The God Who Weeps

I must admit, I was very skeptical about the book The God Who Weeps by Terryl and Fiona Givens. I wasn't too impressed with how the book was presented to me, but when I noticed what a bestseller it has been, I decided to try it out. I was not prepared for how much I would enjoy this book. The authors prove certain doctrines through scripture, words of many great people throughout history, and good old common sense.

The book gets its title from the account in the book of Moses when Enoch sees God weep for the wicked of the earth who will suffer. Because God weeps, we can reach multiple conclusions about Him--such as the fact the God, the Grand Creator, chooses to make himself vulnerable to sorrow, disappointment, and heartache because He chooses to love us. He is not the angry god concocted by Jonathon Edwards, ready to cast sinners into hellfire at any whim. He is a loving God who is invested in us, and weeps when we sin simply because He knows we need to suffer for our choices. If God were not invested in us, then quite frankly, He wouldn't really care whether we sinned or not. But He does care, He has given commandments, and He does weep when we choose not to obey them.

The authors go on to discuss elements of the Plan of Salvation, from pre-mortality, the Fall of the Adam, to life beyond death. There are just a few things I highlighted that I want to share here:

Proof that we existed before this life comes from the sense of guilt. If God created us out of nothing, and created us the way we are, then it is His fault we don't have better natures, so it is His fault if we sin and don't keep the commandments. This might be rationalized thus, if it were not for the emotion of guilt. Guilt lets us know we did something wrong when we had the capability of doing better. It gives us a sense that we are responsible for the choices we make. I also liked how the authors claim guilt is not necessarily a punishment. If we sprain an ankle and we try to put weight on it, we feel pain. The pain is not to punish us, it's to stop us from doing further damage to our spirits.

One of the most intriguing arguments that the Fall was actually a beneficial step forward comes from Charles Darwin, of all places. The honeybee has a huge defect. Its only defense system also results in its death. Darwin said the reason why this insect did not evolve to a more perfect state is because it outlasted all competition, so it no longer had a reason to evolve to become more perfect. Likewise, in the pre-mortal existence, we didn't have anything to challenge us so that we could become more perfect. Our progress was halted. The Fall provided the challenges necessary for us to "spiritually evolve" and become more like our Heavenly Father.

The last part I wanted to mention from the book is a quote that I found powerfully insightful, and yet humorous as well. Here is the quote: "No English word has been more debased than love, which we simultaneously employ to describe God's sacrifice of His Son and our feelings about a hot-dog smothered in  relish." Something to think about...

Again, this books sounds very intellectual, but it is definitely worth reading. My only complaint is the footnote system used in this book, but that is a minor detail compared to wealth of insight available.