{"id":6867,"date":"2025-09-01T04:13:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T11:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/"},"modified":"2025-09-29T11:07:41","modified_gmt":"2025-09-29T18:07:41","slug":"where-was-god-in-the-shootings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/blog\/archives\/where-was-god-in-the-shootings","title":{"rendered":"Where Was God in the Shootings?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent shooting at a back-to-school mass in Minnesota has many people asking: Where was God?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A gunman killed two children and injured eighteen others at Annunciation Catholic Church. In response, there\u2019s a renewed call for gun reform and a dialogue about how to prevent future shootings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many also wonder why an allegedly omnipotent God didn\u2019t stop this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The killer left messages on his ammunition magazines. One message was a play on the question many are asking about God\u2019s failure to stop the horror. The shooter\u2019s question seems to mock believers. It said, \u201cWhere is your God?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good question!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Is Everywhere?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple but inadequate response to \u201cWhere was God\u201d says God is always present in every place. God is omnipresent, say most believers. I agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cWhere was God?\u201d isn\u2019t really seeking the geographical location of the divine. It\u2019s really wondering, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t God prevent this tragedy?\u201d Those who ask it typically assume God has the omnipotent ability to prevent shootings like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhere was God?\u201d is another way to ask, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t God stop this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Suffers?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another response to \u201cWhere was God?\u201d says God suffers with victims. The Lover of us all was present in this tragic shooting and felt the pain of victims. Just as God suffered with Jesus on the cross, the Fellow Sufferer who understands was in Minnesota with those in harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe God suffered with the children and suffers with all. But I don\u2019t think saying, \u201cGod feels their pain\u201d is enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The God who could stop evil but allows it in order to suffer with victims is a masochist. Masochists aren\u2019t loving when they permit evil they could have prevented. \u201cGod suffers with us\u201d is important, therefore, but it doesn\u2019t answer to why an omnipotent God didn\u2019t stop the pain in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need more than a suffering God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Can\u2019t<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe God can\u2019t<\/em> prevent evil singlehandedly. With the Minnesota killings, God couldn\u2019t stop the shooter all alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I see it, God loves everyone and everything, and divine love never controls. Consequently, God can\u2019t control anyone or anything, including shooters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that God could stop evildoers but chooses not to. I\u2019m saying God simply cannot stop evil singlehandedly. God can\u2019t<\/em>. (I explain this in God Can\u2019t: How to Believe in God and Love after Tragedy, Abuse, and Other Evils. <\/em>See this link<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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

I also affirm the long-standing view that God is a spirit without a localized divine body. God is \u201cincorporeal,\u201d as the tradition puts it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means God doesn\u2019t have a hand to grab guns from shooters. And God doesn\u2019t have other body parts to prevent tragedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are We God\u2019s Hands and Feet?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who hear me say God is a bodiless spirit often respond that we are God\u2019s body. We creatures with bodies can act as God\u2019s hands and feet, they say. I agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we also have the freedom not to<\/em> act as God\u2019s body. We must freely choose to cooperate with the Spirit\u2019s call. We can choose otherwise. And sometimes localized creatures aren\u2019t in the right place and time to stop evils with their bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saying we are the hands and feet of an incorporeal God doesn\u2019t solve the problem of evil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Letter from a Concerned Friend<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend sent an insightful email not long after the shootings. She raised important questions about God\u2019s action \u2014 and ours \u2014 in response to tragedies like the one in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I call her \u201canonymous\u201d in the note below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Dr. Oord,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m writing with a heavy heart in the wake of the recent school shooting. Your work on uncontrolling love and amipotence has been on my mind as I try to process these difficult days.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your emphasis on a divine love that relinquishes control to allow genuine freedom is deeply compelling and resonates with many of the struggles we face in daily life, our own desire to love without controlling, to respect others\u2019 agency even when it\u2019s hard.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I find myself wrestling with a difficult question, in moments of profound suffering and danger, does love really mean not intervening? Imagine a parent who sees their child stepping into harm\u2019s way but refuses to stop them out of respect for freedom, would that be love? I think not.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I wonder, does framing God\u2019s love as uncontrolling risk suggesting a divine passivity in the face of evil and suffering? How do we hold together the idea of a loving God who is both respectful of freedom and yet powerfully present, intervening to protect, heal, and redeem?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate the vulnerability and thoughtfulness in your approach, especially your willingness to rethink traditional attributes of divine power. Still, I\u2019m left asking how uncontrolling love accounts for the urgent moral imperative to act against injustice and prevent harm.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intervene?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I really appreciate this thoughtful letter. I wholeheartedly agree with the call to act against injustice and prevent harm!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have three responses. First, the writer seems to assume God voluntarily relinquishes the ability to \u201cintervene.\u201d The writer talks about \u201callowing\u201d creatures genuine freedom, as if God could choose not <\/em>to allow it. The writer seems to assume God chooses<\/em> not to control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think God must <\/em>be uncontrolling. It\u2019s not a choice. God\u2019s nature is uncontrolling love, and God can\u2019t change the divine nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means God doesn\u2019t choose whether to intervene or not, in the sense of controlling others. God can\u2019t intervene, because it\u2019s contrary to the divine nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step In?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My friend rightly says a loving parent would step into harm\u2019s way to protect a child. I\u2019ve sometimes done so for my children and for others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the \u201cstep in\u201d analogy doesn\u2019t fit a universal Spirit without a body. An incorporeal God can\u2019t literally step into harm\u2019s way like we sometimes can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I strongly support the view that we are called to use our bodies to protect. But I don\u2019t think God has a body to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An incorporeal God can\u2019t step in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Act Against Injustice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I don\u2019t think God is passive in the face of evil and injustice. I think God always acts, and that acting is never half-hearted or half-throttle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a moral imperative to use our minds and bodies to protect others. God calls us to prevent unnecessary harm like that in Minnesota. As I see it, this will involve changing gun laws. It will involve changing a culture that glorifies violence. And more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God acts against harm and injustice and calls us to do the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Needs Us<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thoughtful letter from my friend reminds us that a loving God needs <\/em>us. God can\u2019t stop violence alone. We need God for this work, because we rely upon the Spirit\u2019s inspiration and empowering. Fortunately, we can count on God to do that uncontrolling action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God needs our cooperation for love to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where Was God?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was God in the Minnesota school shootings?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe God was present to all, suffering with victims, and calling those who harm to do otherwise. But God could not control the gunman or the circumstances. The Spirit\u2019s love can\u2019t control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is now calling each of us to make changes that prevent or at least reduce the likelihood of future shootings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will we respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(For more essays on God\u2019s uncontrolling love, see my website: thomasjayoord.com.<\/a> I\u2019m also writing a systematic theology of love and posting chapters on Substack. For those chapters, see this link<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The recent shooting at a back-to-school mass in Minnesota has many people asking: Where was God? A gunman killed two children and injured eighteen others at Annunciation Catholic Church. In response, there\u2019s a renewed call for gun reform and a dialogue about how to prevent future shootings. Many also wonder why an allegedly omnipotent God […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[7495,7496,7497],"yst_prominent_words":[1070,3879,4510,5330,6069,6430,6557,6711,6728,6884],"class_list":["post-6867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-open_and_relational_theology","category-postmodern_philosophy_theology_and_culture","tag-minnesota-school-shooting","tag-school-shooting","tag-gods-hands-and-feet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867","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=6867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6867"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasjayoord.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}