Pronouns, God, and Laziness

Some of the things I do in church and services go unnoticed.

For example, I never use pronouns for God. I try very very hard to not say he, his, her, him, she etc.

Now, a basic reason for this is I am very, very sure that God is not a person. After all, that would be creating something in our own image - and it would be arrogant to think that of all life in the universe, the supreme form of life is just like me.

In reality, however, my reason is deeper and fundamentally different. It is not that I do not think God has genitalia. It is that I do not think God has agency. This is why I do not consider myself a theist.

A key portion of theism is the idea that "God interacts in the affairs of men" (to put it in the old fashioned sexist way) and most people see that and immediately get their hackles up about the idea of it being only "men"... while my hackles go up because of the idea of "interacts".

Again, my problem is deeper than the traditional surface problem.

Here is where it falls down for most people. If God pulls the strings why is there bad? Why do saints get cancer? Why are children abused? etc. etc. etc. Which in and of itself is a compelling argument against a God who controls everything?

But I suggest the original reason we dreamt up omnipotence (all powerfulness) was laziness, pure and simple. And not just wanting to sleep in laziness, but a deep-down flaw in human nature that makes us look for the easy way out of the hardest circumstances.

In other words, instead of doing the hard work of understanding reality and our place in it - we pass the buck and throw our hands into the air saying only God knows why things like this happen.

If you think that you do not pass the buck consider if these sorts of words have ever passed your lips - "God doesn't give us more than we can handle" "It will all become known when we get to heaven" "this must be according to God's plan" "Ours is not to reason why" "Leave it at the foot of the cross" or even "have faith"

Not only are these patently untrue statements - but they are cop-outs.

Hear me out, God is not a person who is doing things actively, God is a power that we can tap in to.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The problem with statements like the above is that we give up our agency and make it about whether or not God is going to do it.

I have seen some worst-case scenarios for this - a colleague who believed if God wanted us to get to the retreat then God would somehow figure out a way to fill the tank with Gas. (that way ended up being me paying for gas) or a parent who lets their child die because God must have willed it and medicine is for the unfaithful.

But on a less harsh tact, the problem could be as simple as saying that God must want me to be lonely or else someone would show up at my doorstep with flowers in hand.

It is part of us giving up on our own power and sitting back waiting for someone else to solve the problem. Only on a larger, global, supernatural scale.

So when I write prayers I carefully go through and take out the agency for God and put it back onto us. God grant us the grace to becomes, may we find the grace to... The love of God be with you becomes may God's love work through you. and things like that.

Because I firmly believe that Jesus and the boys who came to help us find spirituality were always about us realizing that the Kingdom of God was within us - that the power of God was within us... etc.

So back to God being the power we can tap into. Let us say that there is no old man in the sky, but let us look to that most visionary of spiritual authorities, George Lucas, who in the original Star Wars trilogy defined God as "The Force" a connection between all living things that we could tap into in order to be more fully who we were meant to be.

That is a god which makes sense. There IS God. It is, however you label it, force, goodness, love, universal harmony - some power base in and behind everything. It is there for us to tap into at any time. But it is not, of itself, doing anything.

So God did not give me cancer, nor did God take cancer away from me. Bad health decisions followed by good science did that. But what is more important is that me facing cancer with humour, empathy, warmth and grace was me tapping into God.

And the only way anyone could know God is by witnessing someone tapping into that strength.

When I view it this way everything falls into place. There is no reason God is or is not doing anything - life is random. How we react to life, however, is the real test of faith and the real place that God is present.

It is not just philosophically true, it makes sense on so many levels, including Jesus' teaching where he said things like when you take care of widows and orphans God is there.

So Marx was right - we use religion to pass the buck - but we do not have to.

Musings On Critical Thoughts

I have a friend who grew up in a somewhat harsh religious environment. It became a defining moment for him when the minister continuously called out people for thinking too much.

Education was just a way, after all, of putting your trust in the "man" and in the world - rather than in God. So we are talking no university, cursory public education, and certainly no questioning of the biblically inerrant truths.

Now - my first reaction to hearing stories like this is always to be shocked. My second reaction is, admittedly, sort of snobbishly belittling the folks who do not have 12 years of University education like I do and certainly know far less about the world then I do.

But later, when I am putting my ego and elitism to rest and letting go of my own raft of insecurities, I react differently.

There is some truth here. 

The overwhelming plethora of knowledge that has come to haunt us has moved us away from the mystery. And it is not always a good thing. We seek answers in order to seek control. Control of the weather, control of the knowledge, control of the building blocks of life itself.

