Process Theology (II) - a relational process not entity

According to the view of process theology, God is not an entity but a process. In such case, who is the one directing the process? If God is some kind of a “force”’ which influences directly or indirectly in forming the universe, where is this force first originated then? If every agent in the creation has its own free will as advocated by process thinkers, without the existence of a sovereign will to control or to govern the direction or the development of this so-called “process” there would be chaos in the world. Ultimately, there will be no “process” but problematic disorder in the entire universe.

Process theology seems to focus primarily on the creation aspect of the universe and its interaction on the changing environment of the world. It fails to offer a holistic view about humankind existence in this world. In process theology, humankinds are just passing through time as event rather than being materially or physically existed as substance or being. This theology is pretty much restricted to its own perception of an evolved world with hopelessness.

In traditional theism God is viewed as Creator of the universe, and He is transcendent. God is seen as absolute in terms of power, knowledge, and his presence in all eternity. God is outside of the creation, thus anything that happens within His creation will not change or affect Him. It is within His creation that freewill exists as part of His plan for the natural activities of the creatures. Such empowerment would make all the creatures to bear the responsibilities and consequences of exercising their freewill. God would not affect by the action or freewill of all creatures, however their decision would affect themselves and their surrounding. God, out of His love and compassion for His creation, intervenes for the goodness of His people.

Traditional theism albeit is not a perfect theology for our full understanding of God, it considers a wider scope of our relationship with this God who created the universe. Traditional theists look beyond God solely as just our creator, but He is also a God of providence, who supplies all the needs for the existence of His living creatures. He is not just a God who brings about changes; He lives in the heart and mind of believers. He is not merely a process as claimed by process theology philosophers, He created human beings according to Scripture in His own image that we both have the power to think, the faculty to will, and the ability to feel like He does. We do not have a full picture of why the devil exists as God is good. All we know is that the devil is a “created” spiritual being and there was once in time he chose to sin against God and was permitted to exist until his time to be ended.

Although I rejected the idea of process theology, this however, does not suggest that our understanding of God must be trapped within our present knowledge of Him. Indeed, as modern science continues to develop in many aspects of our life and as we gain a better understanding of our relationship to the surrounding nature and environment, we should further develop a holistic view of God’s wonderful creation. We, on one hand, absolutely do not wish to restrict the advancement of science because of our personal faith, on the other hand neither do we want to let our still limited understanding of science to become the worldview and overstep our faith to claim a Godless world. Amen.