Does he or doesn't he?

And if so, how much? And why? And where?

Does God send the tsunamis? Help folks find lost keys? Clear up the skies for a wedding reception?

The amount and degree of God's intervention in the world may be the oldest theological debate. And today, more than ever, people wonder -- and worry -- about the answers.

On one end are those who believe in "God the watch maker" -- that Deity created the world, wound it up and now simply watches it run.

At the other end are people who believe the fingerprints of God are on every human action and endeavor. He rules through predestination.

Most believers stake out territory somewhere in between.

Historically, God has been seen as intervening significantly in the affairs of men. There was the Great Flood and the Tower of Babel in the Book of Genesis. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is said to have taken on the sins of the world -- perhaps the most breath-taking belief in God's intervention the world has known.

"In Jesus Christ, God intervened in the course of human misery, and through His Son He continues to do so," states www.truthortradition.com, owned and operated by Spirit & Truth Fellowship International.

Taken from the Fellowship's "Don't Blame God! A Biblical Answer to the Problem of Evil, Sin and Suffering" book, it stresses that Jesus didn't heal all the people of the world during his ministry in the Holy Land, simply all those that he could heal. That's because unbelief and a lack of faith were the limiting factors (Matthew 13:58).

Today, most Christians believe in miracles and have the faith to recognize them.

"What I have come to believe about God's intervention in my life is that it is often only in looking back that I see the hand of God," Dan Czaplewski states on TheChurchDoor.com, another resource of the Spirit & Truth Fellowship.

Czaplewski said he also believes God often works through other people to intervene in people's lives.

The Catholic Encyclopedia mentions that some people are unwilling to believe in divine intervention and that they seek scientific explanations for miracles, rather than accept the supernatural.

But some Christians believe we deny God when we refuse to accept his hand in our lives.

The Associated Press reported last summer that one survey showed 57 percent of American adults believe God's intervention could save a terminally ill family member even if doctors believed that treatment was futile.

But God intervenes at his discretion and according to his own timetable and knowledge, and that's where man has to have faith to accept those variables.

The Quakers are one of the best examples of accepting God's will.

"Quakers don't have a set doctrine, we leave it up to the individual ... each person might have different answers to these questions and that makes us rather unique," said Elaine Emmi, a Salt Lake Quaker and member of Salt Lake's Interfaith Roundtable.

"Also we are a very diverse group -- from being very Bible-based to being very agnostic and universal to Quagan (Quaker/pagan).

"But we believe in direct revelation, you might say direct communication with God without a go-between," she continued. "Our decision making is based upon asking guidance from God rather than imposing our own agenda. We are seekers -- at one time we were called Seekers of the Truth and the truth unfolds. In a sense, Quakerism is a 'living' religion.

"So you might say that is what faith is all about -- trusting that the outcome of a decision is based on divine assistance.

"Our Meeting for Worship for Business is a good example of this. We operate on a consensus format. And we try to let go of our personal agendas and make a decision by opening up to God," Emmi noted.

As for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they feel God is just a request away.

"The Bible is replete with admonitions to remember the mighty acts of God as he has intervened in history for his people," said Elder David B. Haight (Ensign May 1990, page 23). "We are witnesses of his mighty, intervening hand in the world even today."

More recently, Elder David A. Bednar has outlined the "tender mercies" of God, another aspect of his intervention to our benefit.


E-mail: lynn@desnews.com