Is God a pessimist or an optimist?

So, is God a pessimist or an optimist?
How’s that for a Monday morning staff discussion!
Somehow as Deborah, our church’s Media Arts Director, walked into my office to tell me of some changes to our lighting for our new Christmas 07 stage design we ended up with this question in the air. I guess when you take a Berkeley educated engineer turned ‘post Sunday services philosopher’ trying to be marathon runner and sit her across the desk from a ‘thinks he’s a theologian’ who can’t figure out how to wire a plug let alone be bothered listening to how the new lighting might better show off his bald head ….but is a proven marathon runner – sparks might fly.
And they did …..but it was theological sparks - is God a pessimist or an optimist?

The question arose as we talked about Carolyn (my amazing wife) who always sees the positive and the good in all people. For Carolyn, its right at her core. Carolyn has a hugely optimistic outlook with regards to her fellow humanity. Deborah seemed to share this optimism. I’m not saying I don’t try to always see the good in people – but I guess I’m more pessimistic – I don’t always expect people to follow through on what they say, or deliver on their promises.

Here’s the weird thing – whether you are like Carolyn or like me – the issue isn’t whether or not people always deliver. Carolyn knows they don’t. The issue is – what’s our default position regarding our fellow humans?
What’s God’s default when he thinks about us?

Martin Lloyd Jones (a 20th century English preacher) once wrote “God only expects us to fail”. How’s that for pessimism. His premise revolved around the sinful nature we all have and either that theory or his own experiences told him that even our best placed intentions more often than not fail to match our actions ….and one out of one of us end up falling short of what we really want to be or do.

But is Dr Jones right? Does God only expect us to fail ….or is this a transferal of our own negative view of humanity, (or our highly Calvinistic understanding of human nature) onto God?
If we are made in God’s image – is God therefore not fully aware of what we truly could be …and every day he wakes up rooting for us to become it.

For this blog a theological answer is needed on this question. The theology revolves around the questions of ‘what has sin done to our souls?’ What is sometimes termed 'original sin' or 'inherited corruption' the blunt bible truth is that we all have inherited sinful natures because of Adams sin. Both Catholics and Protestants hold to this truth [Check out our Google It, Part 3 podcast 'What's the difference between Catholics and Protestants'.] Have our natures that were created in God’s image been completed marred by sin? Some theologians call this ‘total depravity’. Due to The Fall and our sin everything within us is biased to head south ...and God knows it and remains the pessimist.
But there is another way to look at this. Does part of God’s image that we were created in remain unmarred. Could God be an optimist. Our human natures are sinful - the Fall has corrupted us all ....but has the image of God gone or has it been vandalised, graffiti'd over ...but underneath it still remains and God, the optimist, is waiting, hoping that people will rise to be what they could be through his redemption and salvation.

There's more we could write on this .....but you might tell that I'm edging towards the optimist rather then pessimist.

But there's one more theology worth considering - the very nature of God. In essence God is love. This is not an aspect of his character - this IS his very essence. So here's the new question- "Can love ever be pessimistic?" "Are lovers always optimists?"
I think the latter. That's both the thrill and the danger of loving. You give your heart away risking it might be hurt - but you still give it away - the action of an eternal optimist. Is that not what the cross is all about? Would a pessimistic God die for us? Now you might argue - well that's why he died for us because he is a pessimist and he knows all we do is botch up. But go too far down that road and you make the cross an act of burdened good will - not an act of selfless love.

If you go further down this path the theology again points you towards seeing God as an optimist not a pessimist.

So is Carolyn more like Jesus than her pastor husband?
Is the wannabe marathoner more revealing the image of God than the marathoner?
Is it more godly to be an optimist than a pessimist?

You could argue, from what we've written - on both counts - yes.
Or the pessimist might suggest ....... maybe God remains optimistically pessimistic (or is that pessimistically optimistic?)
Either way .....he remains a 'lover of the fallen' - which hits both the optimist and the pessimist.