When we begin believing there are simple explanations for the happenings of the universe, we are in dangerous territory. Physics is not simple. The complex nature and enormity of the universe is not simple, the ecosystem is not simple and so forth. So when I hear a theologian or philosopher talk about how simple reality is, I know He’s not talking about anything God made. When you analyze God’s art, it is not simple, it is extremely complex. In fact, the more we know about our reality, the more we understand it’s infinite intricacy.
We like simple explanations of reality because we like control. We want to stuff the complexity of the world into our little minds because if we can hold it all in our minds, there is no mystery. But God did not give us control over the complexity of the cosmos. 
He gave us limited control over ourselves, and those whom it is appropriate we care for, children and so forth. We get to choose where we pee, for instance. And to some degree we get to choose where our children pee. What we don’t get to control is who goes to heaven and who doesn’t.
In my twenties, I thought I understood God. I read a book or two and then believed my limited knowledge of God was all-encompassing. I defended my understanding of God with passion and even anger. I’d associated my identity with my answers and defended them as though they were part of my redemption, part of the portfolio I’d eventually show God that might impress Him so He’d let me into heaven. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to believe I don’t know everything about God. And not only that, I’ve had to admit and confess my desire to know everything about God was really about control. God does not give us comprehensive knowledge about all things.
I’ve become very comfortable answering questions by saying “I don’t know the answer to that. God gives us limited information, but here is what He’s chosen to tell us….”
I’ve given this answer to very complicated and contentious questions about the afterlife, about whether people interact with God here on earth, about state sovereignty and too many other issues to talk about.
Do right theological answers matter to me? Absolutely. Do I believe there are right answers to hard theological questions? Of course I do. Do I believe God has given us the answers to all the tough questions? I absolutely do not. I think God has given us limited information, much like a father does His children, giving them more information as they need it for their stage of life. I’d consider earth a kind of infancy, to be honest. I don’t think we are given much.
The issue to me is, then, about trust. Do I trust God? Do I have faith in God? Do I love God?
I often meet people who trust their answers about God, but it doesn’t seem like they trust God. When they but up against the unknown complexities of life, they find security in their own answers. They love their own minds.
G.K. Chesterton said mathematicians go mad, not poets, because mathematicians try to build a bridge across the infinite, while poets swim in the sea.
Job asks of God some very difficult theological questions. His friends attempt to answer Job’s questions, but they get it wrong. They are controlling and assume they can read God’s actions through a theological grid. But they are wrong. When God finally addresses Job’s concerns, God does not answer Job’s questions at all. Instead, God puts on a show of force and power, and humbles Job. God asks Job who stores the snow every winter, who stops the waves from taking over the land. And Job responds by saying that life is too wonderful for him. God simply wanted Job to know that He was trustworthy. God did not want Job to have all the answers. Job wanted control. God had control. God wanted Job to realize He was in control, and wanted Job to find security in that, regardless of his circumstances.
mmm…good stuff…
I really like the answer that you give to a complicated questions. It rings true to me – honest and humble…but not lackadaisical.
Hey Don,
Interesting topic. I have some thoughts I’d like to share and am seeking some clarity on somethings you wrote. If you have the time.
Firstly, I would argue that simplifying reality is a means to make sense of a complex world, not necessarily to control it. I have no urge to control nature, or the cosmos, but rather to try to make sense of it all, to make sense of my own existence and my part in the complexities of the planet I live in. It is still a mystery to me, and I understand I do not have the capacity to see it’s entirety. Can there not be mystery and understanding together?
Secondly, If God wants us to trust him (love him) then why would he have created us with the complex minds that we have. Our minds require us to categorize the reality we experience in order to make sense of the experience. If that’s not a good thing then why even create our minds to function this way? Though I may trust God completely that doesn’t mean my mind is turned off, I’m still going to process and create understanding of my reality.
I don’t see how it can be so black and white?
Also, I’m a little confused about what you wrote, that “the more we know about our reality, the more we understand it’s infinite intricacy.” I agre with this statement, it about evolution of the mind. But then you wrote: “my desire to know everything about God was really about control”, which you said, control, was not a good thing. Could you clarify? I desire to know everything about God, but I don’t see that as wanting to control God, if indeed that is what you meant by it being about control. I desire to know Him fully, I don’t see what is wrong about that? I see that I may never know Him fully, but why should that stop me from pursuing Him?
I also don’t agree with your statement about us having limited control. I don’t think we have control over ANYTHING. We have choice which I view as different from control. We don’t get even really get to choose where we pee. I would rather pee outside but I am confined to use a toilet indoors because of society’s mores around hygiene, which dictate that “choice”.
Or am I completely missing your point?
