JESUS: the intersection of divine purpose and human condition

In John 11 we see a beautiful overlap of divine purpose and human condition right in the person of Jesus Christ. This is an encouraging story for us as we experience our humanity.

After setting the stage the first part of the chapter presents the divine purpose in this event. Jesus has a clear picture of how things will play out: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” v.4; “for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe.” v.15 and “Your brother will rise again.” v.23. Yet in the later part of the chapter we see Jesus’ humanity surfacing: “he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” v.33, “Jesus wept.” v.35. He was deeply troubled and wept (which is the only record of him weeping).

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Now this is encouraging for us because knowing the bigger picture (the divine perspective) did not stop Jesus … yes, Jesus … from being saddened by the situation. He didn’t approach this with some kind of detachment saying: “Yeah, I know it’s bad from a human perspective, but, man, if you only knew (like I do) how amazingly things will turn out, you would be filled with joy and not be sad.” Even Jesus could not pull this one like so many Christians try on themselves or on others. In the situation, regardless of the overarching divine purpose, there is pain, things are bad and there are legitimate reasons to grieve. In Jesus we learn that is OK to acknowledge that the divine purposes don’t always work out smooth, but that there is pain and suffering, that they are not always clean but sometimes they could be messy. In v.38 we find a Jesus who works out God’s plan thinking: I wish it was different, I wish there could be another way (which reminds us of his prayer in the garden about His imminent death).

As we follow in the way of Jesus it is good to be reminded that it is OK to embrace our humanity.

Does God have a plan for me?

“God has a plan for you” is a phrase widely used nowadays (well, depending on what circles you find yourself in). This gives you a sense of security, of knowing that God cares and that He has the best in mind for you, you are being told. As long as you know what His plan for you is and stay within its limits you will experience the best life can offer. And on and on, in various ways, you are being sold (better yet, brainwashed into believing in) a certain kind of God. When probed a bit, the idea of a plan for you is pretty vague. You don’t really know what exactly is, but are told whenever things are going well, you are within God’s plan and when things go bad you are off limits, you need to repent and get back into the rail.

I am wondering if people take the time or the courage to ask themselves what this really says about God and about us and see if they really believe this. In other words, to inquire about the theology behind this idea. Well, that’s what I am going to do now.

First observation on “God has a plan for you” construct is the deterministic view of God it implies. In other words God has already decided all the details of how things will happen and watches its unfolding. Those who actually do believe this knowingly, talk about God’s predestination and usually you can find them in the Calvinistic theological camps. Yes, we’re talking about the old age debate of predestination and free will. Don’t worry if you don’t understand this, I will explain. I just wanted to position these (for those theologically inclined) ideas in their proper place.

The second observation is that it effectively rules out true freedom of choice. If everything is predetermined there’s not much choice we are left with. This is why some have gone to this theological construct logical conclusion and say that some people are predestined (decided in advance) to be on God’s side (going to heaven) and others are not (going to hell). Some say there is a choice: get with the program or not. Hmmm …

Now here’s the issue I have with all of this. First, the Scriptures show a God who is constantly changed in His course of actions by people’s decisions. They speak of a God who does not only allow, but encourages people’s creativity and desire in crafting a future they can enjoy with God. People are not depicted as robots executing a predetermined plan, but are asked to make God a part of their life, to think with God in mind.

The relationship between people and God is better captured by the metaphor of a dance: both parties affect each other as new movements are created.

Secondly, I don’t know about you, but I don’t see (from my experience) life as a uniform unfolding of a predetermined master design. I am talking about the day-to-day life. There is variety. There is order and there is chaos, there is beauty and there is ugliness. You think your life is going one direction and then it changes on you. You can see how choices you’ve made has gotten you to where you are now to the degree you can pretty much trace it all and yet you see things that just don’t make sense. Choices that have had clear consequences in the past produce surprising new outcomes. We speak of God’s grace when things turn good when expected to be bad and we’re left speechless when they turn bad when expected to be good.

Does that point to a God who lost control, who is not sovereign and so can’t be God? Not necessarily, unless you believe in a deterministic God. What if God created intentionally this flexibility into the nature of life? What if God doesn’t have a predetermined plan for my life but left things open on purpose to see what I will do? How long is it going to take to realize that I can’t do this without God? That eventually I will realize that going on life’s adventure is better with God alongside. That together we can craft a wonderful life (with bad and good, with suffering and excitement). What if when sometimes asked what to do next God’s answer is: whatever you choose is fine with me. This kind of life is more exciting to me, more thrilling than living with the frustration of trying to figure God’s plan for me.

Life seems to be more of an adventure than a production line

Instead of looking to understand God’s plan, maybe it would be better to understand His desire. That sounds more like a love relationship, doesn’t it?

