Sunday, March 10, 2013

Please God, be there.


So I’ve been in conversation recently with several people lately with different theological views than I have. It’s always challenging to do so; it’s like intellectual and spiritual exercise. Always good to do, but way harder than talking with people who already agree with you. I’m a bit ashamed to admit that this is a somewhat new development. I don’t know a whole lot of people in my everyday life who don’t fit in the traditional evangelical Nazarene mold, and its only recently that I’ve discovered how easily one might get sucked into online discussions.

I come away from them feeling hopeless. It seems that theology, maybe reality would be a better word, is so hopelessly tangled and out of our reach of understanding that there’s just no way we’re ever going to make heads or tails of it. There are so many people and so many different views; so many arguments, and so many conflicting arguments that all seem to make sense. There are so many intelligent people that seem to think that their ideas are self-evident; so many people who I respect that disagree with each other. It feels like trying to swim through a stormy ocean.

This is why I need God to be there. It feels like we’re lost without Him. If He’s not there, we’re never going to find our way on our own; we’re just going to swim in circles until the sharks come. If He’s not leading us, away from our ignorance and confusion, away from our weakness, then we will fall prey to our own failings. If He doesn’t lead us out of the darkness of our hatred; then we’re going to tear each other apart out of fear and ignorance.

Please God, be there.

4 comments:

  1. It's amazing how human logic and understanding become so convoluted they cannot resolve differences. When you think about it honestly without bias, it's a miracle humans can come to agreements on morals, politics, and theology at all. If it weren't for the revelation of God, we would be so diverse as to cause unspeakable conflict and intolerance. Another benefit to revelation taken for granted.

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  2. jonathan -- you need God because everything is so confusing? But don't you understand that God is part of that confusion?

    But you are in good company, for the Pope agrees with you that we are lost without him. But do you feel he will lead people away from darkness, away from sharks? See my recent post about the Pope.

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  3. Hi Sabio,
    thanks for the visit.
    I have to believe that God will lead us away. For me, as I look at human history, human behavior, our development intellectually and sociologically, what I see is that we, as a race, are just walking in circles. We make some progress in compassion and human rights, we become disciplined and rigourous, we become prosperous as a result, and then we take our foot of the gas, become lazy and the whole house of cards comes crashing down. Every cycle we get more technologically advanced, more powerful; but our character has not seemed to have changed at all.

    When I look at the world, it seems that we are closer to self-destruction than ever before; we have the power to absolutely destroy ourselves in a way that we've never had before, and it seems to me that it's only a matter of time before we do.

    So, I feel like we're walking in circles, and God offers us hope that maybe our character can change.

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  4. Well, I feel that what believers call "God" is often just parts of their minds that they use the concept of "God" to get to. In that case, I hope your "God" leads you comfort.

    "God" talk has been with us a long time -- all that time that humans have been "walking in circles" -- so he hasn't had much of an affect it seems. And folks have been talkin' like you about him all this time.

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