Marci
I just wrote a comment underneath yours. I think your trains of thoughts are very interesting and it seemed interesting to discuss about it. If you have any further thoughts about it I’d be happy if you’d share them with me.
carina
I read your post with a deep degree of interest.
In a lot of ways I agreed with that what you were saying. We don’t have the answer to all the questions God gave us. However, a lot of people think so and often I feel “extreme” followers of Jesus think they have all the answers you and I perceive as we don’t. How do they know? Why do they think they know God better than me or others? After a death of a really unique awesome friend with down syndrom (gosh… he was so funny and didn’t even try as most people do) I said to my friend I don’t understand why he died so suddenly. It confused me. He was just as old as I was – 20 years. Her respond: “The mind of God is so vast and expansive”. It upset me.
Often I get the feeling people stop thinking of themselves if they think they know all the answers to God’s tough questions. They are running away from the complexity of our minds and life. They push nothing saying phrases it front of all the open question and if you get to a point at a discussion where they can’t respond they’ll say: “God has His reasons”.
However, I never thought if that is all about control as people are naturally in desperate need of power. Is it trying to have power over God… who knows.
I feel I don’t have any answer to these questions and I’m far away from being wise. The only thing I know so far. It doesn’t matter how complicated I am or the world is: He just wants me to love others and I think this is a better start for some people than philosophing about God’s questions and already way too hard for a life time
I also read the very interesting comment from Marci. Marci, did you ever think about that you have the choice to go outside and pee? Try it – you actually do. We have every choice in life, but they are always consequences to what we do. We get affirmed for “right” choices and punished for “wrong” ones. This is why we are not free, but you have the choice to do your business outside.
Like Marci I also wondered often why my mind is able to be too complex to just simply to trust God. When I started to live with some “hardcore believers” I feel my mind got opened a little. I think God wants me to quarrel with faith. I lost my faith for a couple years and I was sitting in church saying all these things we have to say. I never really understood them until I learned to speak English (I’m German) and had to learn these things again which came in German just out of my mouth. I’m still struggling and will do that probably and hopefully my entire life, because as long as I’m struggling I will questioning the existence of the universe. When I stop struggling with God I won’t think as much about faith anymore – I will take it for granted and I don’t think I should take God and faith for granted. To trust God means to me to stick with him in rough times my mind doesn’t want to trust him and because I trust God because I just trust him.
Alright… did that make any sense? I don’t think too many people are going to read that.
carina
Hi Carina
Thanks for your comments.
To answer your question.. Yes I agree that we do have the choice on a number of things in life (i.e. peeing outside) actually life is one big choice. I guess my point was that in North American society peeing outside is definitely more than just frowned upon, there are laws (at least here in Canada) that prohibit people from urinating in public (for obvious reason). But I definitely take every opportunity when I’m hiking in the backcountry to pee outside (there’s really no other place to do so in the backcountry).
To further the conversation about control, I think people who believe they have control over some or all aspects of their life are in denial of the reality of that control.
i’m ok with not knowing why things happen, or knowing only facets of God’s character. Though I continue to seek His face, knowledge and wisdom, I realize I may not ever know the answer to an experience I have in my life.
I like your idea of quarreling with faith, that to experience challenge in our faith journey is a positive thing. I think it molds into the creature we perhaps were intended to be in the first place.
[...] Not only are Donald Miller’s books phenomenal, but every day he seems to write something brilliant. (I have a little bit of a crush. ) He wrote a post recently about the infinite complexity of creation. [...]
Happened on to a tough article about you from Mike Adams at http://townhall.com/columnists/MikeAdams/2010/06/14/who_knows_anything_anyway. I don’t think he’d agree with you on the complexity issue! Not sure he’d agree with you on much of anything.
I think you’re right about that. He certainly has a sharp tongue and some strong opinions.
Mike Adams, hmmmmmmmm….NOW I think I know what a clanging symbol sounds like.
I like your spirit. I note that it offends Mark Adams so much he had to throw out Blue Like Jazz and light up a cigar. Poor man. Good call in not mocking him. Fish. Barrel.
Thanks Michael. I really do wish him the best.
I hate to write here, but i don’t know where else. Here is my concern:
In the last three days i have been hard hit with the accusations of the emergent/emerging church. I am not apart of it, but I have been reading one of Rob Bell’s books this week, hence why it is hard-hitting. I have an RSS feed for this blog, and I got the “Response to Mike Adams,” another accusation about the EC, so I am bothered.
When I clicked the link to finish reading the blog entry, the page was no longer available which makes me curious and a little suspicious. Now I don’t think Don is apart of the EC, and is much more fundamental than people think, with a great imagination. I love his ideas and writing.
