The Cause of Conflict

You have a sphere of action. Your spouse has a sphere of action. Your parents and children have spheres of action. Everyone has a sphere of action. What is a sphere action? It is the realm in which you alone have control of and responsibility for what happens. 

As God is the creator and sustainer of all things, there could only be spheres of action other than His if He created creatures with the capacity of self-government. If you did not have the capacity of self-government, you would not have a sphere of action, for sphere of action can only exist in the context of self-government. The ability to think for yourself, evaluate information for yourself, believe for yourself, and choose for yourself gives you a sphere of action that is your own, which is separate from everyone else’s—including God’s. 

 Not everything that does something has a sphere of action. For example, a robot does not have self-government and therefore has no responsibility for its actions. It can only operate according to its program. It is controlled. It has no control of its own. A robot, therefore, has no sphere of action. But God, angels, and humans do have self-government, and therefore have responsibility for their own actions. 

If each one has a sphere of action, that means that each one has their own responsibility for what happens within their own sphere of action. No one else can take responsibility for those actions. God alone is responsible for what He does in His sphere of action. Each angel is alone responsible for what they do in their own sphere of action. And each human is alone responsible for what they do in their own sphere of action. No sphere of action overlaps or runs into another sphere of action. Each is individual and separate. 

As humans, our sphere of action involves our thoughts, beliefs, and choices or decisions. Our sphere of action exists in our mind. We alone have responsibility for what we think, what we believe, and what we choose. Others do not have responsibility for that. Even God doesn’t have responsibility for that. God’s sphere of action involves everything outside of someone’s own sphere of action. He is responsible for everything that happens outside of the self-government of an intelligent creature. 

Self-control is the ability to control my sphere of action in harmony with God’s will. When I am operating with self-control, I only take responsibility for my own sphere of action. I never take responsibility for another’s sphere of action. I only control what I think, believe, and choose. I never attempt to control what someone else thinks, believes, and chooses. When self-control is being exercised by everyone, then everyone is free to act for themselves in their own sphere of action. 

What happens when I lose self-control? I take responsibility for someone else’s sphere of action, and I don’t take responsibility for my own sphere of action. I blame others (including God) for what I think, say, and do, and I try to control what others (including God) think, say, and do. This lack of self-control, which is a natural effect of sinful nature, is the cause of conflict. 

God was right and just in creating us to be free to self-govern. He was right and just in giving us a sphere of action of our own. When someone else tries to control our sphere of action, we sense the injustice of that attempt and naturally resist it. If we were in an unfallen, sinless state, we would recognize that the one who is attempting to control our sphere of action is acting unjustly. We would recognize that this is because they are in a fallen condition, so we would pity them. We would not take personally their attempt to control our sphere of action, but we would not surrender our thoughts, beliefs, or choices to them in the slightest. We would not enter into controversy with them either, but would ourselves maintain self-control in dealing with them. This means we would never try to control their sphere of action or take responsibility for it. 

However, in a fallen, sinful state, things are quite different. In a fallen state, when someone else tries to control my sphere of action, I sense the injustice of it. I believe their offence is about me and against me. I am offended and take it personally. I become defensive and reactive. I try to take over or limit their sphere of action for the sake of preserving my own. Whatever I need to do to them to preserve myself, I am willing to do (within certain bounds, of course). I have no self-control, so I take responsibility for their sphere of action, and I don’t take responsibility for my sphere of action. I blame them for what I think, say, and do while I try to control what they think, say, and do. When there are two people taking responsibility for the other and trying to control the other’s sphere of action—when you have two people trying to dominate each other—then you have conflict.

