Did God Choose 

George W. Bush?

A Theological Case Study

by David R. Larson

For other exchanges on this topic, please click here.

A friend and I are enjoying a continuing debate about the outcome of the last presidential election in the United States.  George W. Bush was the first choice for neither of us; however, now that he has won, we apparently have different views about how God might have been related to the process that put Mr. Bush in office.

If I understand my friend correctly, he holds that the circumstances that led to the presidency of George W. Bush were so improbable that in his election even those of us who favored someone else should recognize the leading of divine providence.  To me, such theological views needlessly pour salt into the wounds of political defeat!

But how does God relate to the universe and all those in it?

This question can be of no interest to those who believe there is no God and to those who hold that God is something that exists only in our own thoughts and feelings.  But my friend and I  agree that, even though we cannot prove it beyond the possibility of reasonable doubt, the accumulation of evidence we have seen tips in favor of the view that God is objectively actual.  For us, therefore, the question before us is both interesting and important.

His position would be easier to understand if he held that God is the Sole and Whole Determiner of All Outcomes.  My father, for instance, once told me of a book that claims that God decides everything, right down to details such as that this hen in this barnyard will ingest this grain of corn rather than that.  But I know from many conversations that this is not my friend's view.  His is the more subtle position that God's creatures possess at least some freedom and that, even though God foreknows everything each one will ever do, God does not determine these outcomes solely and wholly.  I would not have been surprised, therefore, if he had taken the position that, even though God did not pick George W. Bush, God has known from all eternity that Mr. Bush would succeed Mr. Clinton as president of the United States, something I doubt.  

My friend is saying that, but he is also saying more.  His position seems to be that in this instance God not only foreknew who the next president of the United States would be but that God also determined the outcome of the election.

I think a major source of our apparent disagreement may be the relative emphasis we each place on thinking of God's involvement in the universe as "intervention" or "participation."  Perhaps he puts more emphasis on the first figure of speech and I put more on the second.  As I have indicated else where, I do not find it helpful to think of God as keeping a respectful distance away from us and stepping in, as it were, only when things are serious enough to require a divine intervention.  I think Christian Scripture and other sources of wisdom often portray God as The One who participates as The Influence working for good in every moment of every life. (Romans 8)  This is what I mean by "divine participation."  It is the ongoing involvement of God in all the ups and downs of each living being throughout the entire universe.and 

This suggests that no event, including the recent election of George W. Bush to the presidency of the United States, is wholly without the positive influences of God.  However, there are other influences that also contribute to every eventual outcome.  One of these is the almost overwhelming power of the past.  If it were not for God's ability to liberate us somewhat from its power by prompting us to consider, and then to bring into being, alternatives we otherwise might never have considered, the past would always win.  A third influence is the measure of self-determination each living being, and especially each human person, possesses.  Any occurrence, therefore, is the convergence in some configuration of (1) the power of the past, (2) the positive influences of God's presence and (3) the way in which the pertinent individuals exercise the measure of freedom they possess.

Although this is how I now see things, I do find it difficult to imagine what God looks like.  I tend to think of God's participatory presence in every moment of every life as something like a magnetic force that tugs us all towards itself. God is much more personal than a magnet, however.  Also, all those whom this Influence draws to Itself usually have far more freedom to resist, or even reject, its tugs than do the metal filings that all line up and then move toward the magnet that has been placed near them.  Furthermore, even if the idea of a magnetic force is a helpful analogy, it speaks only of God's positive presence within the universe and not of the ways in which God surpasses the universe as a whole. 

"And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.  And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy." (Exodus 33)

So what about the recent election?  My view is that like all other events it was the result of at least three factors:  (1) the almost overwhelming influence of the past, (2) the positive influence of God (3) the helpful or hurtful exercise of the measure of freedom possessed by all those who were involved.  

I leave it to others to decide which of these three factors was most decisive!