God’s Domain

Authored by Gary Jones

All theological arguments rest on the acceptance or rejection of just one premise: God is Sovereign. If we agree with this premise then a wide range of theological doctrines becomes reasonable from predestination to the resurrection. The rejection of this premise creates untenable positions in theological reasoning that in turn promotes many of our common doctrines and doctrinal disputes. Such doctrines are then generally embraced, defended, or refuted with some illogical argument based upon individual interpretation, and such a course is by its very nature capricious and unreliable.

Assuming God is Sovereign requires us to believe He has a plan behind ALL His creation. Omniscience and omnipotence would be two required attributes of any true sovereignty. Without perfect knowledge, any plan would be suspect and susceptible to uncontrolled events, an antithesis of any sovereignty and omnipotence. All perfect unrestricted knowledge would have information about the future, and with this foreknowledge, the initial plan would include all eventualities. Without infinite power, no sovereign plan could be realized. All events, in our past, present, and future would be, by definition, included in the plan and all future events would be, therefore, predestined. Thus, the plan for creation would have a purpose because all events are included in the plan; it is meaningless to have a creation without a purpose. A random creation, without purpose, is more difficult to reconcile than a sovereign purpose.

The finite trying to understand the infinite is impossible primarily because of the inability of any human to know anything about the future [Romans 11:33-36]. Temporal understanding is based upon a limited and distorted perspective of the present and an inaccurate view of the past. An attempt to improve any current resolution of available information becomes technically more difficult as the degree of focus narrows. The higher the resolution the greater is the gaps in the information. Assumptions and speculations become the only means to resolve the imagined ambiguity. Eventually, it becomes obvious that any attempt to understand the infinite is seen as an absurd task. However, because of our natural arrogance, we insert into our thinking the nebulous concept we call “belief” in an effort to pretend our assumptions are creditable components of our knowledge or to explain away our derived paradoxes. We often hear the excuse that some unexplained void in our constructions is but a mystery. Progressions of more plausible assumptions are offered to explain the ever-widening gaps in our knowledge and then we discover new paradoxes. Then before we realize it, we have a new philosophy or a new religion being born. We tend to embrace these new ideas because they comfort us and encourage us in our natural quest to be in control. When we take these formulated propositions seriously, we inevitably conclude that God is not sovereign and we are the real gods. Our lack of understanding about God’s methods and ways is no reason to create in our minds or in our theology a God who conforms to our limitations. The anthropomorphosis form of God is a common indication of human invention. The fact is --- we live in God’s domain and He makes the rules. This we try to ignore.

The dilemma we struggle with is trying to understand God’s ways while at the same time trying to maintain our control. What does this Sovereign God expect from us anyhow? If God would only tell us “clearly” what He wants, then we could fix the problem! Yet, He hides His wants in a confusing map of words and terms we do not understand. In addition, we are constantly trying to divide our world between what is God’s and what is our domain in order to maintain our control. We ask ourselves, in our heart-of-hearts, “Why can’t God understand that we control our own destiny?” However, if God is Sovereign then there cannot be two domains with two control centers. If God is Sovereign then everyone is in God’s domain. Such a divine rule, could not allow a totally independent will.

Since God’s domain is timeless, all creations within God’s domain would be completely known from the beginning. No event measured in a time limited domain could be unknown to an omniscient God. The time limited domain is but a subset of the timeless domain, which is the primary set. All events and thoughts about events in a timeless domain would be known independent of time, in God’s domain. This would mean the past, present, and the future would be immediately visible in God’s eternal NOW. A Sovereign view of the timeless domain would be complete without any unknowns. The shape and the continents in the time limited domain would be specified in the initial plans envisioned in the Sovereign mind. Such a plan must have a purpose, and such a purpose will eventually be fulfilled.

Each individual and event in God’s domain must have a purpose because such a plan could not be meaningless or useless. Otherwise, God’s domain would degenerate into chaos without order or symmetry. Therefore, if everything in God’s domain has a purpose hence evil must also have a purpose. Evil is the result of a design necessity for symmetry. Good is meaningless without an example of evil, an illustration of the antonym of good. God who is good could not create evil, but because of His goodness and because of His plan evil was allowed to come into existence to provide a contrast to His goodness. This contrast provides an enhancement in the viewing of God’s nature. This contrast is needed to give perspective to all who are created. The creation of those who are termed as objects of wrath is another facet of God’s plan and purpose. The development of this contrast is not a spontaneous action but a reaction to the presence of God’s design and teaching power.

