Evil, Suffering, and God

Note: You can view this teaching on our YouTube Channel.

We are in the middle of a series based on Tom Oord’s book, Open and Relational Theology. Today we are going to talk about God’s power and control, which will quite naturally take us to the subject of evil and suffering as well. Should be a fun time. But first, a brief recap.

The first week we talked about the idea of God being open. While we have a lot of popular language that affirms the idea that God is unchanging, which we tend to equate with unshakable strength that can be relied upon, the idea comes with some problems. If God is unchanging, it means that the future is essentially fixed, which means we don’t have free will whatsoever. It also means that God is in no way affected by creation – including us – which means praying to God for help is pointless because God will not be moved. An open stance views things differently. Because creation – including us – are not living predetermined lives, the future is open, not-yet-written, and therefore unknowable. An open stance also allows God to be lovingly responsive to creation, which is an expression of change. God’s essence is a constant, yet God’s experience is in related response to whatever creation is doing. More like a jazz combo playing with-and-in-response to each other than a symphony playing notes written centuries ago. Like a parent who loves their child but interacts and responds to them based on their developmental needs.

The second week we talked about God being relational, that God is in dynamic relationship with all creation including humanity. This means that God is affected by us and that God seeks to influence us as well. Most people who are reading this are comfortable with this idea of God, even though it does conflict with some major writers and thinkers from antiquity. When people say they are spiritual but not religious, they are supporting the idea of a relational God. The Bible is full of stories when they experience God being with them, nudging them, and responding to them. I have experienced this personally and am confident that God really is at work in us and all creation, influencing everything without controlling anything, which brings us to our next topic.

We humans have free will – more than any other creature given our level of conscious awareness. Obviously, there are limitations to what we can choose. Oord gave a lecture talking about our free will and pointed out that we cannot wake up one day and decide to be a chicken, or the President of the United States, or the reigning three-point shooting champion in the NBA. Also, none of us are truly working with a blank canvas – we all have lots of layers of background that has shaped us into who we are, how we think, and therefore the choices that we will see and consider. Oord, in another lecture, noted that Richard Dawkins once wrote that we have no free will because we are simply programmed to do everything that we do based on our genetic make-up. Dawkins, however, as Oord points out, concluded his book encouraging everyone to choose wisely for their sake and the sake of the world... Hmmm. The voices suggesting that we do not have free will are waning. For more on the logic regarding free will, read Oord’s chapter which we are looking at today (“Amipotence,”Open and Relational Theology).

· God is loving. God is referred to as being the very essence of love, and honors love above all.

· God honors free will for every human being. Let the fullness of what that means sink in. Free will is directly tied to God being loving because love without free will isn’t loving.

· God is the most powerful presence in the universe, yet God’s loving nature which drives everything God does including supporting free will means that God does not override free will, because it would no longer be free, and such a move would not reflect love even if it is painful.

· God, being driven by love, is always nudging everyone and everything that is capable of choosing toward choices that reflect the best outcomes. That’s what love does. Yet God cannot force a decision from us – only influence us.

· Beautiful things happen when we choose among the best options toward which God influences. God therefore influences all that is good and beautiful in the world.

· Not-so-beautiful things happen – even awful things – when we choose varying degrees of lesser options. God therefore is not a party to the awful and evil things that happen in the world – these things are a result of a combination of choices that depart from the best options God always supports.

This framework helps make sense of why evil exists in the world and why God does not appear to be doing anything about it. The truth is that God is always influencing toward the loving best, but those who have agency to respond choose otherwise. God does not choose or allow evil – God loves and honors our freedom to choose, even if we choose so poorly that other people suffer. God is present all the while, always loving, always supporting, even joining us in our suffering.

This framework makes sense to me and makes sense of my take on how the world actually works. This framework also describes my own life. I can identify times when I have chosen the loving best and beautiful outcomes ensued, and I can remember times when I defiantly chose at times among the worst options which created pain and suffering.

All of this means that my life and my choices matter – not just to and for me but for everyone and everything I influence (which is broader than I can imagine – same goes for you). I can be aware of all the shaping forces that made me and influence my decisions. To ignore or deny such forces is irresponsible, immature, and ultimately destructive. I am 100% responsible for the choices I make. Will I choose among the loving best that God continually nudges me toward, or will I be more apathetic and unconscious about my decisions, or worse, willfully choose the destructive path?

The story of Joseph in the later chapters of the Bible’s book of Genesis is a great case study of this phenomenon – lots of people making choices that determine how the story unfolds, at times causing immense despair but also joy and hope. By the way, the story isn’t simply about one brother among twelve. It’s about a nation. And it’s about us. Take time to read the story with this framework in mind, wondering about what influences were present, what God was influencing, and what ensued.

May you wake up and realize that you have always been influenced by many, many forces from the moment you were born. May you also realize that God has been there with you all along, nudging you toward the loving best. May you, with your eyes wide open, choose to follow the nudge of God.

Extras...

Conventional Views of God’s Power

· God is in absolute control of everything. You really don’t have free will, and everything is predestined. This is John Calvin’s view and some local churches completely embrace and teach it. Why do bad things happen? It’s all part of God’s plan, and once we see it we will all agree with God about it. This is hard to swallow, but, if you really buy it, what choice do you have except to be glad you were one of the lucky ones to make the cut for heaven. Keep your mouth shut to avoid problems.

· God sometimes decides outcomes singlehandedly, but not very often. Sometimes God nails it, sometimes God doesn’t. It’s a crapshoot.

· God exerts no power at all. This is called deism and is reflected in Bette Midler’s song From a Distance. There is no relational love from God in this view, and no love, either.

· God’s actions are radically unknowable. God’s actions are totally incomprehensible – don’t even try!

St. Francis’ Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.

For those who want the world to remain as it is have already acceded to its self-destruction and, consequently, betrayed the love of God and its restlessness before the status quo. – Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance