Benjamin Chung January 14 at 8:05pm
Hi Bernice, I sent this note to only a few people. One of which is Michael Pahl who was teaching at Prairie until 2008, when Jon Ohlhauser forced him to resign, and similar to my situation, his image of God was shattered. It has been three years, although his wife Clarissa is the daughter of former Prairie President Rick Down, Michael was not spared with Jon. He wrote me that he went through a similar path, with a noted exception that he is still embracing a personal God, whereas I embrace this impersonal God.
I think my image of God has something to do with my experience, while getting married, and getting hampered by my own Dad, who is next to god in my upbringing, as well as Jon Ohlhauser who works for God in this PBI. He is also next to the right hand of God. God did not come to my aid, in the sense that I had to throw out this immanent presence of God who is always in the affairs of men. I married irregardless to God/or my folks. From that time, instead of fear of being strike dead by God/god because of this irreverence of god's fifth commandment, I simply ignore this type of God/god. So I moved further and further from this God/god. I did not die (yet), nor did he sent someone after me.
I simply did not find this notion of personal god given to us by the evangelicals helpful or real. So I no longer look to this god. Similarly, Prairie was my last try to see whether I can live with this definition of personal God/god, and as you know, none of his people felt his presence during this great purge. Many people were fired, and God/god did nothing, until the community of Prairie and Three Hills came up to get rid of Jon. It is not God/god who was present in human affairs, according to what I see, it is the human community that came to Prairie's aid. Here is the choice I make (choice in Greek means heresy in our translation), I choose to put my faith in the human relations and human community. I see the hand of God/god in it. I no longer look to a being inthe sky to solve my problems. That one has died for me. As you can tell, this is no longer real or significant for me. Could this god/God still be real to others? Definitely, but I think there is a lot of self delusion involved in this. I think a lot of people are deniers of truths, or they come up with this personal notion, even to the point they claim that God/god speaks to them every day.......like my sister Christine. God/god is very real and personal to her, and perhaps she walks with this personal deity every day. But I seriously doubt that He is there, a lot of what they told me is personal and circumstantial; private and not subject to verification or proof. So I choose (another heresy here) to believe that my God is in the impersonal realm, away from human passions and lives. He elects to ignore almost all his creation, in the sense that he is there but he is silent, and disabled. It is precisely that he is not active in human affairs nor if he wanted to, that sets him apart as a God above all, what Jesus taught that the sun shines upon the good and the evil one. He does not favor a particular race or person, that he is beyond humans and human passions. He is not sad when you are, not is he happy if you rejoice. He is beyond all that, one simple being, behind all our human words or concept.
I choose to believe in the earth, and the human relations. These are real to me, the way God made us to be, and in it, I see that God could be like, at the same time, I see no hand of God in human affairs, as many claimed he did. I don't think so, he was not there when Jon fired a bunch of his faithfuls, nor was he there during the earthquakes, or many died during the black death of Medieval Europe. My impersonal God transcends all that, human affairs or human want. So I do not believe in calling out to him to get a car, money or things. He is not there. Don't bother. If you believe strongly it is his will, or simply put, it is the right thing to do, so do it with all your might. If it be his will so be it, but I put no faith in asking him to help as if it is his personal wish that we see that. If I failed, or if I died, I die proud of what I have done, using the gifts and tools he gave me, I did not neglect my duty.
My question is, what is your image of God/god and how did you derive this image? Is this something you loath or something that has given you tremendous freedom?
Ben
I think my image of God has something to do with my experience, while getting married, and getting hampered by my own Dad, who is next to god in my upbringing, as well as Jon Ohlhauser who works for God in this PBI. He is also next to the right hand of God. God did not come to my aid, in the sense that I had to throw out this immanent presence of God who is always in the affairs of men. I married irregardless to God/or my folks. From that time, instead of fear of being strike dead by God/god because of this irreverence of god's fifth commandment, I simply ignore this type of God/god. So I moved further and further from this God/god. I did not die (yet), nor did he sent someone after me.
I simply did not find this notion of personal god given to us by the evangelicals helpful or real. So I no longer look to this god. Similarly, Prairie was my last try to see whether I can live with this definition of personal God/god, and as you know, none of his people felt his presence during this great purge. Many people were fired, and God/god did nothing, until the community of Prairie and Three Hills came up to get rid of Jon. It is not God/god who was present in human affairs, according to what I see, it is the human community that came to Prairie's aid. Here is the choice I make (choice in Greek means heresy in our translation), I choose to put my faith in the human relations and human community. I see the hand of God/god in it. I no longer look to a being inthe sky to solve my problems. That one has died for me. As you can tell, this is no longer real or significant for me. Could this god/God still be real to others? Definitely, but I think there is a lot of self delusion involved in this. I think a lot of people are deniers of truths, or they come up with this personal notion, even to the point they claim that God/god speaks to them every day.......like my sister Christine. God/god is very real and personal to her, and perhaps she walks with this personal deity every day. But I seriously doubt that He is there, a lot of what they told me is personal and circumstantial; private and not subject to verification or proof. So I choose (another heresy here) to believe that my God is in the impersonal realm, away from human passions and lives. He elects to ignore almost all his creation, in the sense that he is there but he is silent, and disabled. It is precisely that he is not active in human affairs nor if he wanted to, that sets him apart as a God above all, what Jesus taught that the sun shines upon the good and the evil one. He does not favor a particular race or person, that he is beyond humans and human passions. He is not sad when you are, not is he happy if you rejoice. He is beyond all that, one simple being, behind all our human words or concept.
I choose to believe in the earth, and the human relations. These are real to me, the way God made us to be, and in it, I see that God could be like, at the same time, I see no hand of God in human affairs, as many claimed he did. I don't think so, he was not there when Jon fired a bunch of his faithfuls, nor was he there during the earthquakes, or many died during the black death of Medieval Europe. My impersonal God transcends all that, human affairs or human want. So I do not believe in calling out to him to get a car, money or things. He is not there. Don't bother. If you believe strongly it is his will, or simply put, it is the right thing to do, so do it with all your might. If it be his will so be it, but I put no faith in asking him to help as if it is his personal wish that we see that. If I failed, or if I died, I die proud of what I have done, using the gifts and tools he gave me, I did not neglect my duty.
My question is, what is your image of God/god and how did you derive this image? Is this something you loath or something that has given you tremendous freedom?
Ben
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