Dear My Twin 14

 I don't believe God is omnipotent - at least not the way it's generally talked about. 

The way in most Evangelical circles, the ones I've been in anyway, God's omnipotence is talked about as a kind of causal machine. Everything that happens is directly because God makes it happen, even evil. 

For example, this understanding of omnipotence means that God caused my rape to happen.

That God caused Adam and Eve to take the apple. 

That every evil that has happened, will happen, is caused at it's root, by God's omnipotent power at work, maybe in the background, but absolutely caused by God. 

This belief stems from John Calvin, one of the reformers contemporary to Martin Luther. Calvinism had a resurgence in the American church in the 1950's and again in the 80's with the "Young, Restless and Reformed" movement. (Which IMO, is about as stupid as it sounds.)

God being the root cause of all evil is excused theologically with two arguments:

1. Well He's GOD, and we can't QUESTION Him, He can do what He LIKES, and
2. It's okay that He caused evil, because He will make it good! That makes it okay. 

Both of these arguments are simply ridiculous to my mind. A being who causes evil, can NOT, by definition, be WHOLLY good. 

John Piper, who has hugely influenced American evangelicalism for decades, along with John MacArthur, and several other white, cis, and wealthy men, has said this about God:

God is taking life every day. He will take 50,000 lives today. Life is in God’s hand. God decides when your last heartbeat will be, and whether it ends through cancer or a bullet wound. God governs….

If I were to drop dead right now, or a suicide bomber downstairs were to blow this building up and I were blown into smithereens, God would have done me no wrong. He does no wrong to anybody when he takes their life, whether at 2 weeks or at age 92.

God is not beholden to us at all. He doesn’t owe us anything.”

This is a fundamental mistake about relationships, let alone God's character, and explains why Piper elsewhere says "a wife must endure ... abuse." (Which is also le garbage.)

Being in a relationship with someone - particularly a healthy relationship, does mean there are responsibilities and boundaries around the relationship. When these boundaries are crossed, responsibilities ignored, the relationship suffers, and unless there are repairs done, will be broken. 

Abusive relationships thrive when boundaries are not held, and responsibilities are shoved onto one person. If God has no responsibilities toward us (is not "beholden"), and no boundaries around what He can do to us, either evil or good, then God is an abuser. 

Period. 

However, Jeremiah records that God's plans for us are good, and NOT for evil, plans to give us a HOPE and a FUTURE. 

Additionally, God IS good, not good in the sense of "God does good things," but that God is, inherently, completely, unceasingly, GOOD, and incapable of doing - OR CAUSING - evil. 

When I was remembered being raped at age 4, I struggled with God over this idea. Had God caused my rape for some "greater good," or to "bring Himself glory?"

Emphatically no. 

A being who could willfully cause an innocent child to be so violated is not good. 

That is evil. 

So, what then?

This is the issue of "theodicy," which basically means an explanation of IF there is an all-powerful, just, good, loving God, WHY does evil and suffering exist?

I don't have the greatest explanation, and my understanding is certainly far from complete. I don't think any of us will thoroughly understand until we GET to heaven and SEE God, and then GET AN EXPLANATION FROM HIM. (I will be bringing a list.)

Theodicy is a mess. 

And one way it's explained, IS this idea from Calvin (and then Piper) that God's omnipotence and sovereignty mean that God is the causal root from which all things - evil and good - happen. 

One of the core tenets of Calvinism is that God predestines people who are going to Hell. As in, there is a divine lottery where some people get stamped for heaven, and some for Hell, and there are no qualifications, other than that moments capricious divine whim. 

HOW this holds such a position with people when there are MULTIPLE verses that EXPLICITELY say "I DO NOT DESIRE THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH, BUT THAT ALL SHOULD REPENT!" (See Ezekiel 18), is beyond me. 

I think it's married with the other Calvinist doctrine of "total depravity," which teaches there are ZERO - NOTHING - ZIP - good things about people apart from the indwelling of Christ. 

Firstly, this is observably untrue. I have pagan friends and atheist friends who are incredibly kind, loving, good, and funny. While they may "not be Christians," they are still good people, good parents, doing good things in the world. 

Of course, not all the things they do are good, BUT SHOW ME THE PERFECT CHRISTIAN. 

Secondly, the doctrine of total depravity denies the imagi deo within us. We were created in God's image. That image may be tarnished and corroded, but it is not completely removed. A warped mirror still provides glimpses. I haven't looked into the imagi deo doctrine as thoroughly as I would like (there's just not TIME to learn all the theology!), but it is an old one. It's at the core of the contemporary belief that ALL human life is INHERENTLY and EQUALLY worthy and valuable. Apparently, in the time of Jesus, that was Not A Thing. 

Which brings us back around to God's omnipotence. 

I do not -  I can not; I WILL not, believe in a God that causes evil is a good and loving God. 

Which means that omnipotence (or sovereignty) must mean something OTHER than "the causal force behind all happenings." 

Here is what I believe:

God's omnipotence is seen in God's ability to REDEEM every evil and its destructive power, into good. 

"And we know that God works all things together FOR GOOD..."

"It says so. Right there." 

His omnipotence is demonstrated in God's ability to turn a terrible awful evil, into something more beautiful than it could have been before. 

It's in redemption that God's omnipotence and sovereignty are demonstrated. There is no evil that will not be overcome by God's good. 

At the end, all things will be made well, and the evil that has been will have passed away, only remembered as the shadows that made the light brighter and more beautiful. 

THAT is God's omnipotence. 


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