Blog | Subscribe | Free Trial | Contact Us | Cart | Donate | Planned Giving
Log In | Search
facebook
rss
twitter
  • CURRENT
    • LIBERTY TO DO WHAT? Hadley Arkes and Rusty Reno join George McKenna June 1, 2022 in New York
      • EVENT: LIBERTY TO DO WHAT? With McKenna, Arkes and Reno June 1, 2022 at 6:00 PM
    • WINTER 2022 PDF
    • Winter 2022 Articles
    • NEWSworthy: What’s Happening and What It Means to You
    • Blog
    • INSISTING ON LIFE
    • Pastoral Reflections
    • About Us
    • HLF In The News
  • DINNER
    • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER 2021
    • Great Defender of Life 2021 Dinner Ticket
    • SPONSOR a TABLE at the Great Defender of Life 2021 Dinner
    • HOST COMMITTEE Great Defender of Life Dinner 2021
    • DINNER JOURNAL ADVERTISING 2021
  • ARCHIVE
    • Archive Spotlight
  • LEGACY
    • Planned Giving: Wills, Trusts, and Gifts of Stock
  • SHOP
    • Cart

Pastoral Reflections

0 Comment

Control?

28 Mar 2022
Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth
control, providence
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

 

Today, the desire to control—in both public and private spheres—seems to be intensifying.

Consider the pandemic. When it began, the public-health establishment told us the goal was to “stop the spread,” suggesting that officials believed they could control the virus by altering public behavior. Really? Covid was going to spread no matter what measures were undertaken to prevent it. Some of those measures might have slowed the spread. But that is all.

Consider foreign policy. Some officials thought that if the United States sanctioned Putin’s Russia, Putin’s military would not invade Ukraine. Those officials believed that economic sanctions could be used to control the military aggressions of a rogue nation. Small chance.

Consider the state of religion in Germany and Russia. German Roman Catholic bishops apparently want their church to resemble liberal-Protestant denominations in the United States. Russian Orthodox leaders apparently want to be puppets of Putin. But attempts to align their churches with secular dogma and power have ignited true and beautiful witnesses from traditional Catholic and Orthodox leaders in both countries. Those who would control their churches are clearly not in control.

In the personal sphere, consider birth control. Natural and artificial means of birth control are practiced, of course, to regulate (a nice word for control) conception. It would be interesting to know how many people in your extended family were conceived in spite of attempts to thwart it—birth control is much less controlling than is advertised.

Consider abortion. It is shocking that many use it as just another means of birth control. But in an abortion, conception isn’t being prevented; the life of an unborn child is being ended. This, so her parents may continue to go about their lives as they please. So that they can maintain control.

The urge to control has been around since Adam and Eve sought to be gods. Human control over nature came with the rise of science centuries ago. In our time, which venerates both science and the sovereign self (Richard John Neuhaus’s phrase to describe the autonomous individual), the urge to control has become the default position of most people, and of most institutions.

What is the alternative to our knee-jerk urge to control?

Providence. The notion—the reality!—of a loving God, revealed most fully in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, mysteriously providing for this world, and for each one of us, in ways that sometimes make sense and sometimes don’t. Such providence does not cancel human responsibility for doing what should be done, but providence humbles human responsibility.

Because of God’s providence, because of God’s provision, before attempting any task or project (small or large), our first act might be to pause and “Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10, NRSV)

In cultivating a sense of God’s providence, we learn how to let go of our urge—our lust—to control.

90 people have visited this page. 1 have visited this page today.
About the Author
Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth

 

Rev. Paul Stallsworth is the interim pastor of Sandy Creek United Methodist Church in Nashville, NC. He is also the president of the Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality and the editor of its quarterly newsletter Lifewatch. He writes from Wilson, NC.

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments will not be posted until approved by a moderator in an effort to prevent spam and off-topic responses.

*
*

captcha *

Get the Human Life Review

subscribe to HLR

Recent Posts

Abortion Extremism on the Loose

11 May 2022

Pro-abortion radicals are trying to intimidate pro-lifers

10 May 2022
Photo 48948354 © Natalia Bratslavsky | Dreamstime.com

Oklahoma House Passes Its Heartbeat Act

10 May 2022

CURRENT ISSUE

Anne Conlon Anne Hendershott B G Carter Brian Caulfield Christopher White Clarke Forsythe Colleen O’Hara Connie Marshner David Mills David Poecking David Quinn Diane Moriarty Dr. Donald DeMarco Edward Mechmann Edward Short Ellen Wilson Fielding Fr. Gerald E. Murray George McKenna Hadley Arkes Jane Sarah Jason Morgan Joe Bissonnette John Grondelski Kristan Hawkins Laura Echevarria Leslie Fain Madeline Fry Schultz Maria McFadden Maffucci Mary Meehan Mary Rose Somarriba Nat Hentoff Nicholas Frankovich Patrick J. Flood Peter Pavia Rev. George G. Brooks Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth Stephen Vincent Tara Jernigan Ursula Hennessey Victor Lee Austin Vincenzina Santoro W. Ross Blackburn Wesley J. Smith William Doino Jr. William Murchison

Pages

  • Issues
  • Human Life Foundation Blog
  • About Us
  • Free Trial Issue
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Planned Giving
  • LIBERTY TO DO WHAT? Hadley Arkes and Rusty Reno join George McKenna June 1, 2022 in New York

Follow Us On Twitter

Tweets by @HumanLifeReview

Find Us On Facebook

Human Life Review/Foundation

Search our Website

Contact Information

The Human Life Foundation, Inc.
The Human Life Review
271 Madison Avenue, Room 1005
New York, New York 10016
(212) 685-5210

Copyright (c) The Human Life Foundation.