Table of Contents | 3. What is the nature of God?
A child knelt by his bed to pray the prayer he had been taught. He said, "Our Father, who art in heaven, how did you know my name?" This may have been a slip of the tongue or the mishearing of a child. Yet, it sets before us the question of how the mystery who is behind aand beyond and beneath everything is to be understood. What is the shape of the holy? How can I understand God when the dominant descriptions of God as remote Creator or final Judge or domineering Father are bankrupt and don't convey the image of God that Jesus was so fond of using, namely, as loving Father? Many images of God are so negative that one isn't inclined to worship such a one. The God who points an accusing finger at any failing and who clucks the divine tongue at the slightest "sin" seems to be lurking behind every tree. In the face of such an image, says Walter Wink in Engaging the Powers, "...the revolt of atheism is an act of pure religion." A new image of God that is more compatible with the image Jesus used will help. It will need to correct the understandings that are doctrinal, moralistic, literalistic, exclusivistic and oriented, for the most part, toward an afterlife. The roots of another image can be found in the traditions of Abraham and his understanding of God. Much of ancient religion consisted, essentially, of a childlike acceptance of life as one found it in nature with the cycles of the seasons and the stages of life going around and around without getting anywhere. The goal of such a perspective was comfort and security and survival and adjusting stoically to the unending cycles of life. The religion of Yahweh was radically different. It was a way of growing anad maturing. History was seen as linear rather than circular. The flow of events was conceived as purposeful. History was going somewhere in this view. Biblical religion says that God is the one who proposes, calls, promises and covenants and humans are the ones who choose to receive or resist. This is the crux of the vision of God in the Book. As Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and all Israel came to understand, the One who began breaking into their experience in history wasn't an indifferent or hostile power who demanded worship and extravagant gifts. Rather, this being was a loving power who wanted to give gifts to human beings. This God set out to love one nation in such a way that all nations would ultimately come to be blessed. This God moved to raise the self-esteem of each person by the gift of love and acceptance. God's goal was creating a human community or a way for people to live together so that each one could grow and mature, not destroy. This is why the covenant at Sinai was ethical, not ceremonial. God's concern wasn't for the divine nature and what could be extracted from human beings. God's concern was for human beings and their fulfillment in history. This vision of God is desperately needed in our day when so much religion is rooted in a primitive understanding. Televangelists milk this view of God for all it is worth. They say, "If you will just make some kind of offering (or become a faith partner, as they put it, meaning a financial partner) or purchase a book or video then God will be pleased and will reward you for your gift and you will prosper because you have planted some 'seeds' that will spring up into a wise investment." It is a mystery to me how they can know so much about God and the way the "Holy One" behaves! I am willing to bet God doesn't approve their assertions. At least, I don't. So give me a hand-clap! Much religious practice is rooted in the notion that God is interested in extracting from us worship and obedience. Television religion and much of evangelical piety are concerned with the question of security; therefore, it is aimed at God. At its best, religion is concerned with the question of maturity; therefore, it is directed toward human beings. Perceiving and internalizing this shift is crucial. |