I generally agree with Mike that it simply makes more sense to be theistic than atheistic. Something that I’d appreciate seeing Mike discuss are the significant variances within Christian faith. Divine Providence, for instance, would be a good start. The book, Divine Providence – Four Views, lists four separate authors, each of whom has their own unique perspective such as:
a) God Causes All Things
b) God Directs All Things
c) God Controls by Liberating
d) God Limits His Control
Given the apparent disparity of these authors, a reasonable person could wonder – are all events and actions brought about by God? Or is this same given event or action something that occurred merely by chance?
Jerry Bridges gives his opinion. In his book, Trusting God, (pg29) Bridges makes the statement, “This, then, is divine providence: God sustaining and governing His universe, bringing ALL EVENTS (emphasis mine) to their appointed end[s].”
John Piper is another ardent “sovereignist”. In his book, A Sweet and Bitter Providence, Piper makes the following statements (pg44): “God the Almighty reigns in all the affairs of men. [God] rules the affairs of nations. [God controls] the flight of birds. [God’s] providence extends from the U.S. Congress to your kitchen. [God] gives life, and he takes life. Nothing – from toothpicks to tyrants – is ultimately self-determining. Everything serves (willingly or not) the purpose of him who works all things [together]. God is the all-encompassing, all-pervading, all-governing reality.”
Clearly, many Christians believe that God is always controlling every aspect of everyone’s life – believer and non-believer alike. Yet, there are other Christian authors such as Greg Boyd who writes in his book, God of the Possible, how God does not necessarily know the future free choices/actions made by individuals. That is, the future, according to Boyd, is at least partly “open”. And Boyd provides a couple dozen scriptural references in the appendix to support his “Open Theism” perspective.
The logic seems binary – either A or B. That is, God does some particular act or action. Or B) God doesn’t do some particular act or action. And if the answer is that maybe sometimes God does something and other times he doesn’t … well, then the question becomes how is one to differentiate whether ‘something’ is of God or ‘something’ is of a random or natural occurrence? And the implications, I submit, are huge. Consider, if one is convinced that the cancer they’ve contracted is something from God, would that individual be in disobedience to God should they seek out treatment of the cancer God gave them? If God gives you cancer, does it not stand to reason that God wants you to have cancer?
Well, I subscribed to Mike Berhow’s YouTube channel and would recommend that readers of this blog also subscribe to Mike’s channel. I’ll look forward to further perspectives and interactions with Mike regarding napkin apologetics.
Martin's Mercurial Musings 