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Christianity was supposed to be about becoming like Jesus. | |
We went in the wrong direction. |
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Does God Control Everything?
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are some denominations that declare that nothing happens in the world
unless God declares it. Some will say that God allows bad things to
happen by his “permissive” will. Others may cite God’s will as an
explanation of every good or bad thing that happens. In a way it can be
a short form of saying, “I don’t understand what is happening or why,
but I am trusting that God knows what he is doing”. We can even declare
our opinion as to why God acted the way he did. If we read 1 Kings 19, we can listen to a conversation between God and Elijah. Elijah had just finished challenging the prophets of Baal. He was feeling pretty alone and said that he was the only one left and they are trying to kill him. God was providing encouragement but also said that he had 7,000 people left he could still use. The implication was that if Elijah was killed, God would still have others to use. It is a clear picture of God not controlling, but waiting for the result of what would happen. God had a special relationship with the nation of Israel. It is easy to look at the problems God had with Israel and the steps he took to correct the nation and think that this sort of effort is also applied to us individually. It can make us feel good or special. We can come to see every event and circumstance in out individual life as controlled by God, however, we should ask ourselves if this is true. People can look at life as something that happens to them. Alternatively one can look at life as something one navigates. Part of taking control over one’s life (for a Christian) is to seek out opportunities to encourage or exhort another Christian. Another part of an active Christian life is participating in our own growth and maturity. This is essentially leaving the selfishness of the flesh and following the selflessness of Christ-likeness. If God wanted to maintain absolute control over his creation, he would have made human and angelic robots. By giving us free will, the risk is almost a certainty that we would choose to go our own way. In anticipation of this he would have prepared a recovery method so that those who used their free will to choose to return to their creator could do so. By allowing us the elbow room to exercise free will, God can judge us for the evil we do. To the extent we do not have free will, our actions become less attributable to us and more to the one in control. Satan is the one who sets the course of the world (for now and insofar as he is allowed by God, Eph 2:2). It would be unfair to attribute to God the evil we do by our selfishness and the evil Satan does to manipulate the world in his attempt to take control. God is not powerless. He will, through Jesus, take control and remove Satan for 1,000 years. However, mankind will still rebel and want to go it’s own way. Satan will be allowed one final push and then the end of man’s and angelic rebellion will end. Rather than a puppet master view of God controlling every circumstance on earth, a better image might be that of a farmer having provided everything necessary, he waits for his crop to mature and be harvested. |
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Information about Christianity and the Christian life. |
Pictures and views of our farm | Some of our animals | See some of the old-fashioned crafts we are trying to relearn | ||