I Played God...But the Critics Panned Me!

To control is human. From the moment that Adam set out to order the Garden, the human enterprise has been one of control. We try to control our lives, our personal environments, and hopefully ourselves. This is natural and good.

We live in a world that is, to all appearances, out of control. Think of the recent weather in Oklahoma. We are often in job-settings and even families that are chaotic and threatening. Children in unstable families are often noted for excessive tidiness, while children in secure homes are just as often human pigs. Such a world means we do not have to argue for a reasonable control and order of things.

It is when we move to the realm of human relationships that the issue of control becomes sticky.

Some people, for a variety of reasons and pathologies, are inclined to the excessive control of the people in their lives. Thus, the "Jewish mother" and the "control freak" have become idiomatic in our speech. "He has control issues," we are told; we are expected to understand this; we think we do.

The fact is, we are all inclined to this kind of control over others. We just express and enact it in different ways. The different ways are "Legion" and are just as demonic. Guilt, shame, fear, intimidation, deceit, manipulation of another's lusts and desires, superstition, God, heaven, hell, rewards, punishments, self-interest, self-preservation...and on, and on. Human beings employ all of these in our quest for mastery and control over other human beings.

To put it in another idiomatic phrase, we all "play God."

Now, this is a misnomer and an irreverence if truth be known. In a way that takes our breath away, God respects our freedom, our individuality, our uniqueness, and our humanity. He is not a control freak. This is, in part, because he does not share our fears and insecurities.

Religious people, because they think they have a special link to God, can be the very worst control freaks. Mark Twain excoriates a certain Buffalo, New York minister by saying "he acts as if he is awaiting a vacancy in the Trinity so that he can take the seat." Good old Mark!

This is one of the really ugly faces of religion. And this is why religion is so often taken captive by people who want to control their families, their communities, their cultures, even the world. This motivates both the Jihadists and the Christian Right. It can also motivate Tom Jones and Mary Smith. And, too often,does.

Christian control freaks are just that...freaks. This is a contradiction of terms. Christians are supposed to believe in the sovereignty of God, in his wise and loving providence, in his purpose that is being inexorably worked out, even in a world that looks out of control. But, of course, the fundamental Christian truth is the truth of human sinfulness and stupidity. We are sinful and stupid. I am sinful and stupid. This sinful stupidity shows up in my ongoing quest to control other people.

This thing shows it ugly face among Christians in a plethora of ways. It is seen in manipulative evangelism, where I make friends to make converts, where I play on people's vulnerabilities to get them to "come to Jesus," and when the churches use marketing tactics and strategies to "get people saved." It is seen when Christians abuse the trust of those in their care to get them to do things they themselves are uncomfortable with. This results in anything from control over another's time and finances to the sexual violation of boys and girls.

This last thing can be most dangerous in the way we give spiritual direction to others about Christian vocation or calling. For over a century, the American Evangelical churches have been enmeshed in a personality cult. We have had our "stars," from Billy Sunday to Billy Graham, from Lottie Moon to Sandi Patty. All of which has led us to believe that "everyone is special, but some people are "more special than others." Those who are "more special" are those in "full-time, professional Christian vocations," such as preachers, singers, missionaries, etc. And, among these "more special" people are the "Most Special." These are the "stars," those specially gifted people with charismatic personalities. I don't think I need to mention any names at this point; just let your remote control surf the channels on any Sunday morning and you'll see what I am talking about.

The message we, who are Evangelicals, are sending is this: This is the best place to serve God. These are the marks of God's blessing: Fame, wealth, influence, distinction. Some of these celebrities are brash enough to even say such things out loud.

Now, the only thing that is wrong with this picture is this: it is a lie. It is a complete fabrication. It not only has nothing to do with the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles, it is a demonic replica. It is like a blow-up doll as compared to a real woman.

We have come to this place because we wanted to play God. We did not trust him, we did not trust his Word, we did not trust in the gentle, subtle methods of integrity and love, and it has brought us to this weird, grotesque place. It is like a stage in the theater of the absurd, where a new polytheism reigns: all these little maimed and disfigured people trying to play gods, each writing his own script, each unaware of the babbler next to him, each lost in his or her own babblings.

The problem is we have had no real theology of spiritual direction and in inventing our own, we have been left prey to the cult of self. We end up being manipulated and manipulating others, controlled and controlling others.

There is a better way and I want to give you one example of this from the life of Saint Paul. I his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul speaks of his co-worker, Apollos, and says,

"Now, concerning our brother, Apollos, I strongly urged him to
visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his
desire to come now. He will come when he has opportunity." 16:12

Here is an apostle with apostolic authority from the Lord Jesus Christ. He "strongly urged" Apollos to go to Corinth to work among these troubled churches. Apollos, for whatever reason, said, "Sorry, but I don't want to go." Paul says, "OKAY..." and then writes, rather apologetically, to the church explaining why Apollos has not come.

No manipulation. No control games. No "pulling rank" as the Lord's apostle. There is here a staggering example of someone respecting the freedom, the uniqueness, and the individuality of another human being who is also a Christian brother. In granting Apollos his freedom, Paul finds his own and avoids playing God.