I was in a store the other day and the radio played the Carrie Underwood song “Jesus Take The Wheel”. And I wondered if, in addition to being bad music, it was also bad theology.
The song, in case you haven’t heard it, is about a women driving down a road. She hits some ice and her car is starting to go out of control. Her response is to develop a strong Christian faith, take her hands off the steering wheel, and call for Jesus to take the wheel.
Metaphor aside, there are plenty of people who subscribe to the same idea - that you should give your life over to God and simply follow in whatever direction he sends you.
But is this what God wants? Is he even prepared to take over your life? Does he really want to drive your car for you?
My understanding is that God wants you to believe in him and maybe (depending on your interpretation of the Bible) follow his laws. You do this and you go to Heaven after you die. But there’s nothing in there about becoming a divine puppet. As far as I know, God never indicated he wanted to take over your life and make all your decisions for you. Jesus has no interest in taking the wheel.
Allah, yes, he wants you to submit your will to his. And Buddha is also pretty down on free will. But as far as I can tell, God wants you to handle things yourself within the guidelines he’s established.
It’s like the joke about the guy in the flood, praying for God to save him. In the punchline, God says, “What do you want? I sent a boat and a helicopter!”
Another joke has a similar punchline: the guy is praying to win the lottery, and God says, “Meet me halfway; buy a ticket!”
A reasonable believer (and, unlike some here, I believe that such people do exist) will pray, “Jesus help me,” and hold on to that steering wheel with all their strength!
God helps those who help themselves.
So, yes, bad music, bad theology, and just generally bad ethics, too.
This isn’t true at all. Certainly, there’s the Noble Truths and the Eight-Fold Path, but one chooses to follow that path by one’s own free will. Ego, on the other hand, is right out.
The problem with “letting Jesus take the wheel” is that many people use that logic as an excuse to eschew accountability, and laze out while labeling all their problems as “God’s Will.” I suppose it’s fair advice in a scenario where nothing you do can affect the outcome (such as waiting on the results of your sister’s cancer biopsy) but there’s precious few situations where that applies, no matter what the stupid Christians say.
But giving your life over the God implies that God wants your life. Why would God want to run your life? Does God really care if your car crashes or not? The assumption seems to be that God has an interest in you living a long and happy mortal life. But is there any scriptural basis for this?
That certainly explains some of the winter driving I see in the Midwest. Personally, I hold on to the wheel and try to remember everything I’ve heard or learned about what to do when you hit ice. Never crashed or ended up in a ditch yet.
Is there a song out there that exhorts jesus to take over while the driver reads an important text or puts on their make-up? Becasue that would explain some other things.
My sister in law is a god botherer. They’ve been though a really rough patch - her husband was out of work for three years before an old coworker called him up and offered him a contract job. He doesn’t hustle. She was working temporary jobs. They only didn’t loose their house because people from their church stepped in to pay their mortgage. Their son decided not to live by household rules by not bothering to go to school or have a job, and ended up “voluntarily homeless.” He’s 21 and back home, they support him while he kind of goes to school part time working on his GED.
But the fact that her husband got a call from a former coworker for a contract job is proof that “God always provides.”
My eyes were rolling so much that if they would have come up cherries, quarters would have dropped out my ass.
Personally, I always thought the division of rewards was clear. God would offer you rewards in the afterlife for following him. And it was Satan that offered rewards in this life for following him. So all the people looking for help in their daily lives are calling out to the wrong being.
But I suppose “Satan, Take the Wheel” wouldn’t have charted at #1.
Half of me wishes that song was banned so it would stop giving grown-ups childish ideas. The other half of me wishes is was played all day long, so the bashers might take the advice of letting Jesus take the wheel on bridges and the Darwin awards are plentiful.
The Biblical basis for this idea is clear. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” [Gal 2:20, NIV] There are other, similar passages as well. Of course the true meaning of this passage is that Paul is advising that the reader should make a habit of aligning his or her decision-making process with God’s will, to the point where it happens automatically. This doesn’t mean that individual decisions such as driving are to be abandoned carelessly and the results left in God’s hands. I haven’t listened to the song in question but I’d guess the songwriter uses the example of driving as a metaphor for directing one’s life, as many others have done before.
