The Puppet Theater

Today I was doing some reading on the topic of Determinism in an old Philosophy book I was blessed to find when I came across and interesting quote entitled “Puppet Theater.”

“We see the puppets dancing in their miniature stage, moving up and down as the strings pull them around following the prescribed courses of their various little parts. We learn to understand the logic of this theater and we find ourselves in its motions. We locate ourselves in society and thus recognize our own position as we hang from its subtle strings. For a moment we see ourselves as puppets indeed. But then we grasp a decisive difference between the puppet theater and our own drama. Unlike the puppets, we have the possibility of stopping in our movements, looking up and perceiving the machinery by which we have been moved. In this act lies the first step towards freedom.”
Peter L.Berger: Invitation to Sociology


When I started studying the doctrines of Calvinism this was one of the few things I seemed to have a problem with. It was so hard to picture God as having a good and perfect plan for his people that is impossible to avoid. I had been raised on the idea of a free will and that I can do anything to prevent the work of God here on Earth. “The Earth belongs to us, and God doesn’t do anything on it without our permission” seemed to be echoed from the pulpit every Sunday morning. It didn’t take long to realize that I was being raised to believe in an unsovereign God, who in reality wasn’t God at all. Digging into scripture with this mindset revealed many things that were once looked over with apathetic eyes. I began to notice that God was a God who “works all things to his council and will” Eph. 1:11, “does as He pleases” Psalms 115:3; 135:6, and He does “according to His will on Earth and in Heaven…and no one can thwart his hand” Dan. 4:35. With these scriptures it began to be revealed that indeed, God does have a perfect plan for his creatures, and he carries out that plan until completion. No one can talk back to God and no one can stop His hand. We are, indeed, created as perfunctory apparatus’ for God’s own pleasure. I have no problem believe that God pulls the strings, because I also know that “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Rom. 8:28. The dividing line between the puppets of the theater and we as humans is the we are able to perceive the one who pulls our strings. And to him be the kingdom, glory, and power, Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Ben