We know from experience something about an important principle in this life --- how an event like dropping an egg to the floor will cause the egg to break. As we lift a weight, our legs push against our feet and in turn against the floor. These experiences are all about action and reaction. In a similar way, evil was the reaction to the presence of an all-powerful God on some of God’s created beings. The spoiled yoke from the broken egg of goodness was dumped on to the surface of this world. Thereby, this world becomes the harbor for evil. God did not create evil, but He was responsible for the design of the environment and of those created beings that reacted in a predeterminable way to His power. They were created to react just the way they did. Some have one kind of design response and others have another. This life is filled with examples of actions and reactions and cause and effects. We may say, “This is unfair” when considering God’s design variations [Romans 9:20, 21]. The principle always can be summarized as, God acts as the cause, and all of His designed creation reacts according to His will and plan. We do not have to understand it or explain it. Our choices reflect the causality of God’s eternal plan. Our choices are evidences of the cause of our reactions to our environmental stimulus. God’s actions promote these stimuli.

It is often argued that the causality principle in God’s plan destroys any possibility of human choice. This argument fails to recognize the benefits in life in making errors or the wrong choices. Our trial and error, our right and wrong choices, serve an important function in our learning process. These choices are our reaction to God’s initial action. Our choices are an integral part of our learning process. When we choose wrongly, we learn something, and when we choose rightly, we learn something. Our choices are but an indication of our reaction. God uses these reactions to teach us about His ways. When we think of these choices as the means of attaining anything for our selves we are misleading ourselves. Our choices are our reactions, and our reactions are our path towards new understanding. Being able to decide does not make us like God, even animal make decisions; this ability is a means through which we learn. Those who try to promote a division between those who believe in God’s sovereignty and the incompatible position of “free will” are confused about the mechanics of cause and effect. The invention of determinism and incompatibility theories is ignoring the fundamental principle in education. We learn by comparison and measuring our observations. We do not determine by our choices in any future event; our choices help formulate our future condition in the environment of future events. God initiates the cause and we are affected by the cause. Our will is the inhibitor and not the initiator of any productive change.

The possible variables involved in any set of observed circumstances affecting any decision-making are beyond anyone’s control. Who is in control is the salient question? Our will is not the answer. The Psalmist had it right when he wrote, “Teach me to do your will for you are my God” [Psalms 143:10]. Jesus taught us to pray, “Your will be done” [Matthew 6:10]. Simply, there cannot be two wills.

The consequences of our choices can be catastrophic or can be beneficial. This brings us back to our dilemma about knowing the difference between right and wrong, because we want to make the “right” decisions. From the Sovereign perspective, all decisions are known from the beginning [Ephesians 1:4, 5]. This thought is perplexing because it seems to mean there are no real choices, and if this is true then it is assumed we are preprogrammed to make the all decisions, right or wrong. However, this is not the way action and reaction works. The assumption that our decisions are independent from God’s plan and domain is the primary reason for so much confusion concerning our purpose and God’s purpose for His creation. Our purpose and God’s purpose for us is to be conformed to God’s perfect model, Jesus [Romans 8:29]. Conforming means to be changed from one form into another. This takes a process, or a series of actions, that affects the heart, mind, and soul [Matthew 22:37]. This process is worked by God during all aspects of life [Romans 8:28], which includes all of our learning decisions.

The Scriptures gives a lot of information about the contrasts there are between good and evil. This information helps us to appreciate more about God’s goodness and His faithfulness in keeping His promises. When we contrast or compare God’s actions against the ways of the world, we are able to see more clearly the hope implanted in God’s promises that are in a timeless domain devoid of all evil. This Scriptural perspective is so much deeper and wider than the assumptions promoting human actions and influence on the historical stage. To think that Moses decided to go to Egypt to free the Israelites is ridiculous. To believe that David had a choice in his confrontation with Goliath is absurd.

We struggle with the meaning of choice for a while and then relent to the consensus assumption that we naturally make our decisions through some intuitive process, which we do not understand. Out of this acquiescence, we evolve various theories about human responsibility and consequences. Fear and guilt are often incorporated into these responsibility lectures in an effort to motivate us to conform to standard rules and behavior. If we have an intuitive feeling about right and wrong, then why do we hear so much about fear of punishment and feel guilt about doing something we did not realize was wrong. It does not seem fair to suffer because our intuition is not sufficiently tuned or trained. Could it be we are being taught something simply untrue? Could it be we are mislead about who is responsible?

