If You Have to Choose Between An All-Powerful God and an All-Loving God, Choose the All-Loving One

The Tragic Events at Sandy Hook Elementary Bring God's Nature Into Question Once Again

When studying at Trinity International University, I became good friends with one of the students there. He was gifted in philosophy and theology and we had many great conversations. I transferred to Biola University and He want on to seminary. We lost touch but reconnected about 10 years later. A number of tragic events had happened in his life and he had become a chain smoker, borderline alcoholic and borderline atheist. Even with the difference in world views, we still had great conversations - conversations that were stimulating and challenging for both of us. One of the issues we discussed was the problem of evil. How can an all-powerful God be loving if He allows evil in the world. "God can't be omnipotent and loving", he said. I knew he had heard all of the various arguments in order to solve that problem and for my friend, they all came up short. "Why don't you just start with with a loving God and go from there?", I replied. "Why would I want to?", he answered.

His question reflects a common feeling among Christians and unbelievers alike: If there is a God, then He must be all-powerful, or else he isn't God. I heard theologian R.C. Sproul say something very similar and the sentiment is echoed on Toby Jones' blog by his atheist friend, regarding the recent shooting:

Seriously, if god can’t intervene to prevent a senseless such as what occurred today, what the hell good is he?

My purpose in this post is not to debate the omnipotence of God, but to point out that this line of thinking reveals a disturbing relationship with God. Even if God is not all-powerful, I think He still qualifies as the most powerful force in the universe. Why wouldn't you want Him on your side? However, the answer I gave to my friend's question was, "Because of His love!" If your relationship with God relies solely on His ability to control all things, then you are missing out.

Being part of a charismatic church, I get to see God intervene in people's lives on a regular basis. When you have an encounter with God, you realize His love is incredible - not because of what He did but because of who He is. There are those who warn against the dangers of "experience" and those warnings have their place but with out experience, any relationship, whether with God or your spouse or your children, would only be abstract. The interesting thing that I have found, is when you encounter God's love, His power tends to show up as well.