God is not in Control?

I will agree my last post had an uncomfortable premise: that God is not in control. It's "uncomfortable" only because it runs against much of what Christians think about God. But I suggest that a God who is not in control is much more honorable, praise-worthy, and powerful than any god who claims to be in command of every aspect of creation.

Let's think about what it means to be "in control" for a moment. It means that the controlling person manages or attempts to manage every aspect of a situation as means of producing some desired effect or outcome. That might be okay if the outcome is, say, a chocolate cake. If a person wants to bake a cake he or she will need everything to behave as it should so that the cake bakes into a flawless dessert. If the oven does not heat to the right temperature, it will be made to heat correctly. If the eggs will not combine with the rest of the batter they will be beaten until they do. The baker will have a cake sooner or later as different elements of the cake a brought under his control.

And that is exactly the false image of God that too many people have. He's the baker who desires a perfect outcome for his creation. It is in obedience to the concept of achieving this perfect outcome that many people drag themselves to church or sign-up to teach Sunday school or chide themselves and those around them to sit-up straight and act Christian. This image must be destroyed before the "abundant life" that Christ offered is ever to be found.

"He does not control the one he loves...but that does not mean he is powerless."

The simple fact is that God is not looking to achieve some goal for his creation. He wants love from his creation. Here's another area where Christians might be uncomfortable with changing their image of God. They don't want to see God as wanting anything. Of course, he is perfect; he does not need anything. Yet to want something very badly is to choose to need it, and God has chosen to need our love.

Consider a great deal of the message of the prophets. God is definitely angry with Israel for all of their unfaithfulness to Him. But what kind of anger is it? Through Jeremiah he says, "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert...'" (Jer. 2:2). But because of her continual pursuit of other gods you can almost see His angry tears: "I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies...'"(Jer. 12:7). These aren't the words of a frustrated baker whose cake has fallen. They are the words of a lover who has been spurned by the one he loves, and rejects her only after she has thoroughly rejected him. He gives Israel the payment due to her for the duplicity of her actions, but he never attempts to make her love him. For he knows you cannot control the one you love if you ever hope to have them love you in return.

Yet he has never given up on the hope that he will be loved in return. We can know this because he does not end his pursuit of us, his faithless lover. In fact, he is certain that he can win her back when he declares through Zephaniah, "I will bring you home..." (Zeph. 3:20, emphasis added).

He does not control the one he loves. If He did, any devotion we gave in return, wouldn't be true love. But that does not mean he is powerless. More on that in the next post.

God is In Control?

One of the things often repeated in Evangelical circles across America is the phrase, "God is in control." In fact, there was a recently released song with this statement as its chorus. But is it really true? Before answering "yes" let's consider what we must conclude if He really is “in control”.

If God is in control, then one must necessarily accept some unsettling aspects of God’s character and his actions. Consider all that he chooses not to do with this control he is reputed to possess: He doesn't stop all serial killers from committing vicious crimes, He does not allow abducted children to be found unharmed or even alive, He does not cure everyone who believes in Him of cancer, even when his people pray earnestly for healing. As is often asked by honest people in times of suffering, "Why didn't God take control of my situation?" Then, there is the question most are afraid to ask: "Did God send this tragedy to me?" Of course, he didn't, but the question makes sense if we believe God is behind the control panel manipulating every aspect of our lives. I don’t know about anyone else, but I cannot serve, much less love, someone who chooses to use his ability to control in such a capricious way. It appears that he is at one moment uncaring and incompetent the next all the while telling me he loves me.

"If Christians believe God is in control and something tragic happens to them...They must ask, 'Why did God do nothing as I suffered?'"

I should stop here for a moment. I can almost hear my reader's blasphemy alarms blaring. I should say that I believe that God is good, that He is loving, and that He is our rescuer. He also is sovereign, and if He chose to seize control of any of the above situations, he could. However, if Christians believe God is in control and something tragic happens to them, what is the first thing they must ask? They must ask, "Why did God do nothing as I suffered?" or worse, "Why did God choose to send this horrible tragedy upon me?"

The truth is God has chosen not to be in control. He wanted his whole creation to function outside of His control. Consider the Garden where he meant for us to live. In that garden, he put a tree with such deadly fruit that those that eat it "will surely die" (Gen. 2:17). Then he let a serpent live there who desired to help us, his most cherished creations, to eat of this terrible tree. Then, as if trying to get us killed, he gave us the ability to choose to eat this fruit as easily as we would eat nourishing food. My parents, if they were to follow God's example, should have opened a bottle of pills and put it next my dinner plate, warning me never to swallow even one pill, knowing full well that my older brother would try to me to eat the whole bottle.

What should we conclude then, about this seemingly negligent attitude of His? To answer that, we need to adjust our view of God. If we can get a corrected view of God, we may find there is something loving and even comforting in his lack of control. I'll pick that up in the next post.

Now We Are 30

I'm Thirty today. Honestly, I thought this would be a much more difficult transition than it was. I guess that is because life doesn't actually have "transitions". Life is about things that happen. Things people say and do and things that one says and does in response. "Transition" is a word people use about their lives when they are convinced that their perception of their own lives is significant enough to measure the future (again as they suppose it will be, as they perceive it to be) against the past. That is ludicrous. I can look back on life and say I was going through a transition back then, but I cannot say I'm in a transition. I would have to know what I'm transitioning to. Thirty may be exactly like twenty-nine for all I know. In fact, it is likely to be very much the same.

Don't get me wrong, I celebrate the mile-markers of life. I just have to remind myself that life is divided into sections, eras, that do not necessarily map on to specific years of life.

I've spent 30 years on the Earth. That is something, but I think I am in the middle of an era of my life, not at the beginning.