More on God and Disasters

In reading an article by Derek Thomas titled Contemplating Katrina there is an interesting quote from Dr. John Sanders:

God, in grace, grants humans significant freedom to cooperate with or work against God's will for their lives, and he enters into dynamic, give and take relationships with us....God takes risks in this give-and-take relationship, yet he is endlessly resourceful and competent in working toward his ultimate goals. Sometimes God alone decides how to accomplish these goals. On other occasions, God works with human decisions, adapting his own plans to fit the changing situation.

What is interesting is that if, as Thomas does, this quote is prefaced by the words “Open Theism” most would scoff at it but if it is left without the preface, with no mention of Open Theism, many people would probably not see an issue with Sander’s conclusions. This speaks to the readers misunderstandings of God more than Sanders hiding of what he believes. But, it also shows the danger of Open Theism in that it seems to be the destination that people arrive at who try and save God from the ills of this world.

I have read a book, well a good portion of the book, that I was given as a refutation/alternative of/to the Doctrines of Grace. This book by Marston and Forster, God's Strategy in Human History, uses much of the language of open theism but it seems that this is secondary to many readers who comment on the authors conclusions. Actually the statement has been made to me, when I showed the Open Theism leanings of the authors, that we need to take the good from the bad. The problem is that the conclusions of the authors are generated from their apparent willingness to see Open Theism as viable and thus are based on the bad.

The point is that more and more it appears that the attempts of finite man to save the credibility of an infinite God lead to a truncated, even often a heretical, view of God and invariably an incorrect Gospel.

Tony