Mike Hamel recently read a book called The Shack and writes about his impressions of the newer concepts of God. I don’t read religious fiction, but I liked what he said here:
The image of God we carry around on our mental hard drives is comprised of bits from our family upbringing, our cultural biases and our church’s teachings. Those of us with a biblical pedigree snap verses together like multicolored Legos to construct our version of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. How else to explain over 38,000 different “Christian” denominations, all rising from the same book?
That’s not even counting the thousands of atheists that read the hundreds of interpretations of the Bible looking for verses that validate their own belief systems. I prefer Skeptic’s Annotated, myself. That’s a handy tool.
Sometimes I think people treat their religion and the faiths of others like they’re all particpating in a colossal, theological chili cook-off. Everyone’s agreed that eventually the best chili recipe will be chosen. Some pots have been simmering for hundreds of years while others got knocked over by rivals before the sauce boiled and others burned away because inattentive chefs were too busy poking their noses into the competition. What’s more, the dinner theatre’s been ready to roll for over two millennia and God has yet to send down the judge. Oh, there’ve been sightings, but it’s never the real one (a bit like people who claim they’ve seen Elvis). Why is that?
I think it’s far more fun waiting for the next person to see Jesus Christ on a slice of toast.
And if you can’t wait, here’s a way to make your own.
You know, toast goes great with chili…
—
But enough mockery. Bottom line, gods are products of the people who’ve built religions to wrap around them. People decide what’s important and redesign their gods to fit where they are today and where they want to be tomorrow. Downtrodden people want a god who cares about their future. Rich folk want a god who wants them to stay rich. Gay folk would probably like a god who doesn’t care who they’re boinking and won’t punish them for it.
There will never be one right way that suits everyone. People will never agree on who their god should be, or what ideas should be supported, so schism after cult after schism declares they’ve got the problem sussed, that they’re on the way to their great reward and everyone should be following their lead. They’re likely as wrong as the rest, assuming there really is a god who gives a damn about what goes on around here.
Who knows what he or she might have actually wanted. Too many cooks have spoiled the sauce by now.
