I’ve been listening to Frank Peretti’s “This Present Darkness” on tape again. It’s a highly enjoyable book for the most part. Some of the theological implications make me wonder at times, though. I suspect part of that is just because I’m not a Christian. But a lot of it even makes me wonder how well it fits to a Christian perspective.
Take for example the one part I listened to on my way to work this morning. It takes place shortly after the church votes (but just barely) to keep Hank as their pastor. Hank and his wife, Mary, are sitting together in the kitchen of “Grandma” Edith Duster. Edith is one of Hank’s biggest supporters, and she spends much of this particular conversation encouraging Hank. In it, she makes the comment that if Hank wasn’t where God wanted him to be, he wouldn’t be accomplishing as much as he can. The more that I think about this, the more it seems like “divining” the will of God from mere circumstance. And to be honest, that strikes me as an odd, fickle, and possibly dangerous thing to do.
Back in my college years, I remember learning about the concept of “fleecing.” It’s a term used in certain Christian circles to describe a certain way of “testing” for the will of God. The idea is based on the Old Testament (from the book of Judges, if memory serves) story of Gideon and his fleece. In that story, God calls on Gideon to save the Israelites from the enemy (the Philistines, I think, but don’t quote me on that). Well, Gideon is doubtful and God offers to prove His desire for Gideon. One of God’s “proofs” involves a fleece that Gideon put outdoors overnight. This happens twice. During one time, the fleece is left bone dry while the ground is wet with dew. The other time, God causes the fleece to be wet while the ground around it is completely dry. Such a miraculous event helps to demonstrate God’s power and will for Gideon. Gideon then agrees.
The idea of modern day fleecing works the same way. A Christian decides on some sign that will demonstrate that a given choice is God’s will. This concept is actually demonstrated in another Peretti boo – “The Visitation” – where young Travis Jordan decides that God will show him when he is supposed to head out to join Billy Graham’s ministry by making it so that a banjo head he ordered arrives at the music store. In that story, Peretti demonstrates one of the great problems in fleecing; that is, the “sign event” is often something that is bound to happen anyway. So there’s no real proof that the event is just happenstance or a legitimate sign from God. And I know other writers and theologians who have given much deeper explanations on the problem with fleecing.
But it seems to me that Edith Duster’s comment is as much a sign of fleecing as any test involving a banjo head. It seems to me that it’s still a matter of relying on a matter of circumstance or circumstances – that may well occur on their own without God’s miraculous intervention – to determine whether one is following God’s will. It just strikes me as a shortcut to honest introspection and seeking the Will of God.
Now, I readily admit that part of my opinion on this is almost certainly influenced by my non-Christian views. In fact, I’d say it’s further influence by the fact that I’m a witch. After all, it seems to me that relying on circumstance to divine anything – be it the Will of God or some impersonal force such as Fate – flies in the face of underlying philosophy of my beliefs as a maker of magic. That’s why I have an equal problem with Neo-Wiccans who attribute their circumstances to fate and karma and then choose to passively live whatever life the world deems willing to give them. But it seems to me that the idea that something as fickle and highly susceptible to just about every influence as circumstance should be chosen as a litmus test for anything should bother anyone who remotely believes in free will and personal responsibility.
(Of course, the irony among some Christians is that many who will tell you that they must be in the Will of God because of all the good they're doing will then turn around in times of trouble and tell you that their tribulations are signs that they're in the Will of God because it's obviously Satan trying to keep them down. But that's probably a whole different entry.)