One of the things that I learned as a young pastor in the church was that God is all the “omnis,” that is, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent. In non-fancy theological terms, God is all-knowing, always present, all-powerful, and all-loving.
I recall sitting in the connecting chairs (not pews) and hearing our pastors share about these omnis with convincing gravitas. And then performing theological and scriptural gymnastics to try and resolve the tension of God being all of the alls but still a notion of evil running rampant in the world.
The argument is set: Is a God who is all-loving a God who would allow evil to have its way in the world? Is God genuinely all-powerful yet somehow unable to stop evil? Is God directing evil for some sort of greater good? If God is all-knowing, why doesn’t God intervene before those events occur? How is allowing suffering part of an all-loving God?
At some point, these questions seek to defend God and God’s omnis rather than honestly wrestle with God and the problem of evil. In some way, God becomes an allower of harm so people can turn to that God. I refuse to believe that the trauma I endured as a child was somehow part of a loving God’s plan to get me to then worship that God. That doesn’t sound like love to me.
In these classic arguments, God is somehow the victor of evil, and the contradictions are explained away. Usually, these arguments end by drawing from Isaiah 55:8- 9, which talks about how God’s ways are not our ways. This is a narrative that needs to end. Isaiah 55 is explicitly talking about God having compassion for the people that we don’t want to. Read verses 6-7 if you don’t believe me.
We cannot dismiss away contradiction or controversy. These will always come to the light. Here is the problem with the problem of evil: we always begin our theological discourse with some sort of bias. The bias in these arguments is unfounded because the God in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures is not defined as omni-anything. God is described, however, as having power, knowledge, presence, and love.
But let’s reframe it.
In the well-known Exodus 3 narrative, God gives God’s name to Moses to give to the people. Some arguments have shown that the four-letter name for God that appears as LORD in the Bible is a riff on the Hebrew verb “to be.” So, declaring God’s name would be something like “He will be with you.” The “I Am” translation is a bad translation because the Hebrew verb “to be” does not have a present tense (in effect, it cannot be “I am” as a standalone statement”). This interpretation could be confirmed by Exodus 3:12, in which God denotes that God will surely be with Moses.
And so God goes with.
The idea of God having power, presence, love, and knowledge can meet the problem of evil like this.
God’s power meets people in the circumstances they are in. The challenge we all know all too well is that humans have agency and choice. It is part of our imaging of God where God shares God’s dominion with humanity. We are called to be stewards of one another, and we mismanage that power all the time. Thus, reconciliation, compassion, and love toward each other are needed. It is not that God commands everything that happens; it is that God meets us where we are. God’s power is not power-over but power-with and power-to.
God’s presence meets people in the circumstances they are in. The Psalmist reminds us that there is nowhere we can go where we escape God’s presence. However, that presence does not always equate to protection. Again, God, in some ways, has relegated power to us to be co-creators. Also, I don’t think God is inside and outside of time; God relates to us in “tensed time” in our past and in our present.
God’s knowledge meets people in the circumstances they are in. I put a pause here as this post is not about the nature of the future, which begins to go more into philosophy than theology. I have a few book recommendations for you if you want more on this. However, we see in various places that God appears to learn and respond to people in their decisions. The classic is “for now I know” in the story of the Binding of Isaac. Does God learn? Now, that is a post for another time.
God’s love meets people in the circumstances we are in. Back to power, power-over others is incongruent with love. The scriptural narrative reveals to us over and over again that God meets humans with compassion and love. When it comes to theology, always start with Jesus. More than empathy, God meets humanity with deep compassion and love. To nurture them and bring healing, help, and hope. God’s ways are not our ways in the sense that God chooses to have compassion and mercy on the people that we don’t want to. See the various Gospel stories where Jesus cares for those who can’t repay in perpetuity.
So why even write about the Omnis?
This post is part of my journey of faith and learning how we can authentically interact with God. It is hard for me to want to be part of a faith tradition that tried to justify the power of God when I have been powerless, mistreated, and more. I want to be part of the faith tradition where God witnesses those experiences, grieves with me, and brings about healing and restoration.
I’d love to hear your thoughts below!
"power-over others is incongruent with love".
This hit me. When I started learning about this idea, everything started to change for me. I started seeing dignity violations all over the place in the communities I was a part of, and seeing love is not present where domination exists. It's also an idea that bell hooks teaches on which has unraveled me.
This is so good AJ, thank you! I’ve been meditating on this same topic lately. Just 2 nights ago I said to David that all those Omnis I learned in Sunday school made God seen so distant, cold, impersonal…but through my personal experience that has not seemed true! And now I’m digging into Ex 34:6-7 which surely has to be the most accurate description of who God is since he himself is describing his character! And everything Jesus said and did of course, haha! But he only said what he heard the father saying and only did what he saw the father doing! Anywho, thank you for the helpful wording for wrapping my brain and heart around some of these tensions!