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The Gospel according to Bruce

© Francois Tremblay

Here, Grace inadvertently contradicts the theology of Bruce Almighty. If God existed, it would be perfectly true that "everything happens for a reason." God would have infinite powers, and thus would organize the universe according to his desires. And Bruce's reply is all the more powerful because of that. Yes, it happens for a reason: God has taken away from me what I wanted. If God exists, there is no escaping that conclusion.

This leads us to the crux of the matter, God's powers. God meets Bruce and gives him "all his powers" for a week while he takes a "break." We can observe the extent of those powers from what God says and what Bruce can and cannot do. The liberal theology, and the liberal theodicy which I will also examine, consists of the following :

1. God is a very limited being - the equivalent of, say, Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. He can only do simple miracles.
2. God is not immaterial, all-powerful, all-knowing or all-benevolent.
3. God's job is to clean up other people's messes. He is a cosmic janitor.
4. God cannot prevent evil because it is too difficult for him. I call this the "sob story" theodicy.

The limits of God's power is shown in Bruce's frustrations in his attempts to do what he wants. In fact, not only do Bruce's actions demonstrate that God's powers are limited, but God admits himself that he is not all-powerful.

Bruce: How do you make someone love you without changing free will?
God: Welcome to my world.

What kind of a sorry excuse is that? If God was all-powerful, he could make people love him very easily. He could induce these feelings of love in every single person in the world, without touching their free will at all. He could manifest himself to us so that we could all believe. He could make the truth of his existence available to all, even without manifesting himself or inducing feelings in people. If God is all-knowing and all-powerful, he knows what it would take for us to love him, and he can do it. Otherwise God is a limited being. God cannot do what he wants.

Bruce has been given all of God's power. What does he do? Parlor tricks. He pulls down the moon close to the Earth, killing millions in the process, quite appropriately as he took his powers from a god of genocide and mass murder. He causes people to win the lottery. He makes monkeys fly out of someone's butt. He parts his tomato soup like Moses.