Who Wants to be Pond-Scum or A Worm?

I’ve been bothered by a certain theology since I studied the stars as a teen trying to figure life out. The idea that God is love, yet humans are worthless. The idea that God created us in his image … and yet we are not good.

What?

He created us like we are … we didn’t. Yet we are the problem? We are useless wretches? We didn’t ask to be created like this.

green pond scumphoto © 2009 Phoenix Wolf-Ray | more info (via: Wylio)

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Rachel Held Evans calls it “pond-scum theology” in her book, Evolving in Monkey Town. She describes it as “the premise that humans have no intrinsic value or claim to salvation because their sin nature makes them so thoroughly disgusting and offensive to God that he is under no obligation to pay them any mind.”

The should-have-been-burned sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards strongly influenced this theology. Many people think that sermon is excellent, yet the main idea is that God is angry and has no problem hurting the very beings he created.

Really? How does this reconcile with God being love?

Recently Elizabeth Esther wrote about a similar idea, “When you are raised with the “I am a worm” theology, it’s easy to understand God’s love as temperamental, conditional, easily revoked. In this theology, God is always turning away from us, hiding His face from us … therefore, I was never convinced God really loved me.”

I’ve lived with pond-scum and worm theology. I had started to take steps away from that, but for a time after my accident, I defaulted back to believing those damaging theologies. I wondered about God’s love … because obviously I was not good and he was disgusted with me. It was the most depressing time of my life.

Along with Esther and Rachel, I now question those theologies. There might be a few Bible verses that can be taken out of context and appear to support such a theology, but it doesn’t flow with the overall idea of unconditional love.

With time, counsel and mediating, especially outdoors in the beauty of nature, I’ve come to believe in unconditional love and the goodness of all humanity … everyone of us. I quit viewing God as disgusted with me (and he didn’t cause my injuries either, but that’s another post) and though I still study the stars looking for answers, I’ve found hope again.

I see creativity in humans as a small mirror of God’s creativity — after all, aren’t we made in his image? If humans generally do not set out to create things that they dislike … then why would God create something that he dislikes?

If curious what else Evolving in Monkey Town addresses, order a copy here.
And read a review and a 2-part interview I did with Rachel here and here. 
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  • http://www.alise-write.com Alise

    I totally agree. I understand that we need to understand where we are in relation to God’s holiness and perfection, but it’s hard for me to understand a God who thinks of me as a worthless piece of garbage. I thought how Rachel addressed it in Monkey Town was right on.

    • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

      Exactly Alise … I don’t know any artist who sets out to create a worthless piece of junk … so why would God?

  • Joan

    Good morning and what a great question! I’ve had to wrestle through this huge issue as well. I think the worm worthless issue has to do with the fallen rebellious condition of our hearts because of sin. We were created in his image to glorify and enjoy him forever and because of sin our chief end has changed to glorifying ourselves and enjoying me forever. Through sin our value has become compromised and corrupted. I don’t think he has cast us away so much so that our rebelliousness has put distance and lowered our status. He hasn’t turned away from us, we have chosen another route and we turn away from him. We are no different than the Israelites of the OT. Like the prodigal we want what we want and bring on our own worm status but the father waits and longs for us to turn back, to repent. I think the love of God is shown in his grace in providing a way back to him in the cross and a life of repentance. That is the place where grace intersects with sin and where we can move from depression into gratitude and joy. We aren’t left to wither on the vine. I’m not sure I understand the unconditional love thing. There were always conditions in the relationship between God and man… If you do this, I will do that..lots of that sort of thing. Hopefully we do this with our children. Because of our love for our children we create boundaries of safety. Because of sin we have to be reminded over and over again that if we keept our hearts and faces toward him he would bless, if we didn’t he simply could not. Very much like a parent child relationship or a marriage. All of life reflects these covenants/vows/contracts so I don’t see our relationship with God to be any different. God’s love is conditional and the condition is to humbly walk toward him and not away. Growing in this understanding has changed everything for me. Thanks so much for sharing your heart and your struggles. I really appreciate your wrestling with this stuff so openly.

    • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

      Joan … thanks for visiting and commenting.
      You are right … the father of the prodigal son is a picture of God waiting and longing for us. As the father/God wait … do you think they still love their child(ren) or do they withhold love and think of them as scum?

      Also I’m not sure I understand your thoughts about boundaries versus unconditional love. To me boundaries of safety parents put in place for children are different than putting conditions on love. When my child crosses a boundary I put in place, I still love them (I might initially react in a not-so-loving way because I’m human, but I still love them) Is there something your child could do that would cause you to not love them anymore?

    • Joan

      Yea Janet..I was going to come back and clarify that. If God IS love then his Discipline is love..limiting is love, boundaries are love. I guess the difference is that we limit God’s expression of love toward us if we remain in rebellion toward him. Since our hearts are desperately wicked we are always needing to reorient back toward his grace and relearn the gospel..daily. He hasn’t turned away but we have and do and we are bent on turning away. I’m reading a thoroughly profound and completely quotable book right now and I’m only in the introduction. Redemption: Freed by Jesus from the Idols we worship and the wounds we carry by Mike Wilkenson. He talks about the glory of being made in His image. That as we walk around we are proclaiming him which is something to consider as I walk through Walmart on any given day and behold his image in so many interesting forms!! .. “For this reason, you have great dignity as a human being, not primarily because of your own goodness but because you are made of the kind of stuff that is capable of making God’s much greater goodness visible to others. This is the bedrock upon which the enduring dignity of every person is established-no matter how sinful, abused, impaired or oppressed.” I think you would enjoy this book. Thanks for your response and now..back to reading!!

      • http://janetober.com Janet Ober

        In this post, I’m not questioning whether God is love … I starting with the premise that he is love. I’m also not questioning whether all humans have value and dignity … I believe they do.
        I’m questioning the idea that I used to believe — that God views humans as pond-scum or worms … and somehow we have to prove our worth to him. That’s a fear-driven life.

        Rather then the idea that says we are born as scum/unlovable/etc. and have to say/believe/do certain things so that God can tolerate loving us. I think God loves us just as we are … and because of that love I then choose how to live my life. I think love is more powerful (and kinder) than fear.

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