November 24, 2006

God is in Charge, Is Not, Is, Is Not ...

What now? One can make strong cases both ways. Which one first?

Okay, God is in charge because he is God. He is the creator, he is good, the definition of good. God is almighty, omniscient, all powerful, eternally unchanging. Most scriptures say so.

It makes some sense, from a certain viewpoint. Like, there has to be a creator of everything (let’s assume for a now there has to be), then as the creator he owns it all, controls it all. That’s what you would do when you build a house, purchase a car – you control it, you call the shots. Right? Right. So, God is in charge, God is good, everything is for the best. When in doubt – believe it.

Or not. There are good reasons for that one, too – that God is not good. That’s because bad things happen to good people, people get sick, die tragic deaths, injustice everywhere, violence, hunger, pollution. If God exists, and is in control, then what? Then he can’t be good. Not in the way we define good. By that intuitive definition of ‘good’ all these things are bad, which is the opposite of good. Tragic deaths aren’t good, sickness isn’t good, hunger isn’t good, violence, murder, injustice – that’s outright evil. Right? Right.

So, if God is in control, and all these bad things happen in his world, which he controls, then God is not good. Goodness then is an exception, a coincidence, an oversight.

Another possible approach: God isn’t there. He exists, but he went elsewhere. He doesn’t care. He is a heartless, distant father – or mother. He doesn’t feel like us, he doesn’t care for us. He is an absentee landlord and he doesn’t even bother to collect the rent. He left for good.

A further step then is the conclusion that there is no God, never was and the only gods that ever will be are those that we create. (That, kind of, was Feuerbach’s idea, that when humans began to think, the first thing they did was to create God. Ludwig Feuerbach was a German philosopher whose ideas once gave a jumpstart to Marxism.)

The no-God-approach doesn’t work conclusively, for a number of reasons. One are the laws of thermodynamics, others are the truck sized holes in evolutionary theory. I’d love to talk about that someplace else, some other time. For now, let’s assume God exists, if only for argument’s sake.

How can we recover logic then? What we collected until now just doesn’t make sense. When you put it all together and look at it from a distance, the big picture is a real mess.

We realize that we have to sacrifice something. It could be logic, but that doesn’t feel good. Right? May be for some it does. We already sacrificed God’s goodness. That helped the logic but it doesn’t feel good either. So we put goodness back into the picture and - as for me - I’d like to have logic in there, too.

Feeling, intuition is important. When things get complicated even scientists go for intuition: Which of all possible solutions is the most elegant, the most beautiful? We still need proof, but we’ll look first into the most simple, the most comprehensive, the most elegant, the most beautiful theory. These are some good arguments for string theory nowadays. Really. It’s human and it’s scientific.

Let’s not get side tracked. This is about logic and about God, goodness and love. If we don’t want to sacrifice God’s goodness and love and neither our logic, what else could go so that the rest makes sense?

What about control? Now that’s a big one. God not in control? Excuse me, if God is about anything seriously than it certainly would have to be control. Love, peace, hope - all good. But we can live without it and often do. But control? God’s gotta have control. He is the creator. If anything, he’s gotta go for control. It’s a matter of principle. Right?

Think twice. What do you read? If you’re Christian you probably read the Bible. There is a sentence or two in there that shed an eerie light on God’s controllership, and these come from quite a guy – Jesus Christ himself, author of the most heavyweight core statements of the Christian faith. He spoke of the ‘God of this world’ – which is Satan. He said the devil was the father of mankind.

Now with God being good and in charge that’s strong tobacco. It clashes. Let’s face it – it can’t all make sense. God the creator is not the owner, not the father. That doesn’t put him in control.

Now, there are ways to deal with these words. It’s the job of theology to talk sense into it. However, the approaches I know, tend to sacrifice logic - in different degrees and in different ways. They make a joke out of love. And then they tell you, that’s what has to be. Logic has to go. Faith is about believing. Believing what you don’t know, what you don’t understand. And if you do, then you go to heaven, otherwise not.

If you are still reading this, you didn’t go that way. Welcome to logic and love. They are still intact because we let go of control.

If you’re an atheist, you have no problem with that – God not in control. But all others may find it a concept difficult to grasp. Nobody said it would be easy, life normally isn’t. But does that all make sense – a God that is not in control most of the time?

You no doubt noticed that you are on a site that’s a bit off center and ... not entirely against the Moon movement. Indeed, the Moonies’ teaching takes that path: God is good, God is the creator, (s)he is love, but – most of the time - not in control of the events, at least not of those events that we are watching on the news.

It follows that (s)he is not as all powerful as most think he should be – as God, as creator. Even though omnipresent, God is not the owner, not in control. How does that feel? If common sense, logic, goodness and love is dear to your heart, then - after the first shockwaves subside - it’s bound to feel good.

Why? Because, no longer do you have to explain why God does things for which humans would go to jail. If bad things happen to good people, sickness, injustice, pollution, tragic deaths - if it’s bad, it’s not God’s will. If he had his way, he’d do something else - because God is good, because he is love. If he were the owner, ours would be a better world.

All logical now? Then what about faith? There is still room and need for faith. There are always things we don’t understand, not now, not soon enough. That’s where faith comes in, faith that prevails, alongside with logic. Elsewhere they call it trust.

God is like that. You can relax, he’s cool. He’s a bit like us, just better. Or take it the other way: we are his image, if we try hard enough.

Now, don’t get all religious about this. If God thinks like me, starting a religion was not his first idea. He’d prefer a sound kind of spirituality that is based on direct relationships. However, if you like religion - before you start your own - check out the Divine Principle, chapter 1 and 2, for a thorough foundation.
                                                                                     R.I.

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