In several recent posts I implied a connection between God and our broken world. So here we go . . .
I have encountered numerous individuals who reject the God-concept due to the apparent inability of such a God to prevent our world from becoming so broken. “Surely, if God did exist, he, she, or it would not have allowed the world to become so fragmented and evil.” There is merit in such a criticism, but only if God is not infinite. While that sounds counterintuitive, in reality it is quite logical.
Let us begin with an assessment of a finite God. Such a God has constraints, boundaries, and limits. Such limits imply inadequacies. Because of these inadequacies, security would surely be of high priority. Control would be crucial to such security. Any deficiency in control would result in insecurities. Insecurities don’t get along with rebellions. Given these less-than-adequate characteristics, every effort would need to be made to squelch any variation from the rules and plans. Such a God is a controlling God: a finite God. A puny god (The Avengers).
Contrast that with an infinite God. The constraints, boundaries, and limits are nonexistent. There are no inadequacies. No insecurities. No need to squelch any rebellion or variation from the “rules.” For that matter, rules would be suggestions for our wellbeing, not demands that are followed with, “Because I said so!”
Our world is broken because God’s infinitude permitted it! When humanity boldly said, “We can do it on our own,” God politely backed off and gave us the reigns. The irony of ironies is that by attempting to own and control God’s infinitude we ended up losing faith in God’s infinitude. Wow . . .
As the previous posts show, either God is infinite or God does not exist at all. There is no in-between. But we tend to either reject God because we cannot wrap our heads around infinitude, or we construe a finite version of God, rationalizing that we worship the one true God. And, if there is in an infinite God, we tend to demand that “he” shows his infinitude on our terms and in our lifetimes! God’s infinitude is no more confined to time than it is to gender. To confine God’s infinitude to our meager lifespans and expectations is a rebuttal of such infinitude!
Most, if not all, of us live our lives either rejecting God for his finiteness, or accept a very finite version of God. It is a real dilemma. Both are limited perspectives. The confounding thing is that an infinite God is indeed capable of reaching into our finite realm, becoming finite, and touching our lives. That is precisely why we need God to become flesh. We cannot reach infinity on our own. We cannot restore this broken world by our might. Only the IICP (the Infinite Initial Cause with Personality) can, and, as we will see, in fact did. This God-become-flesh is in the business of restoration. And that, my friend, is infinitude!
-Sam Augsburger
Slices of God: Strange, Dimensional, and Fractal Perspectives on God and the Cosmos
