{"id":4929,"date":"2019-02-11T08:32:27","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T15:32:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2021-10-14T16:31:09","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T23:31:09","slug":"__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/__trashed","title":{"rendered":"God Can’t Stop Climate Change Singlehandedly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The\nnews is devastating. Our planet is on a crash course with wide-scale death and\ndegradation. The poorest of people and the most vulnerable of species are\ngetting hit the hardest. It isn\u2019t a pretty picture!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does\nGod care?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If God\ncares about all creation, why doesn\u2019t God stop the devastation? Why doesn’t God\nfix climate change? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a\ntheologian, I think about the issues that matter. Climate change and\nenvironmental degradation are some of the most important. I ask questions about\nGod in light of those issues, and I seek believable answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In my\nnew book, God Can’t:<\/a> How to Believe in God and Love\nafter Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils, I make a big claim. I say that God\nsimply can\u2019t <\/em>prevent evil singlehandedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God can\u2019t.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\npeople think God won\u2019t <\/em>prevent evil. They say God is sitting back, not\nintervening, and allowing people to use their free will rightly or wrongly. In\ntheir view, God could <\/em>singly halt hurt and horrors. But God has decided\nto be voluntarily self-limited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their\nGod has a hands-off policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think\nthe \u201cGod won\u2019t\u201d view makes little sense. A truly loving God would prevent rape,\nfor instance, if able. God would singlehandedly protect vulnerable people,\nvulnerable species, and a vulnerable planet\u2026 if it were possible\nsinglehandedly. If preventing evil were possible for God to do alone, a loving\nGod would prevent it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nperfect lover prevents preventable evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my\nview, love comes first in God\u2019s nature. To put it another way, God is first and\nforemost loving. This love is self-giving and others-empowering. Consequently,\ndivine love is essentially uncontrolling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because\nGod loves everyone and everything, God can\u2019t control anyone or anything.\nTherefore, God cannot stop singlehandedly the evils that free creatures, other\nagents, randomness, and creaturely forces cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nwho think about the problem of evil emphasize our own roles and\nresponsibilities to overcome evil. But they don\u2019t rethink the conventional view\nof God\u2019s power. \u201cInstead of worrying why an omnipotent God doesn\u2019t stop evil,\u201d\nthey say, \u201cwe just need to work to make the world a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I agree we have a responsibility. But I also think we must rethink God\u2019s power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If an\nomnipotent God caused or allowed the death, degradation, and extinction we\u2019re\nseeing, one could understandably think God wanted <\/em>these evils. If a God\nwho can control didn\u2019t want this harm and hurting, that omnipotent God could\nhave stopped these evils. Besides, it\u2019s hard to feel motivated to work against\nthe evils God allegedly allowed and could prevent all alone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think\nthere\u2019s a better way to think about God and climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This\nbetter way says God needs <\/em>creaturely cooperation to bring about\nwell-being in the world. It says God depends <\/em>upon our responses for love\nto reign. It says God can\u2019t <\/em>prevent ecological devastation alone; God\nneeds help from us and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nrecognize saying, \u201cGod can\u2019t,\u201d will alarm some people. To many, overpowering\nsovereignty is the core of their view of God. Some may have sang a song I did\nas a boy: \u201cMy God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there\u2019s nothing that He\ncannot do!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nthinking God can do anything presents huge <\/em>problems! Thinking God can\nsinglehandedly prevent evil inclines survivors and victims of horrendous evil\nto believe God wanted their suffering. It also discourages us from taking\nclimate change and environmental degradation seriously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The God\nwho can fix things alone doesn\u2019t need our help. By contrast, a God of\nuncontrolling love needs our help to fix the problems of our lives and planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need\na revolution. This revolution is not just social and political. It\u2019s spiritual\nand religious too. This revolution believes creation and all creatures are\nintrinsically valuable. And for those like me who believe God is active and\npresent throughout the universe, it\u2019s a revolution that emphasizes God\u2019s\nuncontrolling love for all creatures, great and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ndivine love of which I\u2019m speaking not only seeks our cooperation to make the\nworld a better place. It requires it! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The news is devastating. Our planet is on a crash course with wide-scale death and degradation. The poorest of people and the most vulnerable of species are getting hit the hardest. It isn\u2019t a pretty picture! Does God care? If God cares about all creation, why doesn\u2019t God stop the devastation? Why doesn’t God fix […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[6660,6661],"yst_prominent_words":[6426,6444,6438,6433,6432,6431,6430,6429,6428,6427,1070,6121,5330,4510,3879,3371,2998,1349,1099,1093],"class_list":["post-4929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-postmodern_philosophy_theology_and_culture","tag-climate-change-ecotheology-ecological-theology-environmentalism-god-cant-degradation-species-extinction-thomas-jay-oord-ecological-civilization-ecology","tag-global-warming-global-warming-theology-ecological-theology-climate-crisis-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4929"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=4929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}