Who Is God?

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who has been struggling to understand her faith. During the conversation she made a remark which I found intriguing. "I know I believe in God," she said, "I'm just trying to figure out who he is." (Very paraphrased) Given this as a springboard, I thought I'd provide my understanding of God as a personality. I'll leave doctrinal and metaphysical notions about God aside for now as much as possible and stick with God as a subject.

As stated in the book of 1 John, "God is Love" (1 John 4:8, 16). Unfortunately, the english language lacks the depth needed for this to make any sense on its own. If I were to replace the word love with something that explains God a little better, I would rewrite the sentance, "God is 'desiring of a deep, personal relationship with you so important that the relationship is maintained through anger, sadness, joy and pain and, when it comes down to it, death is a small price to pay to protect one another." Not quite as concise as the author of 1 John, but it feels a little more appropriate.

This love is generally framed as the love of a father for his children (thus, God the Father). I'd like to make a note on this: The word translated as 'father' in scripture does not mean 'father.' Abba means 'daddy!' It is an informal term of endearment, not a politically correct term. God loves us the way (good) parents love (good) children (though His love isn't reserved for those of us who are good children). We don't always understand why we have to eat our vegetables or why we can't play with the funny looking dog (which is actually a bear), we obey because we understand that our parents know things we don't. It's not always fun, and it doesn't always seem fair, but it's infinitely better than the alternative.

I'd like to append to this another important piece that's generally neglected. There seems to be an overwhelming emphasis on talking to daddy as though we're expecting a beating. In Luke 18:13-14, the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector provides the imagery. "'But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" What we fail to keep in mind is that when you're 5 years old, sometimes you approach your parents ashamed, and sometimes you run up to them and ask them to play with you. Yes, we should approach God ashamed of what we've done, but we should also talk about other things. God wants a relationship with us, not just be a salvation vending machine. Look down and beat your breast at times, but turn your face to heaven and open your arms too! Pray "filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." (1 Peter 1:8)

That being said, God is not always warm and fuzzy. As Exodus 20:5 shows, when providing the 10 commandments, the voice from heaven rumbles, "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God." While I'm not sure I necessarily like the word jealous applied to God, the old testament "doom and gloom" notion of God is not one that can be left out. God will punish, just as any good parent. The unfortunate result of free will is that we have some authority over what happens, and sometimes that may leave God in a position He would rather not be in. I have a hard time believing that God really wanted to massacre the Egyptian army that tried to pursue the Israelites on their way back to Canaan, but it was ultimately more important for all of humanity that the Hebrew people survived in that instance. (Exodus 26-28) Sodom and Gomorrah were utterly destroyed (Genesis 19:1-29), but the real question is what would have happened had they remained? Another generation lost to sin? Other cities corrupted? It is important to keep in mind that, in the Biblical sphere, being lost to sin is infinitely worse than simply dying. Death means nothing; what you do in life means everything. We see the destruction of an angry and jealous God, yet I maintain this was not purely out of spite. Anger and jealously have their place, and sometimes they are the only way.

One version of God that very few people ever reference comes from a linguistic curiosity. The word translated as helper or handmaiden in Genesis which is used to describe Eve only shows up in one other place in all of scripture: Hosea 13:9, where it refers to God. This could be something of an allusion to Matthew 23:11, which is the infamous "The greatest among you will be your servant." Or, it could be taken in a much more equalizing way, presenting God as a nurturer and caregiver who seeks to assist humanity, not out of inferiority, but out of love.

The final Biblical image I would like to use, and my personal favorite, is God as the refiner of silver. (Malachi 3:3) The traditional method to refine silver is for the refiner to take a piece of silver ore in a special set of tongs, and put it into the opening of an incredibly powerful furnace. The ore must be held there for a period of time in order to burn out any impurities. The beautiful part is that as the silver becomes more and more refined, the texture smooths out, and the metal becomes reflective. A refiner knows when the ore is pure silver when he can see his reflection in the metal. While not necessarily the most comforting way to look at God, I find it meaningful and moving. God holds us in the hottest part of the fire to make us pure, and He knows when we are finished when He can see His reflection in us. :)

A Purpose

I've known since I was a Junior in High School what I was supposed to do with my life, and virtually everyone else did too. When I was younger, I had been fascinated with advanced technology and the natural sciences, but those days were well behind me. Not only was my interest in those subjects fairly shallow, my skill set favored a very different niche. I was going to work my way into the public sphere and become a policymaker. Through prayer and signs, God nudged me in that direction as well. Thus, I obeyed joyfully.



As of late, I have come to question that path. The more I learn, the more I notice a terrible, fatal flaw in the system. It is small enough to be overlooked, and many good and virtuous people have made the mistake of pretending it doesn't exist. It is a great weapon of deception, which makes perfect sense given the fallen nature of the World. The flaw is simply this: politics cannot meaingfully resolve any of the most serious threats to humanity. While the government can be a great tool for justice or injustice, it can never create the utopian society promised to the just and virtuous in scripture.



The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. failed to realize this. I by no means wish to undermine the immense moral and political contribution that MLKJ made, but simply put the dream he was fighting for was not one the political world could embrace: either its methodology or its result will be wrong, and patching one hole means tearing cloth from another. Other reformers have hit the same wall: the gap between the moral and the political. Political implemenation of a moral imperative will fall short of the golden mean it is aimed for, and instead fall victim to the extremes prevalent in the world we live in. Forced morality may be viewed as a movement towards fascist control, or a moral pacifier, allowing us to neglect more important matters.


