Poor God
God is having a rough time of it lately. As usual I suppose.
First, there's a spate of atheist books. Of course I haven't read them, but I saw a review of the Christopher Hitchens book, "God is Not Great." This title sounds oxymoronic because according to the review Hitchens doesn't think God even exists. I already blogged re the numerous fallacies, logical errors, and pure dumb ignorance Hitchens displayed in GING. There are other atheist books too.
Next, some of God's children who love him are giving Him a bad name. They have gotten involved in dogmatic politics and unscientific science. Recent articles say that evangelicals have grown spiritually and their politics have matured; which would prove there is a God, presumably. But reputations are hard to live down. While atheists believe Him nonexistent, some Christian portrayals make God look stupid.
Then there are God's submissees, who blow things up in His name. When I wrote "as usual" in the first paragraph, I was remembering the Inquisition, Interdiction, Crusades, and the burnings at the stake for translating Scriptures that God has had to be made complicit in. Poor God with friends like these.
Now comes Shalom Auslander in "Foreskin's Lament," who describes himself as "painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious...." He believes in God, and according to him God is horrible. He compares his Orthodox Jewish upbringing unfavorably with the life of a veal calf: "...nobody is standing outside the veal's crate telling him that there is a some sort of Cow Almighty in the sky, and that Cow Almighty commands the veal to stay in that box and that, moreover, the constraining box...is a gift...from Cow Almighty because veal are Cow's chosen cattle...." You get the idea. Auslander hates God.
God probably prefers Auslander's pure clean hatred to violence and distortions in his name. He probably even prefers it to the Liberal God, the Babbity prissy God, and maybe even the 12-Step "God of Your Understanding." Perhaps we should listen to the mystics, who approach God by the path of negation.
Poor God. I know Him, I love Him, but I can't do Him justice.
First, there's a spate of atheist books. Of course I haven't read them, but I saw a review of the Christopher Hitchens book, "God is Not Great." This title sounds oxymoronic because according to the review Hitchens doesn't think God even exists. I already blogged re the numerous fallacies, logical errors, and pure dumb ignorance Hitchens displayed in GING. There are other atheist books too.
Next, some of God's children who love him are giving Him a bad name. They have gotten involved in dogmatic politics and unscientific science. Recent articles say that evangelicals have grown spiritually and their politics have matured; which would prove there is a God, presumably. But reputations are hard to live down. While atheists believe Him nonexistent, some Christian portrayals make God look stupid.
Then there are God's submissees, who blow things up in His name. When I wrote "as usual" in the first paragraph, I was remembering the Inquisition, Interdiction, Crusades, and the burnings at the stake for translating Scriptures that God has had to be made complicit in. Poor God with friends like these.
Now comes Shalom Auslander in "Foreskin's Lament," who describes himself as "painfully, cripplingly, incurably, miserably religious...." He believes in God, and according to him God is horrible. He compares his Orthodox Jewish upbringing unfavorably with the life of a veal calf: "...nobody is standing outside the veal's crate telling him that there is a some sort of Cow Almighty in the sky, and that Cow Almighty commands the veal to stay in that box and that, moreover, the constraining box...is a gift...from Cow Almighty because veal are Cow's chosen cattle...." You get the idea. Auslander hates God.
God probably prefers Auslander's pure clean hatred to violence and distortions in his name. He probably even prefers it to the Liberal God, the Babbity prissy God, and maybe even the 12-Step "God of Your Understanding." Perhaps we should listen to the mystics, who approach God by the path of negation.
Poor God. I know Him, I love Him, but I can't do Him justice.
Labels: Faith
posted by Pat at 9:33 AM
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