http://baptistnews.com/culture/item/30096-popular-it-s-a-god-thing-phrase-reveals-troubling-theology-pastors-say
You may have used this popular phrase a few times yourself. Or maybe you’ve heard others say it when some unexpected miracle happens. “It’s a God thing.” But there are some who take issue with the phrase, or at least with how and when it is used — and when it isn’t used. One of them is writer and Texas pastor Shane Pruitt, who recently penned an article titled “Should We Be Saying ‘It’s a God Thing?’” for Relevant magazine.
“The great things that happen in our life — it’s a God thing,” Pruitt said. But here’s where Pruitt and other ministers part ways with the popular phrase. The catch, they say, is if unexpected windfalls are God things, then so must be those unexpected inconveniences and even tragedies. Lost a job or a spouse? “When things don’t go our way — it’s still a God thing,” Pruitt said.
But even that doesn’t sit right with Michael Sciretti, the spiritual minister of spiritual formation at Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, Va. “I don’t get too hung up on what happens to people, good or bad,” he said. “I have concerns with theology that says everything that happens is God’s will.” “Whether it’s good or pleasurable, or bad or not as pleasant, how do I respond from a place of the heart?” he said.
That means finding a way to remain centered regardless of the circumstances “so whatever happens I am never completely shaken or lose myself,” Sciretti said. Another weakness of simply applying the slogan to negative events as well as positive ones is that it presumes the individual is at the center of the universe, Sciretti said. The challenge is learning to let go of the ego and let God take center stage.
“Cancer? No, that’s not a God thing, but it can be a God thing how I respond to cancer,” he said. God’s will can be done in that and any other situation “if I can let God get inside of me to grow my being to be more grateful and have more compassion.”