Theology in conversation

My friend meant it as a harmless rejoinder to our conversation about whether there was a plan for everything, but the simple question, "Then how can you consider yourself a spiritual person?" blew me away. It had been a long time since someone has pushed me on my faith resolve, but it was clear that it was one of those moments that was truly a message from God to redouble my reflection about my personal faith. Since that evening a few weeks ago, I have been uncomfortable in my faith skin. It was like I was dug in to the batter's box and was hanging over the inside of the plate, and then she threw a high, hard one, and I haven't been comfortable in the box since.

The origin of my discomfort comes from having an opinion about predestination. And, not just that but also realizing that it is grounded in logic and reason and not necessarily theological basis. I have found myself in this situation with growing frequency since I have allowed the shell around my faith to crack in the comforts of the Riverside family. In a search for dialogue and to provide full disclosure of my conversation that brought me to this quandary, here are my thoughts on predestination. God decides a lot of things, but doesn't micromanage the world. I believe in the macro/micro world. I'm sure that there are many Christians that would disagree and some that would feel good to have someone else in their camp, but this is where I am currently. I believe that all of my opinions are fluid, but I hope that they are wandering closer and closer to the truth as I pursue new information.

Before today, I was ready to answer that my views on predestination do still allow me to claim to be a spiritual person, but then Brian died. Brian is a friend and co-worker. I was ready to write this entry before I walked into school this morning, and then I learned that a tragedy had struck, a co-worker died from what appears to be a massive heart attack. Now predestination became real and personal. It became something with a context. It was no longer some mental exercise for me. Did God plan for Brian to die on Sunday night? I recognize that I live in a world with a perspective too small to understand God's decisions, but now I have to ask whether this was a macro or micro situation, and I have no idea. I am lost, and Brian is gone. It is amazing how quickly we are knocked from our faith perch. It took me two weeks to digest the simple question about how my view on predestination jives with being a Christian, but this shock to the system may take a lot longer.

-Dr. Robert Dillon

Post-Script: While Bob articulates his views in a logical way, they are not far off from Riverside's basic stance on this issue. If you would like to look into the issue further, the term that probably summarizes our position well (for a short conversation) is "Compatabilism".