God is Not in Control

The idea that God has a plan for each person’s life, or that God is in control of all that happens, is, to me, the greatest fallacy of Christian theology. I will admit up front that the Bible has many passages that support this idea, but there also many places where God puts a plan in place, and people mess it up – like in Genesis, when God creates all that is good and, a few chapters later, decides to kill all land animals and humans. Not sure what the animals did wrong. What that story shows us is that God does, indeed, make plans, but they are not unchangeable. Why? Because God did something crazy; God gave humans free-will and made an imperfect creation that changes/evolves. Only God is perfect and eternal – everything else is flawed and has an expiration date.

I have returned to this concept again in the aftermath of the horrific flooding in Texas, and the death of a number of children and counselors at Camp Mystic, a Christian camp where at least 27 people are dead. All the deaths in this disaster are tragic, but this particular situation makes me deeply sad. And while people are pointing fingers and casting blame, those families are experiencing the worst thing that can happen – their children will never come home. Many Christians think they are favored by God – favor is a favorite word of TV prosperity preachers like Joel Osteen – so one would think that innocent Christian children would have been spared if God were truly in control of everything. They weren’t, and God isn’t. This does not mean there is no God; what it means to me is that we have swallowed this control idea without critically thinking it through, and we bring a lot of pain and suffering into people’s lives that are already full to the brim with sorrow.

God creates; humans try to control. God loves; humans are supposed to copy that love. God weeps when tragedy strikes; humans often search for someone to blame. I reject this as false theology; God cannot be in control of everything while also allowing for free will. There is so much chaos in the world, and so much freedom to choose, that there is no possible way you or I or anyone can have everything go our way. What do we do then? We try to make the world a better place – we care for people in their distress – we weep with them, and they weep with us – and we don’t blame God. So, I will continue to mourn for people in their loss, and I will try to help where I can. To blame God is fruitless – and wrong. With God’s help, we can be part of the healing people need.

Prayer – Holy God, we cannot fathom the depth of pain the people suffering today are going through, even if we have suffered similar loss. Their pain is theirs; comfort them in their affliction, we pray. Amen.

Today’s art is “A God who weeps” by Ore Eni-ibukun.

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