“What is God for, Anyway?” is an article from Dr. Gordon H. Clark’s papers. Both the original scan and a transcribed document are here made available. If you notice any typos on the typed document please email the administrator at douglasdouma@yahoo.com.
**Items from the unpublished papers of Dr. Gordon H. Clark should not be considered his definitive statement on the particular topic addressed. These papers are being provided for educational value. For Dr. Clark’s official positions consult his published writings.**
Unpublished 82. What is God for Anyway? (original)
Unpublished 82. What is God for, Anyway? (typed)
Notes: From the papers of Dr. Gordon H. Clark. From “The Home Evangel”, date unknown.
There used to be people, maybe there still are some, who claimed that the world owed them a living. Such people were not highly respected. In more recent days a large number of people have been claiming that the government owes them a living. What is a government for, they ask, if not to take care of me after I have squandered all my high wages? These people are often credited with a high degree of social consciousness, and are not so widely condemned as their predecessors were.
And there is a still larger class that thinks God owes them a living. If God rules the world, if He created people, then it is His business to take care of them. What is God for anyway? And these people are usually highly respected and are thought of as up to date theologians. God is good — even better than the bureaucrats — and He will never punish anyone. He is the Father of all men; and are not fathers supposed to spoil their children? Anyone that believes God will punish a person has a dismal conception of God. That conception went out with the horse and buggy.
Now this modern theology would deserve some attention, if it could be shown to have come from God. God knows best what He intends to do. And it is wiser to find out what God has said, than it is merely to guess.
God has declared His intentions, and they are not what this modern theology teaches. By the mouth of Peter, God said, “If God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell . . . and spared not the old world but saved Noah, . . . the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (II Peter 2:4, 5, 9).
The Lord Jesus Christ said to some people who thought highly of themselves, “Ye shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come.”
God indeed is good — good enough to send Jesus Christ to die as a sacrifice to pay the sinner’s debt — good enough to save some. But God is also righteous — sufficiently righteous to punish others. How do you stand?
G.H.C.