What About Accountability?

At what point do we become responsible for the decisions made in the name of God? Most, if not all churches, corporately pray, and seem to commit to their plans and ideas to God, but this is often based on the premise that the institution has a mandate to do this in the first place. Many would see the purpose of the Church in saving the lost and building the kingdom, but the results don’t match the rhetoric. So, the question is, has God failed the church, has the Church failed God, or have we missed the point about who it is that God works through? This said, we might then ask what role free will and predestination play in our decisions, and whether we’re taking responsibility for the decisions, we should be making.

Christ’s death cannot be truly sacrificial unless Man has a free choice to accept it! It also appears somewhat contradictory if only those chosen by God can accept salvation since Jesus purportedly died for all mankind. Sacrifice hinges on the autonomy of Christ to lay down his life, and the free will of man, to accept it. Without free will, there was no cost to God, no need for Jesus, and therefore no responsibility for our decisions. Further; the idea that our destiny, thoughts, and decisions are actually under God’s control, doesn’t appear consistent with the character of God. However, free choice never stands alone, it lives within boundaries that demand personal accountability.

A relationship with God is much the same as a marriage. We are reconciled to God through Christ, but don’t lose autonomy, or free will in the process. The basis of any relationship is submission, even God submits to our free will because a relationship is borne of mutual love and respect. In a perfect situation we have two individuals, with different, but complimentary functions, each making decisions in their own right, but remaining accountable for the effect these decisions have on the relationship. For example, a wife doesn’t necessarily consult her husband about daily decisions about her work but might discuss how changing her job would affect the marriage. In the same way, God requires us to make decisions because free will demands it, and sanctification cannot happen unless we accept the responsibility behind it.

Not every decision within a relationship requires consultation, but we remain responsible for whether they are right or wrong. God works with us and making the wrong decisions might be argued as the place where God has the most impact. Responsibility is not just closing our eyes, bowing our heads, and waiting for God to make our decisions. A relationship includes prayer, but ultimately we make the decision. This said, some believe the mind is evil because it spawns a Greek worldview, and to be Christian we must be led by the spirit at the expense of the mind. This approach generally centres on feelings-based spirituality rather than truth-centered Christianity. If every decision, must be led by the spirit, then many questions could be raised about the condition of the Church. At a subconscious level, maybe prayer has become more about being seen to pray at the expense of taking responsibility. While some believe we should begin and end everything with prayer, are we making the right decisions in response to it? While the importance of prayer, isn’t dismissed by this argument, many questions of accountability are raised by the author.

The other side of free will is responsibility. Pursuing a Christian life is a work in progress and free will requires us to take responsibility for our decisions while God matures us, in the process. Christians are very good at conveying a spiritual demeanour, but somewhat short on responsibility and accountability, some of which reaches the public sphere. We rarely see leaders apologizing for wrong decisions, as a public display of accountability. We don’t restore, those who are wronged, or confront prophetic statements that don’t come true. Rarely do we go to our brothers who sin against us, and repentance, is seldom followed by change. The church seems to have lost its sense of relational accountability, yet we applaud the exposure of Catholic fathers who lose sight of their moral compass. As an aside; even when our decisions are morally, ethically and biblically justifiable, the outcome determines whether they were the right decisions. Prayer reflects the will of God but it’s more than possible to pray our will into being, hear what we want to hear, and then claim it as the will of God.

I agree that prayer is essential to a Christian life, but it shouldn’t be viewed as a legalistic process or a prescriptive solution for anything we want. If we can’t make the right decisions without prayer, our understanding of moral and sovereign issues might be questioned. If it’s all down to God to make decisions in the Church, who among us claims to speak on his behalf? Who then is responsible for the results? In my experience many opinions arise in the name of “hearing from God”, and many of these fail under the test of time. Some decisions are inconsistent with sound reasoning and don’t reflect the biblical example. It could be argued that Christians appear more responsible for decisions that concern their families, home and work, where they don’t necessarily consult God on every occasion. One might ask, what harm is there in praying, and isn’t this what God wants us to do? Yes God wants us to pray, but “Committing to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” (Prov16-3), is NOT about God making the decisions for us. Proverbs are not prescriptive, they’re probabilities!! The harm lies in the way we divert accountability when decisions don’t produce results. Yes, we should pray, but accept responsibility when we get it wrong. Having said this, it's not easy to confront the Church. Power and authority can have a strange way of expressing themselves. However, the state of the Church seems to suggest, that either God hasn’t agreed with the many of the prayers prayed, or we have made many decisions outside the will of God.

We must become that which God intended, us to be, not what we want to be.