Early Christian communities navigated the relationship with the government quite well. As an illegal organization, the Church did not bear the blessings of the State, and therefore it was a much less complicated system. However, per the instructions of Paul, the state was not to be considered an enemy. The Church was an autonomous nation within the boundaries of another, secular nation. All of the laws were obeyed to the letter, except those which directly interfered with proper Christian practice. In fact, early communities referred to themselves as ecclesia, which refers to a politically autonomous group (ie, in the modern notion of the nation-state, an ecclesia would be essentially equivalent to a country). One's citizenship was first and foremost to the Church, which was essentially the state as well. Paul, while a Roman citizen, was first and foremost a citizen of the Church, the ecclesia, and then to Rome only by convention.

How often in the modern world do we think of ourselves as member of our country, and then members of a church? While many would love to try and argue that the United States was founded as a christian nation, I would beg to differ (most founding fathers did not count themselves as Christians, and if you really want evidence, look at article XI of the Treaty of Tripoli). Far too often we seem to forget that "no one can serve two masters." (Matthew 6:24). If we are members of the Church, united as "one body," (Romans 12:5, Ephesians 5:23) then why do we continue to imagine ourselves as under the jurisdiction of the American Caesar?

We are all subject to the Fall, yet we trust our king more than our God.
"When they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do." 1 Samuel 8:6-9

It is time we stop trusting those on the ground, we the fallen, to lift us up. I have spent my life preparing to tell people that this is possible, and it isn't. I do not mean by this that we as Christians should abandon participation. The government is a wonderful tool, and it can do great things, but it can never solve the deepest and most disturbing issues facing humanity. Rather, it is the icon of their cause. Let us shake our feet of its dust, and continue on down the narrow path.

A Truly Inconvenient Truth

No, this has nothing to do with Al Gore or global warming. I'll save that for later.



I've never been very good at beginning at the beginning, so I apologize in advance if I start too deep. I often critique presentations of Christian lessons as being far too simplistic and losing sight of important nuances and details. Then I am reminded by my pastoral friends that not everyone is ready for that kind of depth. A great deal of people out there have never heard the basics, so I shouldn't expect people to learn quantum physics when they've never seen Newton's laws. I'm not trying to claim intellectual superiority, only greater time spent dedicated to delving into the depths of Christian thought.


While this is far from the beginning, I would like to start by explaining the kind of Christianity I study and talk about. While we in the modern world try to water it down to fit the kind of lifestyle we can live with, it is truly a much deeper and more intense state. Fundamentally, Christianity is a completely revolutionary point of reference, and as such a very powerful force when practiced the way it was from the start. What is truly inconvenient is the kind of commitment it takes. For those of you reading this who consider yourself Christians, read the following verses and consider them for a moment. Do not rationalize or explain them away, just take them at face value for a moment and see how you measure up.

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:37-39


"Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me." Matthew 24:9


"You know the commandments: ' Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.' 'All these I have kept since I was a boy,' he said. When Jesus heard this he said to him, 'You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come and follow me.'" Luke 18:20-22

How many of you would leave your families and livelihoods to dedicate yourself to the furthering of the Kingdom? How many of you are persecuted and despised by the powerful and worldly, to the point of torture? How many of you take up your cross each day, truly bearing the burdens placed upon you? How many of you are truly willing to give up everything you own to embrace the physical poverty of Christ and therefore share in spiritual riches? I'm not saying I'm any better-I still own a good deal of things, I have never been in jail, I have never suffered on the streets or abandoned my family. I simply want us all to make sure we understand the gravity of what we're talking about when we talk about Christianity. This is more than a set of ethics or a statement of faith. Christianity is a lifestyle and worldview; an ultimate dedication to the ultimate beginning and end of all that is.

We as Christians, blindly or not, must consider this when we describe ourselves as such. If you are not willing to sacrifice all, make sure you really believe what you're saying.

Introduction

Welcome to my newly created blog. I've tried to do blogs in the past, but have never been very good at keeping them going. My hope is that I will be able to remain more consistent on this one.

I am not crazy, though many would say I probably don't have far to go. My liberal friends call me conservative and my conservative friends call me liberal. I study religion, politics, philosophy and economics, or as I like to say, everything you're not supposed to talk about. Needless to say, if there is a controversy out there, I likely have an opinion on it, and I'd like to think most of them are moderately educated.

At any rate, anyone out there willing to put up with my rants will learn a great deal about me at a pretty rapid pace. Before we get there, I feel I should explain the title of my blog. I am not a psychotic egotist out to become the next Nostradamus or Isaiah. I do not believe that what comes out of my mouth is a directive from God. However, I do feel it is my calling in life to be the guy that says enough of the right things to anger enough of the wrong people and eventually end up with a bullet in my head. I have some kooky ideas and some interesting twists on other, more mundane positions. I love to point out the failures in any given system and am more than happy to provide advice on how to improve those systems. I am not a prophet, but I believe to some extent we all share the potential to be prophets of the mundane sort: speaking truth when no one wants to hear it and sticking to it no matter how many people hope we're wrong.

May God watch over my words here in this blog as well as those I say aloud. May this be a tool to further Your kingdom and Your righteousness. May I be granted wisdom and courage to speak the truth as best as I am able. Most importantly, Your will be done. Amen.