View of God often shaped by life experiences, pastor insists

Posted: 2/17/06

View of God often shaped by life experiences, pastor insists

By Ken Walker

Special to the Baptist Standard

TUCSON, Ariz.—Native Texan Roger Barrier started praying about ministry in an unchurched area after Roy Fish, his evangelism professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, told students, “You’d better be sure you’ve got a call from God to stay in Texas, because Texas doesn’t need any more preachers.”

For 30 years, Barrier has served Casas Church in suburban Tucson, a Baptist congregation that has grown from 70 to 4,500 members during his tenure.

But soon after he and his wife, Julie, arrived in Arizona, they realized if they tried to conduct church the way they had experienced it in Texas, they would fail.

“That began a search for what God is really like,” said Barrier, who also is an author and conference speaker. “It was easier to get out of the culture I had grown up in to try to take a fresh look. Our view of God began to change dramatically.”

Barrier grew up hearing preachers talk about a God of judgment. That’s true, he readily admitted, but it’s not the whole picture.

“It’s just that I think we’ve skewed too far to one side. Let’s not miss his compassionate heart. We don’t get enough of that,” he said.

Taking a correct view of God is a subject near to Barrier’s heart. He cites surveys by a research group showing only 25 percent of church members see God as intimately and passionately involved in their lives. In equal proportions, the other 75 percent see God as distant and uninvolved, a harsh taskmaster or One who is disappointed with their performance.

Most people form these views based on significant life events, religious traditions and growing-up relationships, Barrier said.

When life events include tragedy, the outcome can be disastrous. As an example, Barrier mentioned a woman who came to Casas who had been sexually abused in childhood by her father and his friends.

It took three years for a counselor to help her through her past. A key question on her mind was: “Where was God when this was going on?”

In time, she learned God had given her father the job of protecting her, but he failed, Barrier said. He also assured her God wept over men’s regrettable actions.

“We (told her) God was there and wanted to be her helper,” Barrier said. “That was important in her healing.”

Nor is this woman alone, the pastor said. He points to an estimated 20 million drug addicts raising children; when the youngsters need comfort, they often find indifference.

Unhealthy views of God have enormous implications for churches, affecting everything from people’s views of the pastor to evangelism, Barrier insisted.

People who view God as judgmental or disappointed in them will tend to project similar expectations on their pastor and harshly judge him, he said.

“They’ll be disappointed in him,” Barrier said. “They’ll talk behind his back because how they view God will flow out of their actions.

“It’s hard to evangelize and enjoy people coming to Christ when the people doing the evangelism don’t even think God cares that they’re alive or (think he) is going to judge them all the time.”

Barrier lays the blame for this disjointed picture at the feet of fathers. The Bible teaches more about the responsibilities of fathers than mothers, he said, and in his eyes most fathers are failing to do their job well.

“People who have a healthy, well-adjusted dad tend to have a healthy, well-adjusted view of God,” Barrier said. “Look across society as a whole, and the numbers who had healthy, well-adjusted dads is not a very high percentage.”

This failure partially can be attributed to American culture allowing fathers to escape their responsibilities, he asserted.

Although not blaming the church for the situation, Barrier said it has an important role in reshaping views of God, using three key elements:

• Scripture.

Barrier quotes Psalm 119:105 and Psalm 23 as two of his favorites. Meditating on Bible passages is a key spiritual discipline that tends to get overlooked in Baptist life, he said.

“The light of the word is the greatest balanced checkpoint in knowing whether we’re right or wrong,” Barrier said. “If our view of God doesn’t correspond … to the Scripture, then something’s wrong with our view.”

• God’s people.

Finding mature Christians who know God’s heart and imitating their life and faith is important to adjusting imbalanced views, he said.

• The light of Christ.

Studying the Bible to learn more about Christ’s heart and interpreting Scripture in light of that will help people focus more clearly on God’s nature, Barrier said.

Churches that want to project a more loving view of God need to get to know him more deeply so they can share his heart, he insisted. And they need to view people as fallen and alone.

“If all we do is view them as fallen, we’ll never have healthy churches,” Barrier said. “If we can get a grip on the fact they’re fallen and alone, that’s the way we’re going to develop compassion in our churches.”

News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.