And perhaps I would never stand in a pulpit and say that rocket ships invading the space of heaven are angering the old man in the clouds. Nor would I say that cloning is usurping the power of God and we are headed for a Babelesque fall...

But the idea that I can explain everything because I am smart, does not serve me very well.

Religiously it serves me even worse. Instead of asking what the story of the flood was all about, I can claim that it is a myth, present in all world religions and cultures, that speaks to cultural insecurities. Instead of seeing Jesus as somehow so special I should actually pay attention to him I can tell you through critical analysis that most of the words attributed to him in the Bible are made up - and the stories - the miracles - pfffft. Wishful thinking of later followers looking back.

But does that knowledge serve to deepen my faith, or weaken it?

Let me throw something at you from left field to show what I mean. If any of you have ever gone to Disney World as a child, and then again as an adult, you will realize that there is a WORLD of difference. When I was nine, I actually flew over London with Peter Pan. When I was forty I was able to say, this is really cool how they create this effect like we are flying! I dove 20,000 leagues under the sea at one point, in later life to realize the submarine never even went under the water.

How about Christmas, Easter, Losing my teeth? Are those things better or worse with more knowledge?

Do you remember when a tree fort was an actual fort in the middle of the wild west, or you really were looking for buried pirate treasure in your backyard?

The dissolution of childlike wonder and innocence are the greatest loss possible for a human being.

But... And this is a real problem... I know better.

I see how the Bible was written, edited, redacted, changed. I have personally translated books from Hebrew to English and know how each translation requires making things up and choices. The curtain has been pulled back on most of the world - from Disney through to movies, right down to McDonald's. And I do not think I am the worse for knowing the machinery that makes the magic happen.

What I have to do is a psychological process called willful suspension of disbelief.

In other words - in order to enjoy Christmas I have to somehow will myself to believe that Santa exists. In order to enjoy Disney World I have to willfully believe that I have traveled to another realm - be it the jungles of Africa or outer space. In order to engage - I must disengage some critical thought.

I am a progressive, over-educated, liberal Christian. I do not rationally believe in miracles or divine beings.

But some of the time - some of the time I do.

What is it that Shakespeare once put in the words of Hamlet?

"There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

And so I think we often get lost on the wrong things. It does not matter whether Adam and Eve are real, the flood happened, or even if Jesus came back from the dead. In my mind it is probably bunk. But what matters is how I feel when I let myself believe.

When I do that - I see the world as full of miracles - and I beleive in everyone around me.

From Martin to Martin

"If Church history teaches us anything, it is that we cannot afford to be a vacillating Church. We minister to a people who are in great need of hearing the truth, we dare not make any attempt to soft-pedal that glorious truth." - Martin Luther

“The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority.” - Martin Luther King Jr.

Ahhh... But What is Truth

So often I hear it joked that one should never talk about religion, politics, sex, and money. I am sure you have heard this said before as well. We make the joke but in reality, we are trying to convey this social contract that we somehow believe will make the world a happier place. 

Let's not talk about the things that we might disagree about. 

The other side of this is that somehow we have gotten ourselves to a sort of social popularism where what matters most is our own opinion. (Yes, I do see the irony as an opinion writer that I am putting my opinions out there as truth and thus... well... nevermind)

My point is that "but I feel like it" often trumps the "but this is the way it really is" way of seeing the world. 

And I think "the church" has become more and more afraid of its prophetic role as time has gone on and we have started fighting for our survival. Martin Luther was not only right, but he was also prophetic in saying that we were becoming an irrelevant social club.

I am not meaning to misrepresent either of these fine gentlemen, and I am not even sure what I am meaning when I say "the church" I do know there is a great variety of denominations and callings, as well as a great variety of faiths and understandings. 

But overall - I think religion in North America (my only context) bought into the idea that we should not talk about some things and so we should try to be what people want us to be. we decided, to misquote the older Trudeau, "in the bedrooms of the nation" 

But the thing is that if the church stood up and said proudly what we know to be true - we would be relevant. 

AND NO - I DO NOT MEAN THE THINGS THAT MAKE NEWS ALL THE TIME - GOD DOES NOT HATE FAGS AND TRUMP IS NOT ANOINTED.

I mean if we could honestly say to rulers - rule justly or get the hell out. If we could honestly say to people possessions don't matter and stop chasing after the wrong things. If we could echo the Bible in saying race, religion, sexuality, class don't matter - we are all the same. And if we had the courage of our convictions - do you not think we might be relevant on the current world's stage?

But no, we get bogged down on virgin births and the ten commandments and other petty articles of faith that Jesus told us right out do not matter at all. 

The thing is, and I believe this completely with every bit of my essence - we in the church are not Christians. 

I wonder if that has anything to do with declining numbers?