part: (John Shore) “…(Actually, to be entirely specific, what I really believe is that as a belief system Christianity is so perfect, and so efficacious, that whether or not it’s actually “true” is irrelevant.)”.
As a window into my soul, this is EXACTLY why I am tolerant of Christians. I grew up in a Christian society. I understand the basis for it. For the most part, the framework provided is good and useful to society in general, and to my life in the specific.
You seem to be overlapping this concept here. I just thought I’d point it out.
Also, considered in the context of your previously hugely interesting debate on progressives vs. evangelicals/fundamentalists and how they deal with each other, this detail in Shore’s essay was not discussed. He seems to be saying that essentially, personal salvation is not the most important part. Do I have to accept Christ as my personal lord and savior to be a Christian? Shore seems to be letting me in through the side door….
Well, I think the main difference between what my position on this subject is and what Shore’s might be, is that I believe “whether or not it’s actually ‘true’…” is essential, not “irrelevant.” Jesus said that faith in Him was necessary for salvation, as did His disciples in the New Testament letters. How much you, or John Shore, feel comfortable “side-dooring” that is up to you.
I’m not sure it’s the same thing. He’s not saying that Christianity as a system is restraining humans, but that God himself is holding back our natures, saved or unsaved, and that one day that influence will be gone and humanity will go more or less insane. I’m not sure how I think about this, to be honest.
I get your idea, and the basis of the tolerance, but to be honest this is kind of a slave morality. The rulers don’t follow what Christianity teaches (they aren’t chaste, they aren’t devout, etc…) but they find it useful to keep people moral and well-behaved, so they promote it regardless of its truth. This doesn’t really work in practice because devout Christianity is more than the few maxims that slave morality takes and tries to exaggerate, and people who don’t believe in it will note the hypocrisy and rebel against it.
I’m not sure what would be the important part if personal salvation isn’t it. I only browsed that piece though, but any other alternative I think would be dangerous. What did you think he meant by the side door?
D.M., your points on “slave morality” are interesting. You see a difference between terminologies that I don’t percieve so clearly, ie; God (holding you back) and a Christian belief system (performing the same function). For example, if you hesitate to go through a gate because there is a large dog on the other side, is it your experience with dogs that makes you pause, or is it the dog itself? My POV is it’s just semantics. It’s either, or both. The effect is the same. I think this was Shore’s point. (possibly).
Regarding the side door, I meant that it seems by Shore’s criteria, might I be able to accurately describe myself as a Christian, without ever being saved? Using myself as the hypothetical, if I embrace the tenets of Christian life, without ever seeking or embracing the Holy Spirit, Shore will accept me as Christian (apparently). This seems inadequate, and weakens the argument (assuming that Shore speaks authoritatively for progressives) that all Christians are different factions of the same “family”.
It reminds me of the stories of atheist Catholic priests. They rely on the ritual, rather than a devout belief, to guide their lives.
It seems like semantics, but it isn’t. One is an external system that people assent to in varying degrees, the something is an block inside that is taken away. It’s tough to describe, but maybe I can analogize it.
Christianity as a moral system (the slave part I meant is if it’s solely used to be a restraining thing) would be like your gate and dog. Imagine that you are next to a fence, with a crowd of other people. The fence is large, but not too large that you couldn’t jump over it if you wanted to. There are “beware of dog” signs plainly posted, and maybe you can see some of the dog through the fence. The crowd sees people jump over, and sometimes they come back mauled if at all. They pass on the whole “Beware of Dog” thing, although there’s fierce debate over how much you should beware of him. Some people wonder why the dog is even there. But pretty much everyone agrees it’s bad to try and take the fence down completely.
The restraining thing is like this. You have the same fence and the same crowd of people. You might even have the whole “Beware of Dog” sign and fence still up. But the difference is this: one day, the clouds in the night sky suddenly disappear, revealing a gorgeous full moon. Under that full moon, you turn and see all the members of the crowd become werewolves, and start ripping each other apart. The only thing restraining them was the grace of the clouds to hide the moon and prevent their true natures from being manifest.
Not sure about that side door thing. It’s actually harder to live to Christian ideals or tenets than just the basic moral law we have, and Christianity really is about realizing we need to be rescued, and then trying our best to live out of gratefulness and the desire to emulate our rescuer. What is thankful is that there is no conservative or progressive in that.
D.M., your analogy was vivid. Thanks for that. And the discussion. I’m in the dark about whether I’m a werewolf or not, and somewhat envious of those who better understand their own true nature….
Just an analogy man, to illustrate the difference. Don’t take more from it than that. Look at it another way, God is keeping all of us, unbeliever and believer alike, protected from the worst of the evil sin can bring.
“The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.” 2 Peter 3:9
Same with the old Hebrew prophets. Everyone remembers Sodom and Gomorrah, but a lot of people forget what happened before:
“Finally, Abraham said, “Lord, please don’t be angry with me if I speak one more time. Suppose only ten (righteous people) are found there?” And the LORD replied, “Then I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.” Gen 18:32
So Mike really is right about the judgement, and we should think on it more than we do. But we also have the hope in God that He will forbear as long as possible for our sake.
This is a great post. I don’t know what else to say.
My take on Paul’s obscure reference as well.
Mike, I agree with this in my head, but it’s something the reality of I can’t really fathom. Like Mirtika, it’s like “If this is restrained, what is unrestrained going to be like?” Good post on a troubling issue.
It is only by the restraining hand of God that man’s depravity is not utterly revealed.