Do we need a bigger God?

William Husker and Thomas Jay Oord argues for a "bigger God". What they mean by bigger is not about the physical size since God is spirit. Bigger here refers to "personal qualities" such as greatness. This move actually try to show how Open-Theism is more powerful than Traditional Theism. The God of openness is greater than deterministic God, that's the agenda of the book entitled God in our open universe. There are several criteria's of God of Husker and Oord that define God as greater in their theology of Open-Theism but let us mentioned two of those. First, His love grants space and degree of autonomy. Second, the misery are not planned by Him, He also journey with us in the suffering. These two reason are the logical consequences of God who also sail together with human in time, without also knowing the future for certain. For the proponent of Open-Theism, future is epistemically open. Future is not definite yet. At the worst case logically, the output can possibly surprise God yet but the end of everything in the side of history cannot surprise Him. 

The Open-Theism want to make God very personal and more loving. This conception is said to be bigger than the God of Reformers who seemingly cold and far away because He already determined everything whatsoever to passed, human have no freedom. Moreover, God is bigger in Open-Theism sense is that He work more in relational and providential way because He is with human in time and working together with them without forcing or determining anything in advance. He limiting his Knowledge of future, the future is now open for Him but he Knows the counter-factual and every possibilities of future, in which He can use to help us and intervene using the means of human effort, that is to say prayer. Pray can really move God in action. David Basinger a philosopher and Ethics at Robert Wesleyan College has put, "God decision of intervene is in part based on our petitionary prayer."

In addition, the problem of evil can be easily solved through this notion of the openness of God. God was not certain whether the creation will working or will be a total failure, He cannot be blamed for the mess for the limitation part. God cannot for certain whether freedom will be misused by human since future event hasn't come yet. Whatever happened, bad things and suffering all are because of us. As Greg Boyd says, the source of all evil is the free-agent" As interesting as it may seems, God, in open-theism has picturing God more like a mentor or coach than the Father. He guide us, He walk with us but he never "plan" something for our future.  At the end of the day everything will be okay so, trust Him, he will make things right together with us, only if we want to. God learn and grow with us therefore He is so real. There are philosophical arguments and Biblical arguments provided by Open-Theism. However, I invite every people to deal and reflect the text from Isaiah particularly of 41:23a as it written,"declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods". 

The context of the text was YHWH, challenges the false gods to prove that they are god by telling the future event. This is the clearest section on which God revealed Himself as God who is God through the means of foretelling the future event in contrast to false deity who cannot do the same thing. Partrick K Tull an Old Testament scholars  in his contribution to Oxford Handbook of Isaiah, God's Character in Isaiah says, "Deutro-Isaiah's argument that YWH alone can predict future is formulated in direct polemics against (Babylonian) gods....the evidence of prediction, which speaks of YHWH's sole and universal power over both history and future." Open-Theism as personal and captivating as it is fails to reconcile the very fact that God is the master of history and also future. Some may suggests, why we do not interpret the verse here as God challenge gods to predict the future in the fore-knowledge sense? since idols cannot do the act of fore-knowing as well.

Actually Isaiah 46:10 add the thrust more comprehensively which raises against that line of thinking. As It is written that God declare both "beginning" and "end" and of course we understand it as past and future. Moreover, when the Bible uses the word My plan and My purpose in Isaiah or many other books, those words are best understood as God knows the future through the means of pre-determining not only knowing something. He speaks and plans and bring them to pass in the course of our history rather than just know the possibilities because at the end, the fore-knowledge of God does not create anything. God plan and therefore he know rather than He know then afterwards He start to plan ("well, let see what we can do, out of this chaos without touching any freedom in humanity.")

How about the critique raised by Open-Theism of God as a "cold" being who already pre-determined everything? Again, this boiled down to the issue of determinism and free-Will. The big question is this, can we have genuine relationship and love in line with God who is sovereign and control and plan all things? Classical Christian and Jewish tradition have explained this complex reality and possibility through the means of analogy, a relationship between parents and children. The divine love is parental love at best. God care and have plan for us, His children who are weak, limited and also fallen. Although we may not understand why sometimes human face the unspeakable horror in life we know, this is for the best and God is always in control to make things beautiful in His time. 

The difficulties of us accepting the fact of determination is often time because we thing that enduring evil is better than perpetrate evil. This case is not conclusive and as we all know, not all evil are evil in the sense of output and benefit. The famous dictum can explain to us, no pain no gain. In sum, the greater and bigger God is not God who were limiting himself and journey together with us by the means of fore-knowledge and hence grant us more freedom to act by our own but I think, the greater God is the God who plan for the best and journey with us even in the deepest valley of the shadow as He did through the very person of Christ and the dynamic providence of the Holy Spirit. Freedom is not when I do whatever I like with God as spectacles but Freedom is to do whatever He like, in accordance to His will and loving plan. The God of Open-Theism is not actually bigger as Husker claim. He is God who keep trying to do the best to work on the solution by which he might had no way-out at the very moment. Why so? Simple, His purpose can be resisted by man and God does not always get what He want that is why Sanders call this as God who risk. But dare we hope to God who does not  plan for better future? What we can hope for God who also suffer and feels as badly just like us? Suppose somebody say, I do not have fixed plan for your life yet, I know the possibilities for your better future. My actions to help you is also depend on you decision. And by the way, I suffer just like you financially, physically, existentially. But trust me! What is our respond? Does this pastorally adequate?