The False Narrative of Control: The Real Problem in Christian Communities

 After my article about Control Freaks messing the world up, and as I went about the seminar using the book Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith, I had a vital epiphany. On page 45, Smith mentions that the desire for control is one of the causes of people doing bad things. Indeed, having such a desire would mean fear of loss of control; this leads people to become fearful and desperate, and as a result, they resort to forceful, coercive and rights-violating (and indeed, sinful) measures to address this.

Why Conflict Exists in the World

In my earlier piece about tolerance, I explained that intolerance is because people do not want to bear things from other people that they don’t like, but are not harmful. Now I try to answer the question some have asked: why is it that hate and kill so easily, and thus, why is there so much conflict in the world?

About Throwing Pearls to Swine

My pastor and I had a discussion some time ago about this verse in Matt. 7:6 -

“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

He expressed disagreement with the common interpretation that the verse means you should not waste time with people who are rejecting your Gospel of the kingdom. He says, no, you don't leave them alone, because they are the ones you exactly are reaching out to.  Thus, if you believe this commonly believed meaning, you may actually be doing it wrong.

Does God Work in Mysterious Ways?

Often, I hear people spouting the cliche, "God works in mysterious ways." It's raises an eyebrow for me as people use it during the darnedest times - like when they don't win the lotto, or their plan for the church gets rejected by the top brass. Or when they get a gut feeling that they avoid riding a certain bus, then they learn that the bus had an accident later. Yes, sometimes God's ways seem mysterious to people.

However, the saying does not come from the Bible. It comes from a poem written by William Cowper in the 18th century. His poem may be inspired indeed. But the poem's title and first lines have been among the most cliched and misused religious slogans of all time. In addition, people may quote it as a Bible saying. They should be careful of that. It is not in the Bible.

There are of course some sayings not in the Bible that are still in line with Christian belief. Among the ones I prefer are "Cleanliness is next to godliness," "Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa (with God is mercy, with people is action)," and "God helps those who help themselves." I prefer those sayings that remind people of their own responsibility to act, and never like one should pray to God and wait for manna to fall the next day. "Let go and let God" for example has its applications at times, but I believe it is a very misused slogan.

I'd rather not overuse sayings or use them out of context. But on "God works in mysterious ways," I believe that if you really know God, he or his ways won't be mysterious to you. It's only mysterious to you when you don't agree with his ways or don't get it. Basically, human pride gets in the way, you don't get it, and feel that God's way is mysterious to you. But if you get it, you won't think that God works in a mysterious way again. It's just that he works for your own good.

On Blaming God

People have always said that when something bad happens to them, "it is the will of God." Even if someone points out that it can actually be traced to human fault, they will still believe it to be the "will of God."

This is blasphemous for me. Making every misfortune the will of God is effectively blaming God, and it basically shirks human responsibility. Humans want to pass the buck to someone else. For example, Filipinos blame our country's woes on the corrupt politicians. And why are the politicians there? God's will, they say.

What a load of horsecrap. They're the ones who vote those corrupt politicians into office. They're the ones to blame for their own predicament. If people don't realize that they vote into office the corrupt, then they are dumb. In addition, they do things like give birth to ten children even if don't have the means to feed even one. Thus, dumbness again... and in fact, they deserve to be judged by God for their decisions.

I echo commenter Ben from Antipinoy.com who gave this so-correct view about blaming God:

Everything we do is because we chose to do it, and credit and consequence is man’s. But you have to remember, God gave us the opportunity to do good. If we fail, it is our fault and we displease him. If we succeed, we please him in upholding the mandate he bestowed upon us.
Arguments about giving God credit when good things happen yet cursing or blaming God is bad things happen, are all based on a lack of understanding of that mandate. He gave us free will and he will never take that away. The choices are made by us, so we must always pay all consequences of our actions; good or bad.
But giving thanks giving to God in good is what we are supposed to do. He is our Father who provided all the good in this world. It’s just like our parents. For example, my dad teaches me how to ride a bike. He first bought me that bike, then taught me the skills to ride it. Once I am able to ride on my own with no problem, I thank my dad for teaching me. But if I fall, does that mean I should blame my dad? Is it really his fault I fell? I say NO.
This is something that is missing in the catholic church. They miss out on the relationship between man and God, and has replaced it with religious traditions and culture. Religion is man made and is one of the biggest problems in this country.
Never blame God for our short comings. We chose… We suffer.

If we only understood that people suffer because of the consequences of their actions, and not only God's, then we will be able to understand why there is so much sin in the world and what we should do about it.