Ep. 46 God is Not in Control: Open Theism w/ Dr. Thomas Jay Oord

Show Notes

Episode Summary

When bad things happen, I often hear people say "Well, God's still on the throne," as if that is some kind of balm or solution for the pain, evil, and uncertainty the world is facing. But here's the problem: God was on the throne during the Holocaust. God was on the throne during segregation and Jim Crow. God is on the throne as thousands of innocent Ukrainian citizens are currently dying from Russian invasion. If God really is in control, then God is doing a terrible job keeping us all safe and healthy. 

Classical Christianity has for years stated that God is omnipotent and all-powerful, controlling every outcome and action on earth to bring about God's future. However, this has all kinds of theological and practical problems. If God is really in control, then why do we suffer? Can't God stop our suffering? Open and Relational Theology points us to a different view of God. Instead of a all-controlling God, the God of Open Theism believes that God is experiencing time in the same way we are. This God isn't forcing His will on the world but rather working with us to bring about goodness, beauty, and flourishing. This God doesn't know what is going to happen tomorrow anymore than we do, and in a strange way, that is incredibly comforting. 

Bio

Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. Oord is a best-selling and award-winning author, having written or edited more than twenty-five books. He directs a doctoral program at Northwind Theological Seminary and the Center for Open and Relational Theology. A twelve-time Faculty Award-winning professor, he teaches around the globe. Oord is known for his contributions to research on love, open and relational theology, science and religion, and the implications of freedom and relationships for transformation. Dr. Oord’s new book Pluriform Love: An Open and Relational Theology of Well-Being is out today! You can find Dr. Oord on Twitter @ThomasJayOord.

Quotables

• “God is not able to control others. God can’t control the pandemic, if God could, God is doing a really poor job isn’t he?”

• “God has a giving and receiving relationship with Creation…God is affected and influenced by us.”

• “God experiences time like we do, moment by moment. Rather than sitting outside of time.”

• “God has a real past, and the future is really the future for God. God doesn’t predestined what is going to happen and even doesn’t foreknow with certainty what is going to happen.”

• “God is a loving God. Love for God is like love for us.”

• “We think God has emotions. We think God is sad and hurt when we don’t love one another.”

• “God’s very nature is love, and by that we mean, God must love.”

• “Love really does want what is good, but it is always uncontrolling.”

• “God simply can’t be in control.”

• “We have a real affect on God, moment by moment.”

• “Our prayers can actually make a difference for God, ourselves, and the world…it doesn’t enable God to control anybody, but it does mean that in a relationship universe a relational God is affected by what we do.”

• “If God is in control, then what is happening right now is what God wants. Tell that to someone who has been raped.”

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Credits

This episode was produced by The Sophia Society. Music is by Faith in Foxholes, and written by Gary Alan Taylor and Kelly Lamb.