Why do we do this? It is because in sinful nature, I unconsciously believe I am a god. When I am a creature, but I believe that I am a god, a lot of bad things happen. I am selfish and do all things for my sake, even though much of what I do appears to me to be for the sake of others. I have no self-control, so I try to get out of my sphere of action into the spheres of action of others, resulting in conflict. I try to get out of my sphere of action into God’s sphere of action (trying to control time, space, circumstances, resources, information, finances, possessions, etc.), resulting in stress. I think others belong to me, so I take responsibility for what they think, believe, and choose, and I take personal what they say and do, thinking it is about me. Since I believe I own others, I believe they are accountable to me for how they manage their sphere of action, and I try to hold them accountable to me. When they won’t cooperate with me, I try to convince or coerce them to comply with my desires somehow. I make myself responsible for their actions and therefore try to control them. In sinful nature, this always results in conflict. 

Does God have control of what happens in another’s sphere of action? No, He doesn’t. Is God responsible for what happens in another’s sphere of action? No, He isn’t. But does God hold others accountable to Him for what they do in their sphere of action? Yes, He does. Why is this the case? It is because He is their Creator. They came from Him. He created them for a purpose. They have a work to do. They are a channel in His vast creation, taking and giving. As every component of a system takes and gives (functioning like a channel), and as every system functions in a circuit (the source giving something to be passed on by the components, and eventually returning back to the source), the function of the entire system is dependent upon the function of every individual component. Every component is needed for the entire system to function appropriately. As their Creator, God has a right to hold each intelligent creature accountable to Him for how they manage their own sphere of action and the effects it has on the entire system of creation. 

For the sake of His entire system of creation, God must intervene when necessary for the good of the entire system. The only components of creation that can deviate from God’s design are intelligent creatures that have their own sphere of action or self-government. When deceived by sin, they can act in a way that harms the rest of God’s creation. So, for the sake of the whole, God must intervene, limiting the evil, so that nothing is too much (1 Cor. 10:13), and all things work together for good to those who are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). But God cannot intervene in the individual’s sphere of action. He cannot control what they think, believe, or choose. That is their own sphere of action, not His. He can only intervene in what they attempt to accomplish. 

Because everyone lives and functions by God’s power, He has the right to limit the power they have access to, when needed, to limit the evil they desire to accomplish. God may prevent you from saying something you chose to say, or doing something you decided to do, for the sake of the rest of His creation. But He will never prevent you from thinking, believing, or choosing anything you may think, believe, or choose. He will never prevent you from believing a lie, thinking erroneously, or choosing to do something evil. But He may prevent you from accomplishing the evil you decided to do. You may choose to take a gun and kill someone with it. God will not keep you from having that thought, but He might not let you pick up the gun. He might not let you take the gun in your hand and go to the other person. He might not let you lift then gun when you get to the other person. He might not let you pull the trigger. He might not let the gun fire. He might not let the bullet hit the person. He might intervene at any step after you made the decision. The decision of the mind gives a command to the body to accomplish the decision. But the ability of the body to accomplish the decision is dependent upon power—God’s power. God will never intervene in your mind (what you think), but He may intervene in your body (what you do). When He does intervene, He always does so with the best interest of His creation in mind. 

Why would God create creatures with their own sphere of action if things can get so messy like this? Individual sphere of action was absolutely necessary for God to have creatures that can love, for love can only be possible for someone who has their own sphere of action and self-government. But creating creatures with their own self-government removes their sphere of action from God’s control. It creates something that He cannot guarantee. Sin could only arise where God had no control, and He has no control in the sphere of action—in the self-government—of an intelligent creature. While there is no reason for the appearance of sin, it could only arise in the sphere of action of an intelligent creature—exactly where God has no control. 

But the very love that necessitated the creation of individual spheres of action is the only thing that can rescue individuals who are caught in the delusion of sin and restore them to righteousness. When restored to righteousness, there is no need for God to intervene in anyone’s words or actions, for their sphere of action is being managed in harmony with God’s will. They have self-control. And all creation functions as a harmonious system as it was created to function initially. There is no more conflict because no one is getting into anyone else’s sphere of action. All take responsibility for their own sphere of action. All acknowledge their accountability to God for how they manage their sphere of action. And no one takes responsibility for anyone else’s sphere of action. All are free, holy, happy, and harmonious.