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Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Speaking for God, or not


It is a curious thing
Lots of people seem to think they have the right to speak for God
As if has somehow made them a personal confidant

Take for example a candidate for the US Senate
who, when commenting about a rape
and the subsequent impregnation of the woman

felt entitled to tell us
the WHY

Why it happened.

Pregnancies from rape are “something that God intended to happen."
(it seems)

Really?
God told him?

We tend to do this a lot
Put words in God’s mouth
Intentions in God heart

Poor God!

The problem I suspect is that we want certainty
We want to understand
We want formulas to explain how everything works

Do good and prosper
Do evil and fail

Love God and be blessed
Reject God and suffer

We want it neat and clean
We have an obsession with knowing WHY

And the easy solution is that God is in control of everything
And God makes everything happen
And God has God’s reasons

And so we go to this place where God micromanages everything
everything
its all God
whatever happens it is God's will

The problem is not what is happening
The problem is simply our understanding

You know the platitudes
“God's will is like a jigsaw puzzle, sooner or later, all the pieces will fit together.”

There is of course, an element of truth in such insights

But ultimately this is an odd formula
One not exactly supported by scripture

And one that seems to ignore the fact that people have a lot to say
when it comes to evil

I think it is one of the great theological mistakes,
this idea that God makes everything happen...
not only the good
but also the bad and the ugly.

It takes us such weird places
A child dies... we must make sense of it
Why?  Why? we cry...
We must know why!

And so people say "God wanted this beautiful child in heaven with Him"
Really?
Not my God. He would not do that to a loving parent.

A woman is raped and gets pregnant.
God must have wanted another life?

It doesn't work!
The formula is flawed, and no amount of creative thinking
can always come up with a reason WHY God did something...

As with Adam and Eve,
we darn well have our own minds
and we make our choices
and its not always good
and we can't always make sense of it, except to say

that's life
that is what happens when people
who are all too flawed, have choices

“WHY” is the wrong question
It takes us to horrible places

But Paul did remind us... all things work together for good, for those who love God"
God is certainly in the mix

So I think the question is this... WHAT?
What can God and I do with the mess I have made?
What can God do with the mess those around me have made?

What can God in the power of the Spirit
do in me
do through me
do with me,
to create good out of what is clearly not good.

Is it God’s will that a rape result in a pregnancy?
No! Hell no!

But is God there, in the midst and the pain?
Yes!
Is it God’s will to work with us to try and make good emerge
Even from the darkest and most evil sitautions?
Yes!
Yes!
Yes!

So as darkness falls
And evil flourishes
It seems the primary question should not be WHY
(although we will always want to know,
  even Jesus asked “why” while on the cross)

But WHAT

What can God do?
What can I do to help?
How can I work together with God
So that love, and grace, and forgiveness thrive

Because this I do believe
With God
All things can work together
For good

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