It becomes natural to assume God is not responsible for the fate of some and the reward of others. We must, by definition, hold God responsible for everything [Colossians 1:15-20] if we believe He is sovereign. Such a revelation as this disturbs all the things we have been taught. We have been taught to integrate into our thinking and our educational curriculum the a priori assumption that there is some immutable good embedded in everyone, and, therefore, all wrongdoing is the individual’s responsibility. It follows if this is true then our choices are the cause for our actions. From this assumption, a system of moral responsibility and consequences advances to a state where it is projected that our whole civilization rests upon individual moral choices. There is in this system an unexpressed doubting of God’s Sovereignty resulting from this wandering from the Scriptures and reason. In this line of thinking, human choice becomes the cause and morale actions become the affect. This assumption about cause and effect has created a philosophy that excludes God from the action and reaction process. This philosophy is one of the reasons so many believe that they are responsible for determining their eternal destiny. It is common to find in this wandering the belief that each and every individual is personally responsible for making a decision about a personal faith and thereby securing eternal life. The 19th century Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard called this personal decision a “leap of faith,” which has been adopted as truth by most Christian religions. This presumptive philosophy, based upon an atheistic reasoning of Emanuel Kant, holds to the belief that God, if there is a God, reacts to human action. However, there is no scriptural support for this philosophical conclusion. The difference between making a decision and following intuition is too often overlooked. We react to our environment and to what we have been taught in a comparative way, this is an immutable design characteristic. We are designed to learn by comparison. Everything we “know” is the result of comparisons in our observations. We learn by living, and learning is our purpose.

Any attempt to describe the anatomy of a decision is so complex it is almost impossible to even quantify. A decision is at least a four dimensional concept. It draws upon experiences, remembered or not; upon present impressions, real or not; upon future predictions, logical or not, and all of this is coupled with something called personal discretion, right or wrong. The process of deciding may take a little or a long time. The results may be good or bad, depending upon a short term or a long-term point of view. One thing that usually results from a decision is it has some influence on the next decision.

On close examination, we discover in our decision-making that each and every decision lacks any objectivism. Every decision is built upon subjective thoughts; this is why the results of our decisions are of personal relative importance. Other people’s decisions only become important when they affect us. Controversies start when subjective decisions of others are forced upon our personal domains. Our reaction to such an intrusion is to make a defensive or an offensive argument. This starts a cycle of disagreements, of arguments, of counterarguments. All to what end?

Those who claim that a decision can be objective are caught in a trap of wishful thinking. A true objective decision must be base upon irrefutable evidence, perfectly recorded information, and unassailable predictive model of the future. Such a combination of information gathering techniques are unavailable at any time in this world. There may be claims of objectivity but close examination will tell us this is simply untrue. The most sophisticated methodology in game theory contains some degree of subjectivity. The final selection of the optimum path is dependent upon a subjective choice. This existence of a subjective choice, usually, is recognized as some level of intuition. “I just know this is the right decision.” Such intuition is evidence to the lack of rational justification for the decision. Consensus and authority are very common justifications used in decision-making. “Everyone else is doing it.” Alternatively, “I was just following orders,” which becomes the foundation for most protocols and all risk assessments. These justifications can be described as group contagion or misinterpretation. None of our justifications for the decisions we make can be called objective decision-making.

Intuition is always present in our decision-making process. It has become politically incorrect however to admit that our decisions are based upon intuition. Such a claim could be interpreted as being weak or ignorant about our rational for making a choice. The irony in this intuitive decision-making is that it a universal cause behind all our decisions. Intuition is a part of our built-in instincts. We react to certain stimuli because of an inherent design mechanism built-into our nature to help us to learn about our surroundings and to protect us from our environment. In the process of growing up, we have accumulated a number of rules our instincts have taught us over time. These rules plus our ability to compare everything to everything is what we call knowledge. Our intuition emerges from this knowledge, and our knowledge emerges from our intuition. Our belief that we can decide is a product of this intuition-based knowledge growing process. The reason we cannot be objective is because our knowledge is closely linked to our intuition, which, in turn, is linked to our instincts. We learn and develop our knowledge base through making comparisons between our prior experiences and our observations with the information and past lessons we have in our knowledge base. As we develop this knowledge base, our beliefs become more entrenched and more difficult to change. Our subjective decisions and our intuitions develop more rules and opinions, which we call beliefs.

