I believe that God is present everywhere, in everything – that the universe is shot through with the radiant presence of God. Thus we are always “in God,” even as God is more than the universe.
But to say that God is everywhere and in everything does not mean that God is the cause, directly or indirectly, of everything that happens. To say the obvious, utterly horrible things happen in the world, and with great frequency. To imagine that these somehow fit into the long-term purposes of God is blasphemous. Rather, we are creatures who are able to act (as we often do) in ways contrary to God’s purpose and dream.
And more: tragedies like the shootings and deaths at Virginia Tech indicate, in my judgment, that thinking of God as an interventionist is impossible as well as unhelpful. If God could have intervened to stop this (or the Holocaust, or 9/11, or the war in Iraq, or the individual tragedies that never make the news), but chose not to, what kind of sense does that make?
We live in a world still under the sway of “the powers” – powers in individual and collective lives that lead us away from God and God’s passion for life on earth.
But in the midst of all this, there is a source of sustenance that can help us in the darkest night. The most concise expression of this that I have heard comes from the late William Sloane Coffin. He said – and I am confident of his “gist,” if not his exact words: “God provides maximum support, but minimal protection.”
Does God as an interventionist protect us? No. Does God provide a means of support in the midst of our tragedies? Yes.
Originally posted on the Washington Post website.
I have struggled with the concept of an intervening God for a long time, and even more so when my 16-year old son died unexpectantly of a brain tumor. A lot of well-meaning people said a lot of stupid things to us in that time of grief. “God needed another angel,” and the like. I cannot believe in a God who strikes down a youth who did nothing that deserved death, nor can I love a God who takes my son away to teach me something. If my faith is to survive this sort of tragedy, I can only believe in a God who doesn’t intervene, either because God cannot or will not. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust,” makes a lot of sense to me. Why won’t God intervene? I don’t know. Is it because God cannot intervene? Is not all-powerful? I don’t know that either. But still I believe because God comforts me, enfolds me in those Godly arms and says “I am so sorry for your loss.” I could not find comfort in the arms of a God who caused my son to die or allowed my son to die when divine intervention could have saved him. Suffering is a part of the human condition. God’s intention, it seems, is not to save us from suffering but to get us through the suffering.
I’ve spoken to some followers of the Earlier Paradigm who are convinced that nothing happens by chance and that everything that occurs comes about through Divine ordination. They hold to this, as well as claiming that humans have a complete form of free will that renders us fully responsible for our actions.
The Emerging Paradigm, as expressed through Panentheism, provides a better option. That God wills us towards the ‘best’ option while not intervening, fits more easily with the reality we experience.