Interview with Udo Middelmann
about "The Innocence of God"

Added March 10, 2008

Joyce: Udo Middelmann, welcome to In the Library Reviews!

Your book, The Innocence of God, has certainly given me a lot to think about.

This world often appears to be ruled by pain, injustice and suffering. How does that fact shape the non-believer's perception of God? What, historically, have been the church's answers for these difficult issues?

Udo:

1. Belief in a good God is for simple people who do not dare to question his character in light of the common tragedies. The smart folk abandon belief or turn somewhere else.
2. Several propositions have come from the church through the centuries:
   1. We are so terribly sinful that we really deserve even more tragedies;
   2. One must believe that in the end even the tragedies are for our good;
   3. We make the mistake to assume something is bad, when in fact it is good for us;
   4. Tragedies just show how wicked we are, for nothing happens that we have not personally deserved (e.g. Job's friends);
   5. Tragedies show us how much we should try to escape this life and long for life after death.

Joyce: This book challenges some basic assumptions that the church holds concerning the nature of God. Is God really in control of everything that happens here on earth? Can we really see His hand in all events, even in tragedy and injustice?

Udo:

1. Under control most people understand the play of the puppeteer with his wires or strings. This view excludes any true significance of creaturely actions, no real history.
2. God's control is moral and majestic: he is true to himself, only good and his continuing intervention in history will eventually bring evil to an end and righteousness to the fore. But it will take time, as God endures the interventions of other actors (people, fallen angels) and treats them with true significance.
3. "God in control" as often taught is the same as "The will of Allah," "the forces of history" in Marxism, the rule of the "fates" in Hellenistic thought and "genetic determinism" in our age. Such a closed system is nowhere taught in the Bible.
4. We can see God's hand, but not as the cause of all events. Personages 'cause,' they are responsible. God only causes good things, including judgment, which is then experienced as pain, evil, etc. by the criminal (or sinner). God's causes, interventions, lead to greater awareness of what is real, true and just. Not all causes go in that direction.
5. We see God's hand also in stemming the consequences of evil choices, repairing things, giving comfort, health and justice, because he works against what is caused by sinful, irrational, etc. people.

Joyce: If God isn't really in control of everything, does that mean He has abandoned us? Are we at the mercy of this fallen world?

Udo:

1. No, not at all. Life is made up of a complex interplay of various actors. God is one, but not the only one. He made Man to create, to invent, to live, and God accepts, enjoys and often is saddened by these choices. He is always present, acting himself as well.
2. When Adam sinned, God ran after him to tell him of what needed to be done by God (the promise of the Messiah, the prophets, the Holy Spirit) and what needed to be done by Man (plow the fields, stop accusing the woman, have babies, work for life against death). And that is a historical development; we are still waiting for the conclusion, when all that is broken will be repaired, including our bodies.

Joyce: If God's work for justice is being done, why are we instructed to seek His intervention through prayer?

Udo: Because we weigh in, we matter, our significance can delay, advance, divert things. God did not create a finished world, but one in which we have true significance. So also in the repair work needed. Our intercession, our trusting God, our defying evil all contribute to the work God is accomplishing. "We have not, because we ask not." Some things only get accomplished through prayer and fasting.

Joyce: What makes the God of the Bible different from Allah of Islam and the gods of 'controlling forces' behind virtually every pagan religion?

Udo: The God of the Bible is limited to being good, true and living. He exists forever in a dynamic relationship between the three persons of the Trinity. He has made a world outside himself and given people in it mandates to change, vary, create. Their actions bring about many events-God is not the only actor. God is pleased with the good things we do.

Islam teaches about one God; obedience confirms the final unity of everything. Pagan religions have many spirits or gods, which suggests a final confusion of powers and authorities. Only the God of the Bible allows for true unity of relationships and diversity of personages. We discuss things with God; all others merely do what they are told. We live with the difference between what is and what ought to be; they only submit to "what is" as if it were the "what ought to be."

Joyce: The Innocence of God will encourage some healthy debate on this topic of sovereignty, but the fact is we will still be living in the same tragic world. What should be the Christian's response to human suffering?

Udo: We pray that the will of God would be done, because it is not being done until the Messiah returns and stops the madness of a broken world. We also read about, consider and decide how to do God's will and get on with it. Thereby we avoid the fatalism that a controlled situation would require and the arrogance of assuming we can do no wrong, because everything we do is already the controlled will of God.

Joyce: Thank you for answering our questions and for writing such an insightful book.

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