Interventionist God

Does God intervene in the world? Does God pierce through space, time, and science on behalf of (or perhaps, in spite of) humanity?

If you're Christian, then the answer is "Yes." It must be "Yes" because the entire story of Jesus is interpreted by Christians to be God intervening in the world. According to most theologies, God sent Jesus as a perfect man to atone for the sins of the imperfect man (i.e. Adam). The Jewish scriptures are also replete with God's intervention: God creates the world, destroys the world in a flood, prevents Abraham from sacraficing his only son (Isaac), sends plagues upon the Egyptians, etc.

"Does God intervene in the world" is an extension of the age old question, "Why does God allow suffering?"

Suffering is usually answered with one of five ways:

1. God is punishing us

2. God is purging us (i.e. cleansing us; making us stronger through suffering)

3. God is testing us (apparently, omniscience only goes so far)

4. God is not in control of this world; the devil is. Therefore, the devil is the one inflicting suffering.

5. We can't know since God is so far beyond us; moreover, who are we to even ask?

But the suffering question just looks at one part of God's intervention (or lack of it). The other side of the question asks if God intervenes in the world to make it a better place. The most common use of this is from prosperity gospel preachers. These are Evangelical Christian pastors, usually with a television audience, who promote the idea that if you give to their church you will receive ten fold in return. The blessing is code for money. If you give a little bit of money, God will give you a lotta bit of money. And to keep their lawyers happy, there is always plenty of wiggle room to deny accountability on the chance that giving the church money does not, in turn, make the churchgoer rich.

But prosperity gospel preachers are not the only ones who promote God's blessings. Listen to any Catholic conversion story (there's a lot of them on social media, podcasts, and YouTube). God saved them, spoke to them, showed them, etc. Conversation stories are primarily about the intervention of God. God's intervention does not stop with one's conversion. Many then question the will of God: "Does God want me to take this job? Does God want me to marry that person? Does God want me to...".

I no longer believe in an interventionist God. I got to a point where I couldn't reconcile how the Divine Goodness helps one person sell a house in a terrible real estate market (true story) while inflicting agonizing suffering on millions of other people. And the "will of God" question drives me nuts. Do what you like. You like it because you have the capacity to like things. Shouldn't a believer attribute that kind of joy to God? If there is a God, it has one will: love.