Infinite Possibilities
The past doesn't determine the future
In our materialistic world, we’re inclined to view our present as being determined by chains of cause and effect. The ‘big bang’ theory in science is perhaps the ultimate example of this, portraying the world as entirely predetermined and lacking any kind of freedom from materialistic processes. But is this the reality?
From a theological perspective, we have to factor God into the equation, and consider His attributes and His relationship with present-moment experience. If an all-powerful God exists, who has the characteristic of omnipresence, then we can understand the being of God as encompassing the entirety of reality, a perspective sometimes known as pantheism.
To understand whether or not the pantheistic perspective is correct, we can ponder whether there is anywhere in creation that God is not. Divine omnipresence would mean that there is no atom anywhere in existence that is outside of the being of God. From this perspective, we can see the entirety of reality as contained ‘within God’ (panentheism), with the impossibility that anything could ever exist aside from, or separate from, His being.
You can perhaps ask yourself this question: Does it make sense to suggest that there are limits and boundaries to the being of God, or is His being limitless and boundless?
If everything that exists does so within the being of God, then it logically follows that He is in control of everything that happens. This is a radically different perspective from that of materialism, as it means that all events occur due to the divine will and not due to mechanistic causes and effects, as would be the perspective of some scientists.
If God is in control of all things, and if God is not constrained and has absolute freedom, it means that in every moment there are infinite possibilities available to Him and He can unfold events in any way He pleases. This perspective is both liberating and constraining — liberating because in every moment anything can happen, and constraining because there is no free will if all events are under God’s control.
I would venture to suggest that we do not live in a clockwork universe, but in a universe that is alive with the animating power of God.
Isn’t that a wonderful thought?