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Answering My Friend Joel On Facebook

Answering My Friend Joel On Facebook

Last updated on: January 15, 2023 at 3:00 am by Matthew Distefano

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Answering My Friend Joel On Facebook 2023-01-14T20:41:20-06:00 Matthew Distefano

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The other day, my friend Joel posed 5 fairly heavy questions about God to his Facebook friends. His goal was not to debate anyone, as he explicitly states in the post, but just to gather information on what his friends thought about things. I asked him if it was okay if I answered on Patheos, and he said yes.

So, here we go.

*The questions have been edited for grammar, but not content.

I. Do you believe God’s will, in the end (whatever that means) will ultimately be done?

Assuming God has a will, then, yes. I Do. I believe that God will save everyone because A) God can and B) God desires to. Of course, by “saved” I don’t mean what the Evangelicals mean when they say it – that God will save us from his wrath and/or hell. But we all need redemption from something, even if it’s just the mimetic pull of our egoic nature. But in the end, yes, I believe that God will get God’s way. All will be well. All will be restored. All will be healed. What that looks like, I haven’t the faintest clue. Nor do I care. I just trust that God is good and God will always work toward the good until there is nothing but goodness in all places and in spaces for all time.

II. Do you believe that if God says something will happen, then it in fact will happen and come to pass just like he said?

Again, assuming God says anything at all, then I would say no. I don’t believe that God has that type of power or control. If Thomas Jay Oord, Mark Karris, Jonathan Foster, and others are correct, then the uncontrolling love of God does not permit God to have the type of sovereignty Calvinists demand. On the other hand, like I just said in the first answer, I do believe that God will get God’s way in terms of how the story ends. But free will also plays its part.

III. Do you believe God is perfect?

I do not think in these terms, personally. I no longer have much of an anthropomorphic God. Plus, what is perfection anyway? Many times, people conflate purity or leading a sanitary life with perfection, but these things are not real living. Being sanitary is boring. But if perfection means goodness as such, then yes, God is perfect. If perfection means perfect love, then yes, God is perfect. To say otherwise is to not say anything at all, for how can love be imperfect? Love is not imperfect; the lack of love is.

IV. Do you believe that God’s will is perfect?

Again, it all depends on what you mean by perfection and will. As I said above, it’s my belief that it is God’s will to redeem, reconcile, and restore all of creation, which includes all humans who have ever lived. If that is perfection, then sure, God’s will is perfect. But perhaps explaining things in such a way isn’t helpful. God’s will is always tempered by two things: 1) human volition (whatever that happens to be), and 2) the uncontrolling love of God. For God to love, there has to be space for the loved to make their own choices.

V. Do you believe God’s word will come back void?

It depends on what you mean by “God’s word?” It’s my understanding, based on reading the Bible, that Christ is the “word” (Greek: logos) of God. And it was Christ’s mission to redeem and reconcile the world. So, I guess the question then is: Did (or will) Christ accomplish this? I think so. Again, just not in the way most Christians would understanding things. But that’s perhaps a topic for another time.

Joel, I hope my answers were at least interesting, if not helpful.

Thanks for letting me talk about it here.

Also, if you’ve been digging my work on here, and want to see me be able to continue writing as close to full-time as humanly possible, please take a look at my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/mjdistefano. Even $1 a month helps bigly!

About Matthew J. Distefano

Matthew J. Distefano is an author, blogger, podcaster, and social worker. He lives in Northern California with his wife and daughter. You can read more about the author here.

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