Dear People Whom God Loves,
GOD’S INTERACTION WITH THE WORLD – IV
We turn now to the providence of God. When we speak of the providence of God, we are talking in general terms about God’s care for the world and of his ability and desire to help the world. In this column, we are not talking about particular acts of God, but rather more of the fundamentals of how it is possible for God to exercise his care in a way that is compatible with modern science.
We have seen how our world and universe are made up of stability and flexibility. These are fundamental laws of God’s providence. A part of these fundamental laws is the free will of humans and the free process of the universe. This free will and free process is not an intervention against the laws of the universe. Rather, it is a part of the whole picture.
Another way of saying this is that our universe is made of necessity and chance and the relationship between the two. The universe is both somewhat predictable and somewhat unpredictable. This allows order to come out of chaos and allows creativity. This makes spaces in the overall order of the universe. For example, stability and flexibility together allow for creativity. Parents need to set boundaries for children and flexibility within them. Over-protecting and under-protecting do not allow healthy growth. Also, we need dogmas in our church and the development of dogma. Dogmas, in a valuable but limited way, retain the spiritual experience of the early Christians. We need that. They also need to be understood by people today. That is why we need development of dogma. God is mystery. We can never capture this in a dogma. But the dogmas must help people today to relate their experience to that of the early Christians.
God can freely act within the spaces. These spaces are a part of the fundamental laws. This means that God is acting within the process and not against it. It is misleading to say that God is suspending the laws of nature.
The way that God initiated this process and continues to work in it is mysterious. Science cannot prove this, but it is not contrary to science once we get past thinking that the universe functions like a machine. To deny the providence of God is to deny the God of the Bible and the Christian God. Deism does not express what our God is like.
We will next turn to the working of God in particular situations. This is the discussion about miracles.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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