Religion on the Level

What’s the use of God?

Richard describes himself as a ‘God botherer’ - bothered by God!

How settled are my beliefs?  Do they really matter?

Can I encourage others to think for themselves?  How good is the foundation?

Faith is a gift – so might settled unbelief be!

Faith sometimes comes in a moment of crisis – some lose it in a crisis!

Belief or unbelief as a result of something that happened – development or loss of a relationship!

Many agnostics contentedly settle for the position that it is impossible to settle either way whether God exists.  Some people are ‘God botherers’ struggling because of personal honesty – what do we think of creation and the place of humanity in the universe?

Anyone claiming absolute knowledge would be ‘suspect’ – but for some people that would be a survival mechanism.  Consider the teaching of ‘hell’ – the basis of much missionary work – rescuing others from a horrible fate beyond death!

Language is a human creation and scripture is a use of language.

Things are not what we say they are.  The word ‘water’ is not itself drinkable.  Words point to things but are not the thing they point to (a truth that is often ignored in religious circles).  All theology is, ultimately a frustrating attempt to express the inexpressible.  We cannot capture the mystery that is God!  But human experience can sometimes come very close!  What place any of the arts?

Religion seems to leave us with a belief that life itself is not something to be enjoyed and celebrated – but a testing ground for the future (and making it safely to the next level).

How do we live our lives and how do we respond to life?  Maybe some apparently godless yet celebratory ways of living may be further into God than much that passes as official divinity.

There is something beyond our own personal experiences – the great question of the meaning of Being!  If we contemplate the extraordinary fact of the universe and our place in it, we might begin to worship – acknowledging the worth of the mystery of creation!  Who other than human beings have the ability to think for themselves?  Consider the passion of artists, composers, explorers, scholars and social reformers, driven by love and compassion into daring and laughter and glory!

Can we be motivated by the same creative recklessness and restlessness that lies behind the universe, challenging us to live adventurously, to live up to the reality of things and not be held back by our own fears and limitations, but burn with joy with what we are, rather than what we are not?

The extravagance that characterises the universe may be one of the keys to faith - for ‘God botherers’ it is not easy to believe in anything – if only the logic of faith were worked out to an inescapable conclusion, then we might have faith!

There is a yearning, unresolved quality to faith. In my own case, I do not so much possess faith as long for it, am haunted by its possibility, by the sense that there is a mystery in the universe that calls me to the quest for meaning.

But who can afford such extravagance of effort for something so elusive and wind-flung? Who can afford to give up even part of their one life to the celebration of such glorious uncertainty? Why waste time on such a search?

Well, given the way the universe is, some of us just can't help ourselves.

The reckless, extravagant wonder of it draws us to want to live up to it, to want to give ourselves to the great themes and possibilities, even to the possibility of God. It won't leave us alone; it draws wonder, tears, laughter and the strange, troubled passion of faith from us.

The whole thing is bloody marvellous and something in me calls it God.

(November 1998)

The need for Safe Havens where we can concentrate not on what we believe, but how what we believe affects our understanding of the purpose of life.

 

What’s the use of the Bible?

Beware of dismissing what others have made of religion.  It’s usually better to leave people to the devices they have created to get themselves through life.  Beware of treading on the dreams of others.  It may be their comfort against the horrors that face them.

We often don’t know enough to believe or not believe.  How can people use the great religious symbols and narratives if they can’t find a settled attitude to that to which the religious signs point?

There is a price to pay – a drifting search for an elusive contentment that is rarely found!

Consider the drama of the Fall: the suggestion that whatever gets in the way of our happiness is most likely to be discovered in our own failings, though we are strongly programmed to identify scapegoats to account for our own failings and the tragedies they create.  What are the masks we have created to shield ourselves from our own responsibilities?  Breaking out and making it to freedom is tough!

This also applies to whole communities.  People can be led into captivity by the compulsions of oppressing power – the same psychological mechanisms, the same creation of scapegoats and the same dynamic of self-imprisonment.  It should be no surprise that the most dramatic and effective use of the great biblical narratives of captivity and struggle to be free has been made by enslaved peoples – good news for the poor and release for the captives – consider the great Negro spirituals!

The narratives show that there are no easy routes to personal wholeness and human freedom.  The long process of liberation may start with a midnight flight from Egypt but is always followed by a long trek through the wilderness.  There may be some help along the way but growth is a cumulative and active process!  The human psyche is not equipped with a fast rewind button!

The need to remember that we can never cure ourselves – we will always be in need of forgiveness and grace!  There must be no delusions about ourselves!

What’s the use of Jesus?

Jesus had an intrinsic authority that called forth voluntary ascent from people while the scribes had extrinsic authority.  Jesus had an impact on those he met.

The overriding place of forgiveness – without radical forgiveness of one another we condemn ourselves not only to the pain of our offences against one another, but to years of misery which deepen the original wound by the corrosion of bitterness and hatred.

Many innocent people feel guilt at the death of a loved one; did they do enough or did their neglect somehow contribute to the tragedy?

The world is dying because of a lack of forgiveness – both individually and on a national level.  What place prisons and ‘justice’ systems?  Remember how important the formative years can be – very complex!  Consider both the anger and the compassion of Jesus.

We see how forgiveness works but how do some people find the generosity to let go of monstrous wrongs?  Only those who have been wronged can really teach forgiveness!  Remember the crucifixion – the release from bondage!

What’s the use of the church?

The church is not a single identifiable system.  The truth is rarely simple and seldom obvious.  Mature institutions recognise the importance of conflict and disagreement in their search for truth, or the compromises that are often as close as we get to it.  The church has wrestled for centuries with the meaning of Jesus and the movement that grew from his life.  The maintenance of the institution becomes the main purpose of the institution – too many compromises with truth and justice!  The church has to care more for the 99 than for the one who is lost?  What has happened to the unconditionality of Jesus’ teaching?  Religion generates a fear of getting it wrong!