god
How does God interact with this world?
A question that I’m sure bothers everyone at some point in their life. Who hasn’t had a fervent prayer go un-answered, or at least not answered in the way the pious individual was wanting. Does this mean that God is indeed unconcerned with the goings on of humanity? Or perhaps God is teaching us a lesson. Maybe his attention is focused elsewhere. All of these are correct for all we know.
Really, I’ve never come across a verse that definitively says what God’s does with the world on a day-to-day basis. Yes, he sent Jesus, yes Jesus shows God does pay attention, but does he interact anymore. There’s some interesting conversational theology I’ve been hearing about lately, where a group has been discussing the idea that God actually needs humans to accomplish his will here on Earth. Then there’s guys like Piper who believe that God is mechanistically pulling every string like a puppet master in space.
I think the biggest impact on our views of God’s interaction with us is our self-imposed level of need of God. Basically, a person who feels like they need God to help them at every twist and turn more likely feels that God is this mechanistic puppet master. On the other hand you have the self-assured successful businessperson, who doesn’t think they need God, they’re more likely part of this up and out view of God. Where does God actually stand?
It’s a frustrating thing to think about. It gets personal quite fast.
I don’t like the idea of a God who separates himself from humanity. In fact I down right hate it. On the other hand I don’t think that God is a puppet master. Where does that leave me?
Let me preface this next part by saying I am the farthest thing from a scholar. I haven’t extensively studied biblical texts, let alone the Greek/Hebrew manuscripts and the entire nuance of the languages.
Here’s my view on God.
He’s involved in this world. I think he knows, feels, understands, and loves the world. Yet he must hate it at the same time. Not the Driscoll version of God hates you personally, but God hating the evils committed here. In my view God must be involved in this crazy world, otherwise the craziness will just get to be too much. While I don’t think he’s a puppet master, I do think he’s the ultimate ear whisperer. A subtle influencer of men. That’s my ultimate view of God, post the whole miraculous resurrection thing. Sure I think he steps in with some flashy big ways sometimes (read Jesus Freaks), but I think God’s interaction with Humanity is mostly done in secret.
Not “God I lost my keys” and God whispers “check under the left couch cushion,” but this feeling of knowledge we shouldn’t have. Durkheim calls it collective effervescence, Jung calls it Collective unconscious, and Rob Bell calls it God. When there’s something there that we don’t understand but it leads us to act. That’s my view. I think we’ve all felt it, there’s just something that causes us to act in a way that we didn’t think we would. Evangelicals say when they witness (two words I have a large aversion to… evangelize and witness) the right things just come into their head.
I feel like my thoughts on the topic are far from complete, but I needed to etch this out on paper (screen). Thanks for listening.
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