Our role to play
When I first moved to Muskegon, I noted a strong emphasis among the religious community on a particular view of providence.
This view suggested that what is is what is meant to be. I always found that view off-putting, especially in light of some of the protest literature that we discover in the Bible, particularly the book of Revelation, some of the Psalms, and the gospel of Luke. Can you imagine telling the Germans that Hitler is what God wanted for them, or telling the Cambodians that Pol Pot was what God intended for them? The book of Revelation is one giant protest against the Roman empire, a protest that suggests that the Romans need to go and will eventually be gone. The point is don't give them too much power, because they won't be forever. I think there is room for a discussion of providence and what it means. But for me, it doesn't mean that everything that occurs is what God wants to happen. That isn't providence; that is determinism. We have a role to play to change what is happening.