We do not know much about the mysterious force at the heart of the universe we call God. In the Book of Exodus, when Moses asks God his name, the Hebrew tells us the best but ambiguous translation is, “I will be what I will be.”
Maybe God is not some paternalistic stable entity sitting on a golden throne with a plan but a God who interacts with human beings constantly evolving to accomplish a particular purpose? Humans have a certain measure of freedom. They are constantly making decisions. Perhaps God agrees or disagrees with these decisions. Perhaps God is a spiritual energy force which keeps trying to influence our decision making. Perhaps God is sometimes successful and sometimes not?
What if it’s all about physics? What if the nature of nature and the nature of human nature is a constant interaction based on the principals of physics?
It seems clear whatever power God possesses it is not being used to stop all the suffering and evil in the world. Perhaps God’s commitment to human free will and to letting nature be nature means living on this planet has always been and will continue to be a precarious endeavor.
To paraphrase William James, philosophy is a peculiar stubborn obsession to think clearly. Theology is a peculiar stubborn obsession to believe and speak honestly. One of the things we can do to remain sane is to pursue these two obsessions with all we’ve got and hope for the best.
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