Chapter Two: View From Above
In chapter 2 of "Prayer: Does it make any difference?" (and he obviously believes it does), Yancey is talking about lightning strikes. And he makes this statement:
"A hundred times a second lightning strikes somewhere on earth, and I for one do not believe God personally programs each course."
This statement, and others like it, are the basis for one of the first criticisms directed at Yancey. One Amazon reviewer comments that in the past, Yancey has "hinted that he adheres to the doctrine of Open Theism and believes in a somewhat less than omnipotent or omniscient God." And "while this new book does not contain an explicit affirmation of that doctrine, Yancey again drops hints that he does believe it." The reviewer quotes several passages in the book, including the one about the lightning strikes, as evidence of this view. Yancey points to the fact that Jesus himself refuted those who blamed tragedies on God. The reviewer takes exception with Yancey in that this position "does not affirm the truths of Scripture regarding God's fore-ordaining of all events, no matter how tragic" and goes on to say that "Yancey presents a God that is simply far too human."
There are other criticisms, but since I tend to write lengthy posts anyway, I will stick to one criticism at a time.
This one statement did not stand out to me as anything alarming, either time I read it, for a couple of reasons. For most of my life as a Christian, I would have agreed with Yancey. That was my concept of God, too. Not that I ever would have said I was an Open Theist or that God was not omnipotent or omniscient. I believed He COULD personally program every lightning strike or every event, if He wanted to. But I believed He set the world in its order and allowed nature to operate within that order.
I didn't know how closely this resembled the view of someone like Thomas Jefferson, who was a deist and viewed God as a watchmaker, of sorts, who made the watch and then stepped back and observed its function. I had always heard Thomas Jefferson quoted as though he were a great defender of the Christian faith in the founding of our country. It just goes to show how much we accept as fact, without the proper examination, the beliefs and ideals of others. One thing that helped to cure me of this was a US History class I took several years back. Every time I expressed an opinion, the professor would then ask me what evidence I had based that opinion on. I quickly learned to ask myself that question and to make a greater effort in knowing why I believed what I did. Doing so never undermined my faith. It strengthened and defined it.
I never gave much thought to the Sovereignty of God or to Providence or any such things until I left the church I grew up in and began to pay more attention to such Scriptures. For example, I don't remember ever contemplating the reality of God knowing/forming me in my mother's womb and knowing me before the foundation of the world; that I was HIS before I even came into being. It's hard to grasp this or think of such verses as something more than poetic when you grow up in a place where the pastor doesn't view abortion as a sin and you've been taught that an unborn child does not have a soul until it takes a breath on its own. Therefore, it's not really even a life that one is taking. Even THAT was normal to me at one time because it was all I knew.
I have since come to realize how much that view contradicts the Word of God. And I now have a much different view on abortion. If God knew me and called me before I was even conceived, as Scripture tells us, I was His child even before I took that first breath on my own. I can only choose Him because He first chose me. So my concept of God has drastically changed. Where I once did not see Him taking much of a role in the minor details of my life, I now see the evidence of the opposite being true.
God is bigger to me now than He has ever been. I do not believe He is sitting back and watching His creation operate on its own within the boundaries of time and nature. I believe He is personally involved in His creation, down to the smallest detail. As far as the lightning strikes, well, there are more than 100 of us per second who are talking to God; He listens, answers, comforts, chastises, blesses, gives us the grace to endure and persevere. That takes much more effort, in my little pea brain, than directing lightning strikes.
I no longer embrace Yancey's view. But I still understand the quandary and appreciate his honesty. I agreed with more of this chapter than I disagreed with. And I will elaborate on that in a future post because this one is already long!
"A hundred times a second lightning strikes somewhere on earth, and I for one do not believe God personally programs each course."
This statement, and others like it, are the basis for one of the first criticisms directed at Yancey. One Amazon reviewer comments that in the past, Yancey has "hinted that he adheres to the doctrine of Open Theism and believes in a somewhat less than omnipotent or omniscient God." And "while this new book does not contain an explicit affirmation of that doctrine, Yancey again drops hints that he does believe it." The reviewer quotes several passages in the book, including the one about the lightning strikes, as evidence of this view. Yancey points to the fact that Jesus himself refuted those who blamed tragedies on God. The reviewer takes exception with Yancey in that this position "does not affirm the truths of Scripture regarding God's fore-ordaining of all events, no matter how tragic" and goes on to say that "Yancey presents a God that is simply far too human."
There are other criticisms, but since I tend to write lengthy posts anyway, I will stick to one criticism at a time.
This one statement did not stand out to me as anything alarming, either time I read it, for a couple of reasons. For most of my life as a Christian, I would have agreed with Yancey. That was my concept of God, too. Not that I ever would have said I was an Open Theist or that God was not omnipotent or omniscient. I believed He COULD personally program every lightning strike or every event, if He wanted to. But I believed He set the world in its order and allowed nature to operate within that order.
I didn't know how closely this resembled the view of someone like Thomas Jefferson, who was a deist and viewed God as a watchmaker, of sorts, who made the watch and then stepped back and observed its function. I had always heard Thomas Jefferson quoted as though he were a great defender of the Christian faith in the founding of our country. It just goes to show how much we accept as fact, without the proper examination, the beliefs and ideals of others. One thing that helped to cure me of this was a US History class I took several years back. Every time I expressed an opinion, the professor would then ask me what evidence I had based that opinion on. I quickly learned to ask myself that question and to make a greater effort in knowing why I believed what I did. Doing so never undermined my faith. It strengthened and defined it.
I never gave much thought to the Sovereignty of God or to Providence or any such things until I left the church I grew up in and began to pay more attention to such Scriptures. For example, I don't remember ever contemplating the reality of God knowing/forming me in my mother's womb and knowing me before the foundation of the world; that I was HIS before I even came into being. It's hard to grasp this or think of such verses as something more than poetic when you grow up in a place where the pastor doesn't view abortion as a sin and you've been taught that an unborn child does not have a soul until it takes a breath on its own. Therefore, it's not really even a life that one is taking. Even THAT was normal to me at one time because it was all I knew.
I have since come to realize how much that view contradicts the Word of God. And I now have a much different view on abortion. If God knew me and called me before I was even conceived, as Scripture tells us, I was His child even before I took that first breath on my own. I can only choose Him because He first chose me. So my concept of God has drastically changed. Where I once did not see Him taking much of a role in the minor details of my life, I now see the evidence of the opposite being true.
God is bigger to me now than He has ever been. I do not believe He is sitting back and watching His creation operate on its own within the boundaries of time and nature. I believe He is personally involved in His creation, down to the smallest detail. As far as the lightning strikes, well, there are more than 100 of us per second who are talking to God; He listens, answers, comforts, chastises, blesses, gives us the grace to endure and persevere. That takes much more effort, in my little pea brain, than directing lightning strikes.
I no longer embrace Yancey's view. But I still understand the quandary and appreciate his honesty. I agreed with more of this chapter than I disagreed with. And I will elaborate on that in a future post because this one is already long!
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