The Callous Theology of James Dobson

I think Wehner over-reaches. Dobson, whether his comments were well-timed or not, did not “declare that the worst thing you could possibly conceive of – the murder of your first-grade daughter — was a result of the wrath of God.” He said “I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think He has allowed judgment to fall upon us.” Allowing natural consequences resulting from conscious choices is not the same thing as raining down fire and brimstone. Dobson certainly could had not limited the sins he listed to the political hot-button issues, but Romans 1 does say that not retaining a knowledge of God leads to “God (giving them) over to a debased mind…” which includes murder (Romans 1:28-29).

God gives some people over to a mind disqualified from knowing the truth, that is a consequence of rejecting God (Rom. 1:28). The result of that judgment is that wickedness increases, and I don’t know why what happened in Newtown couldn’t be a manifestation of that.

Dobson - who by the way is educated and trained in the humanistic field of psychology and not in theology or divinity - is selective in the evils that he cites, limiting it only to abortion and homosexuality when the Bible lists a multitude of societal evils that can cause God to judge a nation for its wickedness. Both conservative evangelicals and theological liberals do the same, in that they limit the list of societal sins that they wish to make matters of public policy in order to conform to their political agendas.

Isn’t Westbro saying the same thing. That this murderous incident is a manifestation of the wrath of the Almighty? Isn’t the wrath, as paid out as the wages of sin, a matter of praise unto His glory?

I wonder if the words of the Psalmist have any bearing on this, ‘Just art Thou and upright are Thy judgments’’.

At the moment we in the UK are experiencing floods and storms. There are three types of rain mentioned in the scriptures and what we are experiencing at the moment is the rain of vengeance/correction. I believe that it’s in return for the idolatrous behavior of the people of this nation at this time of the year. ”There is no peace unto the wicked”.

I realize we should be hesitant to proclaim everything (or anything) a direct judgment of God (unless God gives us some special insight). But I also believe some preachers go too far the other direction and immediately claim that any tragedy is not a judgment of God.

When someone comes to me wondering if some bad thing in their life is a judgment of God, I don’t necessarily say it is. But then, I don’t immediately say it is not. Some need to reflect on the possibilities.

Why do some preachers feel unqualified to say something is a judgment of God, yet always qualified to say it is not a judgment of God?

I wonder how many preachers were loudly proclaiming to Israel that the Assyrians were not a judgment of God? Or to Judah that the Babylonians were not a judgment of God?
David R. Brumbelow

The point is that if God is judging us, He is doing so for a more comprehensive number of sins than those which religious right leaders like to talk about. Religious right leaders talk about abortion and homosexuality because those issues help them raise money, sell merchandise and get their candidates elected. Meanwhile, they refrain from talking about societal sins that the prophets and Revelation speak of just as much as they do about murder and sexual immorality because those issues don’t drive fundraising and in many cases are concerns of the political and religious left.

That Israel violated God’s commandments by allowing their society to become one where the poor were systematically and institutionally exploited and mistreated was most certainly one of the reasons why God judged that nation by having it fall to the Babylonians and Assyrians. Yet talking about the poor in the current conservative evangelical or fundamentalist climate in any area but private charitable giving would get you branded a liberal or socialist. So what is it that would cause God to judge our nation for failing to outlaw infanticide and homosexuality, but not for our pervasive favoring the rich over the poor - and the middle class by the way - in our criminal justice system (again which the OT prophets made explicitly clear was a reason why God judged Israel)?

And another thing: if you look at the OT, God’s judgment did not always come immediately. The judgment did not always come a few days, months, years or even decades after the behavior that brought judgment took place. So to say that God is judging us now because of abortion and gay rights is difficult because for all we know God could be judging us for evils that this nation committed over 100 years ago, such as for our abhorrent treatment of the “Native Americans.”

Our opposition to the left and their wicked social and economic policies does not justify bad and self-serving theology in response.

[JobK]

The point is that if God is judging us, He is doing so for a more comprehensive number of sins than those which religious right leaders like to talk about.

So when mass murders occurred in America before the legalization of abortion and the perversion or marriage they were judgment for which sins of America?

[pvawter]

[JobK]

The point is that if God is judging us, He is doing so for a more comprehensive number of sins than those which religious right leaders like to talk about.