However, another thing that bothers me is some of the comments made in the Don’s blog. He says that Mike Adams accused him saying some of the events in “Blue Like Jazz” didn’t happen, mentioning a name “Summit Ministries.” Once again, this hits close to home because i am familiar with a “Summit Ministries.” However, when i went to MIke Adams article, he mentions nothing of this. Adams briefly accuses Don about “who knows anything anyway?” but then moves on to Rob Bell and Brian McLaren.
I am not accusing at all, and like I have said, i like Don’s work. However, this has been an interesting three days being confronted in this manner, a few different times. I just want these questions cleared up. Hopefully, this is a mistake on my part.
Tim,
Thanks for this. Townhall.com removed the blog you are speaking of by the time you heard of it. I then removed my response. So when you went to that blog, you were reading last week’s post.
I appreciate your concern. To be honest, I don’t know what the beliefs of the emerging church are, and I don’t attend one. And I have enormous respect for Summit Ministries and the people there. ENORMOUS RESPECT. We may not agree on everything, but they are an educational institution, so I can’t imagine anybody does considering their wide scope.
I think the blogger you are speaking of had heard some things second and third hand, and went after me. I’m hoping it’s all clear now. Thanks.
I appreciate your response. This is the answer I was expecting and hoping to get. I actually attended SUMMIT MINISTRIES a couple years back, so I know what you mean.
Thanks for the post, Don. I’m new to the faith and a cerebral type, to boot. Your post spoke to me where I am right now, in terms of reconciling the limits of my intellect with God’s awesome complexity.
It’s tricky, isn’t it? The more you seek Him, the more grist you find for your intellectual mill. Einstein may have been speaking poetically when he said, “I want to know God’s thoughts, the rest are details,” but he articulates a very real–and often disguised–temptation of the flesh.
Marci, you raised some good questions in your post, but, with respect, I think you may be simplifying a couple of Don’s points. You wonder why God has given us complex minds if He just wants us to trust Him. But I read Don as saying only that God has placed a limit on what we can know, not that we aren’t to seek knowledge at all:
“Do right theological answers matter to me? Absolutely. Do I believe there are right answers to hard theological questions? Of course I do. Do I believe God has given us the answers TO ALL the tough questions? I absolutely do not.” [emphasis added]
I think that in giving us such complex minds as He has, God invites us to use them to know as much as we care to. But, eventually, we will reach a point at which we must either trust God with the mystery, or risk madness like Chesterton’s mathematicians. It’s been that way from the beginning. Ultimately, we must simply accept that we are not to eat the fruit of a particular tree, without knowing exactly why.
You also write of how you yourself seek to know God fully, but without any desire to control Him thereby. I think Don would completely agree with you on that. I read him as saying the problem is that we DON’T seek to know God fully. We seek a workaround to such intimacy through knowledge of the creation instead. Which God in His wisdom has made too complex for us to truly understand, thus driving us, however reluctantly, back to Him. He has lovingly frustrated our desire to substitute data points for trust.
Thanks Peter.
I agree with your statement about God placing limits on what we can know. And I was thinking about this more. When God created Adam he created him with a complex mind, and I suppose before “the fall” God’s intent for such a complex mind was to be used for His greater purpose, based on a Adam trusting God’s “bigger picture”.
I like the idea of not knowing. I didn’t before, but little by little as I put my trust in Him, He always proves Himself trustworthy. And the more comfortable I become in not knowing all the answers all the time or even some of the time.
Thanks for your insights.
I love you response to difficult questions–the world would be better if more folks would say, “I don’t know.”
I try to think of Jesus’ message as simple but not simplistic, and complex but not complicated. Example: “Jesus loves me” is a simple statement, and I’ll spend a lifetime unpacking its subtle implications. It’s also not complicated, though it’s infinitely complex.
Humans are about simplistic answers and adding layers of complication–Jesus is about simple/complex.
[...] One of the Marks of God’s Creation is Infinite Complexity [...]
Haha! G.K. Chesterton must not have hung out with a whole lot of poets.
[...] One of the Marks of God’s Creation is Infinite Complexity : “I often meet people who trust their answers about God, but it doesn’t seem like they trust God. When they but up against the unknown complexities of life, they find security in their own answers. They love their own minds.” More challenging thoughts from Donald Miller [...]
LOVE this blog. I honestly think this should go into a book and get published. I especially love the part about “The issue to me is, then, about trust. Do I trust God? Do I have faith in God? Do I love God?” AMEN. That is the question we should be asking. And I like the part where you bring in Job as well–so true.
…I also kind of agree with the person who laughed at G.K. Chesterton’s quote. Most poets I’ve read about committed suicide at the end of their lives or were at the very least extremely depressed. :/
Ah….Chapter 2 of Chesterton’s Orthodoxy…one of the greatest few pages of theology I have ever read…
[...] via donmilleris.com [...]