Weeping, moaning, begging for his life, but
no. He is taken, tortured. Slowly, slowly he is killed, alone,
abandoned. This is the man called
God. Those were his last moments. He did not fight when the soldiers came for
him. Silently he was led to his death,
nailed to a cross, raised up as a spectacle and mocked. Thirsty, he was thirsty. If anyone, he had the right to ask the good
God why there is evil, and he did. God
cried out from the cross “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Christian philosophy requires a radically unique
approach to the problem of evil. It must
account for the murder of its God, thus reconsider what it means for such a
being to be all-powerful. It seems
evident, though some would disagree, that evil in the world is counter to the
will of God. If God is all-good and
all-powerful, logically he would rid this world of all evil at once. Unfortunately he does not. Humans continue to perpetuate evil and
suffering. An explanation for this evil
in the world is that God, in love, has abdicated power to his human creation so
he could be in a self-giving relationship with them. A god who gives power to humans becomes weak,
because he has given humans control and cannot take it back. This is the God whose weakness is ultimately
manifested upon the cross.
A good god will do what is good,
always, regardless of the foreseen consequences. While God made many rocks and trees, he needs
not give himself to them. They wouldn’t
notice if he did, but God wants to give himself to his creation. The Christian God is believed to be communal
and eternal love. Love wants to love
relationally. To do so, God needed to
create beings that were like him. He
made humans creative, capable of love, and then shared his power with
them. Power, unlike love, is not
infinite. That is to say while giving
love does not cause the giver to have less love, giving power results in the
giver losing power. If love is like procreation,
an act that multiplies itself, power is like a pumpkin pie. When God shared power with humanity, he had
less pie for himself. He did this
because love, and therefore God, is relational.
In the same way that oppressed peasants do not seek friendships their
relentless oppressors, humans would not desire a relationship with an
all-controlling being. God became weak
so humans could become strong and a relationship between them could flourish.
Since nothing is
impossible for an all-powerful God, could he not have created humans to have a
relationship with him without limiting his own power? Had he not given them power, or if he had
given them the ability to make a few choices, but ultimately retained a trump
card, he would have had a control based relationship with his creatures. However, love is not controlling and God
loves humans. This required bestowing
power upon them, even if they were prone to perpetuate evil. The love God has for humans is a love that
allows them to do as they please.
Since God was all-powerful, it would have been
possible for him to have created humans with freewill who always chose
goodness. Freewill without creatures
ever choosing evil is a logical possibility.
God, looking ahead, could have conceived how his creatures would act if
he created them as he did and have created them differently. If he was really good, why did he not create
humans with freewill who never chose evil?
To address this valid concern, a distinction must be made between
freewill and power. An example from a
common parenting technique will distinguish between the two.
Poor Billy is
sick. His mom wants him to take medicine
so that he will get better. Billy does
not want to swallow the pill, so his mom gives him a choice. He can take the pill with milk or with apple
juice. Billy feels empowered, chooses
apple juice and takes the pill. Billy,
however, does not have real power in this scenario. He does have a real choice, but his choices
are limited. If Billy could knock his
mom over and refuse treatment all together, he would have power. Human power goes beyond freewill. It is the ability to do things beyond the
will of God. God does not hold a trump
card. In giving power to the people he
has emptied himself. He is not in
control. However, if he was in control
when the world was set in motion, couldn’t he have ensured that his creatures
would do as he desired? No. God is not a controlling being. It must necessarily be that the power God has
given humans controls destinies and can act against God’s desired intent. Humans can knock God over and refuse treatment
all together.
Many believe in
situations like the one above the mother should force her son to take the
medicine for his own good. This may very
well be the case if the son is three.
However, if he is thirty the social consensus seems to be that his
mother should not take away her son’s power and force the pill upon him. Though it is right to do that to a child, it
is very wrong to do it to an adult. In
the same way that a mother does not have power over her adult son, God does not
have power over his human creation. He
has given it to the humans, and does not have the ability to take it back. Like a parent who must give power to their
adult children and hope their relationship can continue based on love, so a
loving God gives his human creations power and hopes they chose a relationship
with him.
Even though it seems impossible
that a once all-powerful God could somehow become less powerful, this would not
be impossible for the all-powerful being.
This is not to say that God still has complete power, but he has
restrained himself from using it.
Contrarily, God has relinquished his power. This is where the metaphor of a power pie
comes in handy. As God gave power to his
human creation to rule over nature and themselves, he retains less and less of
the pie. It is not that he holds himself
back from using certain powers, but that he no longer has those powers to
use. It appears that omnipotence is a
trait which God possessed for a time and then gave away. If God wished to retain his power, he could
have created a different world, where his creatures had freewill, but God still
had all the power. As it is, I am not
convinced that God likes pumpkin power pie all that much. Though, when he was alone he held it, he
never indulged in the pie; rather, he freely gave it away as he created. Had God kept the power to himself, offering
humanity freewill but hold the trump card, he would not have created beings in
his image with whom he could have full relationships. He desired such relationships so he could
love, serve and give himself to the other.
Some may ask if a being who is not all-powerful is still a god. However, a better question is this: is a
being who is all-powerful still good?
Many humans cry up to the sky, hoping for a
powerful, mighty rescue. When their
pleas are met with silence they cry out, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken
me.” Trapped in the midst of evil,
humans long for a powerful being to take control and set things right. In the face of violence, poverty and environmental
degradation they feel helpless, alone.
But central to Christianity is the notion that God has not abandoned his
creation. One possible way to hold this
belief in the face of evil in this world is to consider that God’s goal is
love, and his means to that end cannot be power or control; rather it is
love. This is seen when in weakness, as
a baby, God came down to his creation.
Though it may have been hoped that he would come with power and
overthrow the Roman Empire, he chose a different way. It was the way of forgiveness, material
minimalism and self-sacrifice. In his
death he showed that there is influence in love, a different sort of
influence. Not one that is controlling,
but one that is compelling. It is an
invitation to weakness; it is an invitation to love.
A central Christian
premise is that God is love. It is the
very essence of who he is, and so he made humanity to be creatures he could
relationally love. Therefore, he did not
maintain control over them. Rather he
gave them power to control themselves and rule over creation. Humans have held onto their power, using it
for their own good and thus causing evil in this world. While God hates evil, he no longer has power
over his creation. He cannot control
them and so he seeks them out. In
ultimate weakness God embraces humanity, becoming one with them, serving them
and being murdered by them. The
Christian God knows suffering. He has
felt the torment of evil and yet he was helpless. He looked his murderers in the eyes, unable
to do anything but forgive them. In love
God gave power to his creation, and in love he compels them to give it away.
“Come,”
God beckons, “come. Deny your power, embrace weakness and follow me.
Abandon control and seek mercy, justice and love. Look, I am making all
things new. I am your hope, your servant, your lover.”
