- To Benjamin – First and foremost I must tell you how sorry I am that you feel that way. The problem with Jon Ohlhauser must have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back as far as your faith was concerned. The issue you have with the God of the Christian faith is not new and many have abandoned the faith because of the apparent evil in this world. For the Christian,however,God is not some distant creator or impersonable “Ground of Being” but a loving Father who hurts with us and who enters our pain through Christ on the cross; Jesus endured suffering beyond comprehension. When we comprehend his suffering, it put the problem of evil in a different perspective. The problem is not how can God justify himself to us rather the problem is how can we be justified before God. Even though we might not fully understand the problem of evil, ultimately God is the only solution to the problem of evil. If God does not exist we would be locked in a world of pain and unredeemed suffering. He redeems us from evil and invites us into a fellowship with him.
- I must take the time to thank Bill and Donna. It is evident these are people with integrity and sincerely believe in an Evangelical God/god. I am trained the same way, and the answers you have given here, are the ones I am familiar with, with one different note, it is no longer intellectually tenable anymore for me. What I would say is that, we thank god/God for good people with integrity, but we each must be responsible and courageous enough to stand in the face of evil, such as child/wife abuses that people suffered through at this place, or have the courage enough to say, enough with this, God/god or no god. Do the right thing by facing up to a suffering humanity, and do so with such grace and dignity that people out of your faith will wonder what type of a god you worship. So far, with the rescue of Prairie, there is a lot to be done, but the answers that I see comes from a community of people not in a belief in a God/god. That is irrelevant to me. The god talk no longer has any significance, but the love for the earth, animals, and the people whom we live with as neighbours. And if the belief in a personal god causes one to be abused as a child, I see that belief negated, and should be thrown out, as the words of Jesus, by their fruits you shalt know them. These are the fruits of bitterness, I am not sure the tree is worthwhile saving. For me, this fundamentalist approach is nothing other than an anachronistic way of life in the face of modernity. God/god, I hope will transcend all this and survive, not in the memory of the past, but as the scriptures says, he is not God of the dead, but of the living. The sacred words of Scriptures are dead to the dead, but the spirit is alive and brings life. In this mystery I still profess, but I no longer believe in this Evangelical God of Prairie. I see the inactivities of God but I seek no more of his personal side so many of you profess. But as I said before, I place my faith in the human relations and communities, and in the earth and the animals we share this place with. The evangelical zeal has died with me, but a new form to appreciate others has been reborn, of gays, sinners, and molesters. While the last ones should be put away, but the first two categories are fine with me as they were with Jesus.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
For the love of God Part II
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