[Bill,
January 29, 2008]
God's Plan?
Recently, two people mentioned the oft-repeated concept that "God has a plan for your life." For some reason, I have always thought of this as a half-truth at best and easily misunderstood. But as so often happens, I sometimes have difficulty explaining why.
Does God have a plan for your life? Yes and no. I believe God has a plan for humanity, and that individually, there is a similar plan. But I think, in many ways, the problem is the question and how it's phrased.
What I believe is a little different: I believe that God's promise after the Resurrection was, "I will be with you always, even unto the ends of the earth." "I will be with you." What that implies is not only the Gospel Commission, but that God's promise is that He will be with us, no matter what.
But I don't believe what constitutes that "no matter what" is necessarily part of God's plan, except in an extremely macro-sense that's above my pay grade. Follow?
That is, it's one thing to say that God has placed trials and obstacles in our lives for a specific purpose. (I don't believe that's true in all cases.) It's another thing to say you're born into a sinful world that was NOT His original will, but that He will be with us in it. (I believe that.) Thus, sin, sickness, evil and death are not about God's plan so much as the result of man's rebellion. God simply says He'll walk with us during that time, and be there at the end.
So if you're sick and suffering, it doesn't mean, "Well, this must be part of God's plan for me." It does add up to a cross you must bear. But I don't think it's any more part of God's plan than any other cross we must carry. We are engaged in a process of being redeemed (note the passive voice). We are not engaged in what the original plan was.
The question, when suffering, is, "Where's the grace in this?" Yet, clearly, there is a macro-plan involved in all this, the process of redemption by the world. But it doesn't mean that the people who get killed in terrorist attacks were meant to get killed in them by God Himself. It means that we live in a dangerous world filled with snares, traps, temptations, and deceptions, and we need to be watchful. I don't think these baleful effects of sin are part of God's plan — I think they are part of the Devil's plan, and that God may use these things as part of His counter-strategy, if we remain open to Him.
Make sense? Is this Catholic?
Does God have a plan for your life? Yes and no. I believe God has a plan for humanity, and that individually, there is a similar plan. But I think, in many ways, the problem is the question and how it's phrased.
What I believe is a little different: I believe that God's promise after the Resurrection was, "I will be with you always, even unto the ends of the earth." "I will be with you." What that implies is not only the Gospel Commission, but that God's promise is that He will be with us, no matter what.
But I don't believe what constitutes that "no matter what" is necessarily part of God's plan, except in an extremely macro-sense that's above my pay grade. Follow?
That is, it's one thing to say that God has placed trials and obstacles in our lives for a specific purpose. (I don't believe that's true in all cases.) It's another thing to say you're born into a sinful world that was NOT His original will, but that He will be with us in it. (I believe that.) Thus, sin, sickness, evil and death are not about God's plan so much as the result of man's rebellion. God simply says He'll walk with us during that time, and be there at the end.
So if you're sick and suffering, it doesn't mean, "Well, this must be part of God's plan for me." It does add up to a cross you must bear. But I don't think it's any more part of God's plan than any other cross we must carry. We are engaged in a process of being redeemed (note the passive voice). We are not engaged in what the original plan was.
The question, when suffering, is, "Where's the grace in this?" Yet, clearly, there is a macro-plan involved in all this, the process of redemption by the world. But it doesn't mean that the people who get killed in terrorist attacks were meant to get killed in them by God Himself. It means that we live in a dangerous world filled with snares, traps, temptations, and deceptions, and we need to be watchful. I don't think these baleful effects of sin are part of God's plan — I think they are part of the Devil's plan, and that God may use these things as part of His counter-strategy, if we remain open to Him.
Make sense? Is this Catholic?