Today, I wanted to touch on a subject that has bothered me every since I was a teenager.
At that time, I was having my own ‘struggles’ with a lot of what I was hearing at church and being taught from the pulpit. I guess a lot of that struggle was simply from being a teen-ager and questioning the whole ‘formality’ of Sunday morning services, but I felt like there was so much ‘more’ I was wanting to understand and yet was not being given any real teaching that helped me to understand God more. It seemed all I was being told was how Holy He was – and what a terrible sinner I was.
I grew up in a ‘religious’ family, and we regularly attended a local Church with a large congregation of our neighbours. (The denomination itself is irrelevant here as this teaching I will refer to, seems to be taught by every denomination today.)
I well remember attending a funeral of a relative when I was sixteen or seventeen. At the gravesite the minister said some words and at the end of it said this: “Ashes to ashes and dust to dust; the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.
I’m sure everyone has heard those words. They sound very wise and Biblical don’t they?
I remember thinking at the time though, that they just seemed somehow ‘wrong’. I did not know why they sounded wrong really, nor did I ever check it out with what is actually in Scripture, but I knew even then, that God did not kill my relative. Nor did the Lord ‘call him home’. I knew for sure in my spirit that this was just wrong. Why would God kill my Uncle? Doesn’t God love us? Does it not stand to reason that if God loves us, then He would want good things for us like health, long days on the earth, guidance, prosperity, peace, etc.. ? It did not seem to me that the Loving God I was searching so hard to relate to would just turn around one mysterious day and ‘call me home’ –which is to say, cause my death. The few times I did enquire about this to anyone, the answer was usually something about ‘God moves in mysterious ways.’ Well, He may well have moved in mysterious ways to Old Testament believers, but the mystery has been cleared up since the New Testament was written. His ‘mystery” has been written down for 2,000 years now and is there for any student of His Word to see. (Mark 4:11; Mathew 13:11; Eph 1:9 for starters and especially Romans 16:25)
Below in the scripture reference is the verse that seems to be always quoted at funerals (Job 1:21). You’ve heard it also: ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.”
This is a huge part of the cause of people thinking that God kills you. And that line of thinking is simply Not true! Jesus came to bring us life –and that more abundantly. Jesus healed anyone who was sick and asked Him to, and Jesus himself testified that if you ‘Have seen me, then you have seen the Father.’ From this we know that God is not out to give you disease or death but to Heal you so that you will live longer!
In the first place, the whole statement is not a quote of one sentence, but is made up of two statements. One is from the book of Genisis and the second part from the Book of Job. The first part about ‘Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust’ is actually from Gen 3:19. It is not quoted words, but refers instead to a concept. God made man from the dust of the ground. (Gen 2:7)
Below, I have copied the first chapter of the book of Job. If you read verse 21 in the context of the whole chapter, you can plainly see that it was satan who 'tooketh away' - not God!
Also note, that these words are not inspired of God as is so much of the Bible. (especially the New Testament), but instead are a quote out of Job's mind and mouth - and after such a series of disasters! But even so, it was after he 'fell down upon the ground, and worshipped! Later on, Job’s wife would tempt him to blame God for all this trouble, and Job rebuked her severely for her thoughts that God was the cause of his misfortunes.
Remember also, as you read this account of Satan having been given permission from God to check out Job’s faith, that this is in the OLD Testament.
In the New Testament, we –as individual believers – have been given the authority through the precious name of Jesus Christ, to stop Satan in his foul tracks. We no longer have to suffer from his attacks on us because Jesus totally disarmed and defanged satan and gave us all authority in His name to rebuke and banish satan from hurting us. Oh, that rat will still attack us, and we are told to ‘put on the full armour of God’ to stop those flaming darts of his attack upon us.
No, God does not kill us. God loves us and has given us all the protection we need to withstand the ‘wiles’ of the devil. For that is the only thing satan can actually fight us with – his wiles. If you are not armed with the Word of God to repel those attacks, then you are going to be wide open to receive them. This is also why so many people today are doubting even the existence of satan! If you don’t believe you have an enemy, then you are wide open for every and all attacks from him. Good luck.
But that weapon –wiles – is more deadly than we realize! And here is the proof of that. If you believe ‘that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away’ your life, then how my friend, are you ever going to develop a trusting and strong Faith in His Goodness? I doubt you can. If you had a friend in the physical world who would fly off the handle and beat you up every once in a while, how long would he/she be your friend? If your father would suddenly turn on you and beat you, would you love to be in his company and yearn to be with him?
This doctrine of God ‘calling us home’ is a heretic teaching inspired by Satan himself. It is designed to destroy –or at least greatly weaken- your faith in God your Father.
I hope this gives some clarity to the misuse of this verse as we hear it all the time at funerals. I for one, speak to the Minister in charge every time I hear this junk preached. It is a heretic teaching and most people do not even realize the damage it causes – even those preaching it.
God did NOT do these things to Job.
satan did.
