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    God and the Crisis of Power
    God and the Crisis of Power
    God and the Crisis of Power
    Ebook70 pages45 minutes

    God and the Crisis of Power

    By David Ball

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    About this ebook

    Is God a tyrant? No - not at all! Does he uphold truth, love and human freedom? Yes, absolutely! ‘God and the Crisis of Power’ shows us, from the Bible, how God always deploys his power for our good, in ways that are motivated by love and that offer us liberation rather than oppression. It also examines how these principles should apply to Christian participation in the public square.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateJul 22, 2014
    ISBN9780992557829
    God and the Crisis of Power

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      Book preview

      God and the Crisis of Power - David Ball

      Confidence

      1 The Crisis of Power

      For a society that has embraced the pursuit of individual freedom as one of its primary goals, the concept of power is morally ambiguous at best. It is, both literally and metaphorically, a double-edged sword. Power can be used for good, but it can also be used for evil. More importantly, one person’s power may constrain or curtail another person’s freedom. In such cases, not only the boundaries of power, but also the legitimacy of that power, soon become hotly contested.

      Power can be defined, quite simply, as the ability to do something, or to bring about a particular outcome. We often refer to electricity as ‘power’, since it enables us to cook food, or to light up a darkened room. We have the power of speech, and powers of concentration. These types of power do not necessarily come into conflict with individual freedom or autonomy. Each of us can usually exercise them without curtailing others’ ability to do likewise.

      In contemporary society, the perceived problem with power is that it is not limited to power over ourselves or over our environment. It includes the ability to direct, or to influence, the behaviour of other people. It also includes the ability to constrain other people from behaving as they see fit. Parents have the power to tell a child to tidy his bedroom, or else the child will not be permitted to go out to play with his friends. A nation-state that has superior military power may be able to credibly threaten to overthrow another national government they do not like. The power to make laws, and to enforce those laws, is the defining feature of government.

      Power becomes a problem where it is exercised in ways that conflict with the individual freedom of another person. This includes any situation where the other person considers that power is being exercised in a way that conflicts with his or her own best interests. Different people may have different views of what those best interests are, and of how they might best be satisfied both in the shorter term and in the longer term.

      In these circumstances, the exercise of power in a way that curtails another person’s power of individual choice becomes inherently controversial. This is particularly the case where exercising the power of individual choice seems unlikely to result in obvious harm to the ability of other individuals to enjoy their own freedom and liberty.

      Power and the Idea of God

      The contemporary problem of power is particularly acute in relation to the idea of God. For some people, perhaps as a result of their own unpleasant experiences of religious institutions, the idea of the existence of a God is unpleasant, or even repugnant. This is particularly so where a religious or spiritual tradition holds that God is a being, or other spiritual entity, who holds supreme power.

      However, power is an issue even for religious or spiritual traditions that teach that all human beings are Gods themselves, or that the goal of humanity is to become ‘one’ with God. The proposition that all human beings are Gods, or a part of God, does not necessarily leave much room for the power exercised by other human beings to be contested or challenged. If each one of us is a God, or a part of God, then it follows that we each have the power—and even the responsibility—to act on the basis of our own personal assessment of what is good. Thus, decisions about right and wrong become a matter of individual preference.

      The Judeo-Christian view of God is that he holds supreme power. God is not elected. He can issue whatever commands he thinks fit, whether we like them or not. He has the power to demand obedience, whether we like it or not. If God so chooses, he can punish human beings for failing to keep his commands. God can intervene in the world, and in human affairs, for his own purposes, and he can choose to act in ways that run contrary to human desires and ambitions.

      In some respects, the problem of God’s power sometimes seems to be made worse, not better, by the fact that God may sometimes appear not to exercise that power. Powerful events often seem to unfold in the world without any intervention by God. Governments rise and fall, earthquakes and floods wreak havoc, rulers oppress their people, and babies are born disabled—all in

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