Does God know everything? That’s what I was told as a kid. God knows our past, our present, and our future. I got that God knew all we had done, and I could accept that God was seeing what my child’s brain was conjuring at the moment, but the future? Not buying it. My Sunday school teachers were probably pretty disappointed with me, but I was one of those weird kids who actually thought about God stuff; I was also a cynic at a very young age, so I questioned all of it. This concept – that God is in charge of everything everywhere all the time (I should make a movie about that) – never made sense to me. Like Judas getting punished for what he did to Jesus; if he did this because it was part of God’s plan, why would God be mad about it? If bad things happen because God wills them, are they really bad? I guess I thought too much, at least for a kid.
If God could foresee that baby Hitler would become the mass-murdering homicidal maniac we all learned about in school, wouldn’t God have nipped that in the bud? I mean, if God is in control, and things get out of control, and God can see that coming, wouldn’t a good God deal with that appropriately? After all, God has never, according to inerrancy people, hesitated from murder in the past. And if the future is laid out before us – if there is fate or destiny – then we aren’t to blame for anything we do, right? After all, if it’s God’s will, it can’t be our fault. Every situation we end up in, bad or good, is part of God’s micromanagement; all part of a greater plan that we mortals are unable to fathom. It’s a mystery – God is in control – God’s will be done. Can God tell the future? And if the future already is, why do any of us bother worrying about sin? You see my problem? I might as well believe in predestination (God forbid!)
I do not think God can tell the future, because I don’t believe that there is a future yet. If you want to make me crazier than I already am, tell me that something is “meant to be.” Can you see the danger in this kind of thinking? Imagine someone getting married to a seemingly nice person, only to find that this person is physically abusive. They want to get out, but the marriage vows tell them “’til death do we part.” This marriage, their pastor tells her, is God’s will, and to end it would be to defy God. This means that God condones the abuse! And don’t say to me, what about prophecy – isn’t that future telling? Anyone who has studied how the Bible came to be knows that prophetic books were written after the things they prophesied had already happened. There is no fortune-telling; God isn’t sitting with a crystal ball telling us what will happen.
Here is what I think – I think that God makes suggestions, but we make choices. I think that chaos impacts our lives sometimes and we have no control over it. I think that there are over 7 billion people making choices, and some of those choices make life hard for others. So, my take is that we do our best with what we have. Make good choices and roll with the struggles that come with breathing. Thank God for every day and live it like it’s your last. Carpe Diem, baby. Life is good, but it has never, isn’t, and never will be perfect. Choose well. God loves you, regardless.
Prayer – Holy God, guide us to choose the best ways to live, and bear with us when we don’t. Thank You for free will. Amen.
Today’s art is “Chaos” by Michael Lang.