Our congregation recently conducted a lengthy survey prepared by some consultants from Harding University. It had tons of questions, but the very first substantive question under the heading “personal beliefs” asked to what extent you agree or disagree with the statement: “God is constantly at work in the world directing people, nations and events.”Turns out I’m in the vast minority. Only 6.8% of us disagreed with that statement. 87.4% agreed.
Maybe this is just one of those things where some read more into the question than others, but that result surprised me. The world doesn’t seem to me to be a place where God does a whole lot of intervention. How do you deal with the problem of suffering without acknowledging and accepting that? I don’t doubt that He can or that He has frequently intervened, but I certainly don’t think he does so constantly. It seems He does a lot less of it than he used to, or at a minimum, he does it much more subtly than he used to.
On one side of the spectrum, there is deism. Creator creates and that’s it. On the other side of the spectrum is the Islamic view, where God’s will is all-consuming. Everything that happens, both good and evil, is directed by God. We must simply submit.
I’m closer to the deistic side of that spectrum than the Islamic side. If God is good, it seems you have to be to explain all the evil in the world.
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Well I was one of the majority on that question. Perhaps God does act more subtly now than he once did. And of course each and every one of us has free will. But I am willing to accept the dichotomy of our ability to choose our own actions and God’s ability to influence our choice by varied circumstances. As our Orthodox friends say, “It is a holy mystery.”
There are also instances where God’s intervention doesn’t affect our free will. For instance, When our daughter got her first pair of contact lenses after cataract surgery she was one month old. These lenses were designed to stay in, and they did for the most part. But when she was about nine months old her left lens developed the irritating habit of falling out. Unfortunately this continued for a few months and despite my combing the floors with a flashlight and straining her bath water with a seive, we lost more than half a dozen lenses in a three month period. The lenses were expensive to replace and had to be special ordered so it was sometimes a week or two before we could get a replacement. And that time is precious when you’re talking about the development of the brain ability to see. Then it occurred to me that this was something to pray about. Once I put it in God’s hands, the situation resolved itself. The lenses still came out about as often, but I began finding them. This was not due to more diligence on my part. Sometimes before I even knew a lens had come out I would glance down and see it on the floor or on my daughter’s pillow or on the edge of the carseat. It was several months before we had to replace them again and that was due to normal wear and tear, not because it was lost. No, her glaucoma has not been healed. She still needs to wear contact lenses to see. It certainly isn’t as flashy a miracle as those recorded in the Bible. But this particular situation fits my definition of Godly intervention because the only variable seems to be that I asked for His help.
It seems most people have an inconsistent view of God’s providence and sovereignty. For example, I have heard Christians credit God with controling everything to the point where the only difference between who is saved and who is not saved is those whom God willed to be saved and those whom God will not to be saved. However, these Christians, in their strict determinist view of God, don’t like the idea that if God is controlling everything to this extent that God must also be held accountable for every act of evil done by humanity. Of course, I don’t believe that God is so controlling that people who comitt acts of evil, do so apart from free will of choice.
BTW… I have learned that we have a common friend, Allan Dye. Say hello to Allan for me.
The world just keeps getting smaller and smaller. We’ll say “hey” to Allan for you.
Dear Outbursts,
I have attempted, in my own strained way, to resolve the problems you have raised here. The problem of evil is no small one; the problem of human freedom is no small one, either.
Does God will everything? Perhaps. But I would love to hear your thoughts on my series regarding evil. I think you will find it an interesting approach to the problem; and I do explore this idea of freedom versus predestination (somehow I manage to defend both).
If you are bored with the day-to-day fodder of your life (not that such a thing could EVER happen), then go here for a journey into tough questions.
Peace to you,
Gnade
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