Retort to "Does God Have a Specific Plan For Your Life? Probably Not."

I don't know so much that I disagree with Donald Miller in his post. As far as my personal theology goes, I don't really know where I stand. What I don't like is the effect that I see his post having. If you want something really interesting to read, check out the comments people have left to his post. It's much more entertaining than the post itself. Depressing, though.

My summary of Don's post: God may or may not have a plan for your life; some of us are simply given a blank canvas and told to "Draw baby draw!" Okay. Theologically, I see this issue boiling down to a choice. Obviously, there's no right answer. What I mean is that I can look at life and scripture the way he did, or I can choose to look at life and scripture from another perspective. Each can yield a number of different theologies, each being just as easy to justify. I can argue and debate and defend in circles my whole life. I guess what I'm getting at is that eventually I choose either to accept this set of evidences or that set of evidences. So, maybe it may be more important to consider how a theology affects people. (This isn't one of those truth-is-relative-so-choose-what-makes-you-feel-best kind of messages, I promise)

Looking at the comments people left on Don's wall showed me a lot. Some people said, "Why is that such a HUGE relief to me?" I can see someone reading Don's post, someone that doesn't feel any strong pulls in this direction or that direction or any direction, and this theology bringing freedom, "relief" as that person said. For a lot of people, it probably takes the pressure off of life and decisions, gives people space to really live. Instead of thinking she has to wait around to hear God's divine voice saying "DO THIS," she can just live and trust that God'll be there. A theology like this can be very freeing.

Then there are comments like this one: "As a non-believer, I find the musings of believers regarding the true nature of god to be as relevant and substantial as the daily horoscope in your newspaper." This comment strikes me as very interesting. This self-classified "non-believer" clearly spent time reading Don's blogs and others' responses and then writing his own very eloquent rebuttal. His whole point was that the entire conversation regarding God's purpose for our lives was meaningless and a waste of everyone's time. And yet he's engaging in this very conversation, reading this blog. I don't know. Seems to me like he's searching for something...

And of course, the comment we've been anticipating, including reference to the world's most overly quoted scripture: "When I read Jeremiah 29:11-12 'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'–I don’t read that as a benign generalization. I believe my God is an intensely personal God, a father who is very interested in my day to day existence." I completely understand what this person is saying. Taking scripture out of context aside, this person clearly finds hope in a theology that values her. Her understanding of God--a God that has a defined plan for her life--gives her purpose. It gives her a net beneath her tightrope decisions. I see her as someone that needs something to cling to, something to give her a reason for life, to give her hope. For her, to really buy into a theology like the one Don sells is detrimental because it takes away that safety net. It robs her of her source for purpose, for meaning, and for hope. A theology like Don's can end up yielding a response like this one, left by another person on the discussion board: "If there is no plan, then why bother."

So back to the question: Does God have a purpose for my life? or am I free to paint my own portrait of life? I find this whole discussion extremely fascinating. However, I can continue to theorize, rationalize, philosophize...to expound on my theories...to take scripture from here and from there...to analyze these and those testimonies...to read what the big people say, the people with more knowledge and expressive eloquence than me...to speculate, and postulate, and estimate, and predicate...

or

I can look deep inside of myself and realize that ultimately I'm searching for something. Whether we promote this theology, that belief, this conviction, that interpretation, we're all searching for something, something to give meaning to our existence.