This accumulation of rules and beliefs are a part of our personality and the envelop holding our decision-making ability. We become a product of all our experiences and thoughts rather than our will becoming the controlling force driving our experiences and thoughts. Our decision-making ability is fundamental to our continuing education. When we stop making comparisons and adding to our rule-based lessons is when we calcify into an un-teachable and stubborn individual. Our inherent instincts can play a part in such calcification if we are not careful. Our belief and rule structure can become a hindrance to our learning and our social acceptance.

When we become afraid of learning more and attempt to seek an unhealthy security in our little comfortable envelop containing our cherished rules, we loss an important part of our available freedom. In order to be free of the self-satisfaction found in our comfort zone is to “decide” to seek new sources of information. Such searching can be dangerous in the current knowledge-base environment if our source for information is not substantially founded. This is where God’s word becomes invaluable. God’s word is always new and is always teaching lessons that are beneficial to decision-making abilities. It is the only source of information that does not change with the whims of our environment. It has been challenged for millenniums without any significant change. In addition, God’s word produces good decisions and good rules.

However, there is one caveat that needs to be qualified before the reading of God’s word can be used as an effective means to improve decision-making. The interpretation of God’s word must be under the guidance of God’s Spirit. The Bible is just an assortment of words and sentences without the illumination provided by God’s Spirit. Under this divine guidance these words and sentences takes on a divine life and becomes God’s breath [2 Timothy 3:16, 17]. The same passages no matter how simple are miraculously changed into new meaning with a depth of understanding unheard of before God’s Spirit becomes the interpreter. Old and consensus formed knowledge changes into a fresh and new perspective, and we begin to question some of those previously held beliefs taught to us by those with their own agenda [2 Peter 2:18, 19]. The very definition of belief comes under scrutiny and a new view of decision-making start to affect our thoughts and actions. We begin to understand that God is the one who works the coming of true belief [John 6:28, 29, 37]. The principles once held as sacred sometimes become questionable and the Scripture become real as the guiding authority. God’s Sovereignty starts to make sense and this thought begins to influence all our thinking [Romans 8:28]. The revelation that emerges from God’s word is that God is the one who is acting and we are just reacting to His will. This is an amazing revelation mostly because we are taught, from our first awareness, that our actions influence everything around us, even God. This type^ self-determination in our thinking and in our culture is slowly eradicated by God’s Spirit when we are listening to Him, and we begin to learn how that many of our legacy teachings are not scriptural.

Could it be true that we are in God’s domain and God owns our entire domain? When such a realizations as this begins to surface, we commence to think and act differently. The questions we ask about our purpose changes into questions about God’s purpose. Our crises become trivial in comparison to God’s will. These attitude and thought adjustments are not accidental or self-cultivated. These changes are the result of God’s plan and preparation --- all under the leadership of His patient and loving Spirit. It does not matter any more whether I am free to decide or that I am controlled by a plan outside of my purview. There is a peace in the realization that God is in control and He is training me in His way and in His time. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.” [Palms 23:1] This is David’s mature and knowledgeable statement, he had learned about God’s domain the hard way, one day at a time.

The following are some scripture passages emphasizing the supremacy of God in God’s Domain:

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” [Psalms 23:1-3]

“Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. Good and upright is the LORD; therefore, he instructs sinners in his ways. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.” [Psalms 25:4-9]

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.” [Psalms 32:8-10]

“When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” [Psalms 73:21-26]

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” [Psalms 119:105]

“My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” [Psalms 139:15, 16]

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” [Psalms 139:23-24]

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” [Psalms 143:10]

“Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, --- This is the way; walk in it." [Isaiah 30:21]

“See, the Sovereign LORD comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” [Isaiah 40:10-11].

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them” [Isaiah 42:16].

This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go” [Isaiah 48:17].

“… to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." [Luke 1:77-79]

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one." [John 10:27-30]

“But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” [John 14:26]

"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me.” [John 15:26]

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.” [Ephesians 1:11-14]

“It is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” [Philippians 2:13]

^“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. [Colossians 1:17, 18]

“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit--just as it has taught you, remain in him.” [1 John 2:27]