From the conversation I had with them it would appear that they believe in a God that:
- Needs companionship, and is in a sense dependent on us while we are dependent on him. (But can a perfect being have needs?)
- Reveals himself in "human" terms (emotions, characteristics) so that we can relate to him. (I asked if this means that none of ways we characterise God are literally true and they gave me no answer.)
- Did not really understand the human condition until he took human form as Jesus (But this would mean that God is not really all knowing, wouldn't it?)
This doesn't sound like the typical Evangelical beliefs about God. I was taught about a God that was all knowing, all powerful, present everywhere at once, and who loved everybody. But when I press questions about God's nature, I seem to get a picture of a God that is really incomprehensible and an idea that the only way to know him is to just accept that the Bible is the truth. The Nazarene interpretation of the Bible. Of course.
Why do I get the impression that there is really a different God for each believer? It seems that when believers are pressed with inconsistencies in the traditional view of God and their beliefs, they just redefine "God" to fit their beliefs. Gee whiz . . . if you just wanted to define "God" as the incomprehensible mystery behind the universe, then you wouldn't consider me an atheist. If I'm going to have a conversation with you about God, we'd better make sure that we are thinking of the same God, or we are not going to get anywhere.
But that was not the original idea for this post. I was just thinking earlier today about the believer's call to seek. But what does seeking God mean? If someone is convinced that they already have the truth, what are they going to seek? I guess that they are seeking further conviction that they have the truth? How can a person seek truth when they already know what their conclusion will be?
The point of this whole rambling post is this: I find seeking much more productive now that I'm not bound to predetermined conclusions. And when I'm not limited to seeking only in certain places (such as the Bible and Christian sources). It makes me wonder if Evangelicals even know what it is to really seek truth.
Mulling this over and putting it into words for the whole world to see is part of the seeking process for me. Inviting anyone to agree with me or try to set me straight is also part of the process ;)
2 comments:
hey there. i would be what you'd call an 'evangelical christian' i suppose... i found your site one day when browsing through random blogs, and it intrigued me. because i have started to constantly question what i am told in church/youth group/sunday school and all the rest, and because i wonder about some of the things i have always believed, your thoughts and observations really interest me. (though i'm pretty sure i'm gonna stick with Christianity, i'm not gonna be 'de-converted', because for all its so-called 'faults', i wholeheartedly believe Christianity, as God intended it to be, is true).
But it seems to me your 'view' of God (as it came across to you anyways) is a bit screwed. here are my thoughts:
*Needs companionship, and is in a sense dependent on us while we are dependent on him. (But can a perfect being have needs?)
---God doesn't NEED our companionship, He WANTS it. there's a big difference. he would be perfectly well enough off without us, but he WANTS to have a relationship with us, cuz he loves us.
*Reveals himself in "human" terms (emotions, characteristics) so that we can relate to him. (I asked if this means that none of ways we characterise God are literally true and they gave me no answer.)
---When God came to earth He was fully God and fully human... so he can fully understand and relate to these emotions while still being fully God
*Did not really understand the human condition until he took human form as Jesus (But this would mean that God is not really all knowing, wouldn't it?)
---hm this one has stumped me too. but i think it has to do with the fact that there is a difference in how God related to his people in the Old Testament and in the New Testament... it wasn't until Jesus died that God was able to be an intimately personal God, because now we can communicate with Him whenever we want because Jesus made that possible. you know what i mean? we don't need priests and the tabernacle and all that anymore, we can go straight to him.
oh, and i don't think there is a different God for every believer, or that God can change to be whatever a person wants him to be... because it sure seems that way sometimes, thats one thing that bugs me about Christians too. everyone seems to emphasize different aspects (which is ok i guess), but they forget about the other aspects that aren't quite so appealing.
So those are my ways to deal with those questions. feel free to disagree, whatever. it's good to think about this stuff. seeking truth is a good thing.
Thanks for the response Becky. Actually those things I listed are not my view of God (I don't believe in a God at this point) but odd things that seemed to come out of a conversation I had with my parents the other day. I don't remember exactly how the conversation got started, but Mom got started talking seeking God and stuff, and I started questioning her about her belief in God. Dad and Mom ended up saying something like "God created us because he needed companionship, and this is why he created mankind in his image." At this point I started questioning them about how a perfect being (as God is supposed to be) can have needs.
And the bit about God not being able to understand the human condition before Jesus is a bit of speculation from Dad, who acknowledged that it was a bit unorthodox.
I jokingly warned him that he'd better be careful, in the Inquisition that could have gotten him burned!
Anyway, it has seemed to me that Christians, Evangelicals in particular, have a tendency to redefine God (and other words like joy, happiness, peace, persecution, etc) to fit their beliefs. And I'm having trouble finding a complete and universal Evangelical view of God that holds together logically. I could accept the view that we cannot really understand God because he is beyond us, but as long as you try to make positive claims about the attributes of God, that sounds like a cop-out.
Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting. I hope to see you here again!
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