GOD: natural or supernatural (Part 2)

If God created the natural world, why is it hard to imagine the possibility of the materiality of our existence as reflecting something about how God is? I know, I know, God is spirit, right? But what does that mean? Can we really claim to have figured where spirit ends and matter starts? And, what is matter? Is it atoms or energy or … ? Do we have such a small view of God that he could either be totally immersed in the physical universe (pantheistic) or totally removed and transcendental? Is it that hard for God to be involved here and now, yet not contained by it all? Why do we force ourselves to think about God in either/or terms? Why are we so enamored with a side of God (His transcendence), an attribute we can’t really wrap our minds around anyway, when there is so much of God we can experience right here, right now, with faculties God has gifted us with to know Him, to enjoy Him?

We long to know Him, to experience Him and yet wait for some day after death to fulfill our desires when God has created it all here just for that. I am wondering how insulted God must feel when he sees how low of a view we have of His creation. We want to meet Him and He is right here, surrounding us and showering us with His multifaceted presence. We want to know him in some abstract, spiritual way, when He is cooling us with a breeze and warming us with a sun ray. We look for God in miracles, in some out of this world (supernatural) phenomenon and we miss Him in so many, many ways every single day, every single moment. The question is not where is God, but where are we? As Jesus said it in so many occasions, God’s kingdom, his presence, is in us and all around us, the question is: do we have eyes to see it all, to enjoy Him and live abundantly?

Matter is the closest we get to understand and more importantly know (experience) God. It is the medium He chose to place us in and the means for communication.

If matter does not matter what can we make of the Incarnation? Matter is the point of contact between God and us. We can’t really know God outside the realm of the material, can we? Last time I checked, matter was God’s idea and he declared it GOOD. If we are spirit and matter and we are made in God’s image, what does that say about God?

This is where you take the conversation further … I’ve raised a lot of questions and I’ve offered some suggestions. What do you think? Engage. Do you see eye to eye or see it differently? What questions did I miss?

GOD: natural or supernatural (Part 1)

What is your relationship with God? Do you find yourself waiting for God to show up? Do you think of God as being up there? Do you sense a distance between you and God? Do you find yourself hoping to get near God? Answers to questions like these can help us unearth our deep beliefs about the nature of God, about who He is.

Let’s start by dipping a bit into a theology of the natural world. In Christian Theology, where we start for now, the universe is God’s creation (it has a beginning and God is the cause as Creator). The question is, did he create it like a clock and once set in motion has removed Himself from it, leaving it to work according to internal laws or did He create it in such a way that it cannot function without God’s involvement in every minute detail for its sustenance.

Our cosmology will reflect our theology and vice-versa. In other words how we view God (distant and removed or intimate and involved) will determine our understanding of natural world.

Although Newton was not the first to deal with natural philosophy he is the first who created a mathematical system to explain the workings of the natural world, which started the enterprise of modern science. So what? Our understanding of the natural (also known as physical) world is greatly influenced by this modern approach to nature. Although the “founders” of modern science strongly believed in God as Creator, as time went by God was slowly pushed to the periphery and eventually removed altogether out of the picture. Here’s the rationale in a nutshell: since we can’t see God, only the physical universe and since we can explain (by the articulation of the physical laws) how the natural world works, there’s no need for God … we can be in charge of our own destiny.

Now for someone who doesn’t have a category for God in their worldview this is as good as it gets in trying to make sense of the universe we live in. There are these laws and as long as we live in harmony with them, we’re fine. Again, I don’t want to engage with that right now. What I want to address here is those who believe in a God who created this universe and yet feel they need to incorporate this natural understanding in their cosmology. Don’t get me wrong, I am aware and I am all for the great discoveries and benefits of modern science. How can I not be? I am writing this post on a laptop for crying out loud and don’t want to change that!!! What I am talking about is this. Why do we accept that understanding and articulating the laws of this universe (albeit not entirely and thoroughly) excludes God’s presence and involvement in it all? Why for example when an apple falls to the ground we believe that the law of gravity is what causes it to fall and not God? BTW, did you know that although Isaac Newton is famous for “discovering”/explaining gravity he actually believed (secretly) that God was behind it all?

Here’s my point. Just because we can identify the movements of a glove does not exclude the possibility of a hand behind those moves, because we can’t see it. Why do we have to accept the verdict of a distant, removed God when the witness of Scriptures points to an involved God, intimate with his creation? What sense is there in the belief of God’s presence everywhere? I am wondering if in our reaction to a pantheistic understanding of God (where God is synonymous with the material universe) we have fallen for the natural philosophy gospel of a transcendental, removed, outside God. There is God up there and here we are down here and we’re trying to connect long-distance (maybe wirelessly) to Him. Hmmm …