Why does Dobson’s list of sins need to be exhaustive to be correct? Is there any merit to his claim that removing God from the public consciousness of our nation or slaughtering millions of innocent children in the womb or perverting the divinely ordained institution of marriage is grounds for the legitimate judgment of a nation? Even though we are not God’s covenant people, surely these sins are abhorrent to God. I can almost imagine you criticizing Hosea, Amos, or Micah for failing to include a comprehensive list of Israel’s sins. Surely these brief words from Dobson aren’t all he has to say on the subject, are they?

Because the prophets WERE comprehensive in telling Israel why they were being judged. The prophets didn’t just list one or two sins, or a certain area of sins, like violence or sexual immorality. The prophets held Israel accountable to the entirety of the Sinai covenant, and stated that Israel was being sent into captivity because of their faithlessness to all of it.

“Is there any merit to his claim that removing God from the public consciousness of our nation or slaughtering millions of innocent children in the womb or perverting the divinely ordained institution of marriage is grounds for the legitimate judgment of a nation?”

Unless Dobson is a prophet, no there isn’t. This has nothing to do with the grotesque abomination that is abortion and homosexuality. (By the way, there are more ways to pervert marriage than allowing the 1% of the population that is homosexual to marry … and incidentally the vast majority of homosexuals have no interest in marriage. Illegitimacy, adultery and divorce on a large scale accomplish pretty much the same.) Because in the absence of a prophet speaking in the Name of God on this matter under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit with the Holy Spirit’s power and authority behind him, we have to use theology when we speak on such matters.

We want to say that God is judging this nation based on abortion and homosexuality because those issues matter to us in our current social and political context. But I would imagine that a Navajo or a Seminole Christian would say that God is judging this nation because of how our ancestors stole his land and decimated his people in the 1700s and 1800s, and he would have Ahab being judged for killing Naboth and taking his land in 1 Kings 21 as his proof text. Such a Native American’s statement would be as valid based on what the Bible actually says - and perhaps even more valid - than Dobson.

Dobson’s comments, though they included abortion and homosexuality, also did mention atheism and agnosticism in his general response.

In reading the statement, I don’t see this in the same category as say, Jerry Falwell’s post-9/11 comments.

And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.”

In contrast to Falwell’s statement, Dobson is essentially saying what we sowed in our culture is what we was reaped, not that God “got mad” and unleashed Adam Lanza on the country. And while it may not be especially appropriate timing, is it really unreasonable to consider in our own spheres of influence what might be changed- to consider how calloused and desensitized we have become in our culture?

What James Dobson actually said (source):

I mean millions of people have decided that God doesn’t exist, or he’s irrelevant to me and we have killed fifty-four million babies and the institution of marriage is right on the verge of a complete redefinition. Believe me, that is going to have consequences too.

And a lot of these things are happening around us, and somebody is going to get mad at me for saying what I am about to say right now, but I am going to give you my honest opinion: I think we have turned our back on the Scripture and on God Almighty and I think he has allowed judgment to fall upon us. I think that’s what’s going on.

It seems to me he is saying is that humanity’s choices bear consequences, and that God let the consequences come to bear. I am not sure how you get a “direct citation of Conn. as a judgment from God” out of that.

JobK’s statement that homosexuals are only 1% of the US populations, and most are not interested in marriage anyway is stunning. I have read various estimates of the homosexual populations, but none as low as 1%. I believe that 3% is the lowest I have ever seen, which is three times JobK’s estimate. Is there a factual study behind this comment? Is he deliberately minimizing the true number to make a point? If so, what’s the point?

As to the marriage comment, one is tempted to ask, “Then why is the gay lobby so determined to pass gay marriage?” The only other explanation I can think of would be to simply destroy traditional marriage. Is he saying that homosexuals will abandon their interest in marriage as soon as it is legitimized? JobK’s comments only increase my concern about the homosexual movement, and help explain why Christians are so alarmed about its “success.” If it is not, at root, a deliberate, systematic, and highly financed attack upon God and the Bible, its hard to imagine what else it could be. Which more than merits serious concern by Christians. Yes, it would seem that homosexuality is a bigger threat to our nation than most other sins, which are numerous.

Fallen humans live under the wrath of God since the fall. Remember the curse? At last count, six TMS graduates officiated funerals of the victims. Hence, it is quite probable that genuine believers were as touched by this event as any of the unbelievers. And these would be believers in the soundest of churches. As for Dobson, his efforts seem only to produce moral people who wear the Christian label in my opinion. His integrationist approach to biblical counseling and his use of psychology has done far more harm than good.