quote:

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It is important to ask, "Who is the God who is dying in late modernity?" What visions of God's presence and activit in history no longer seem credible or important? This is a highly complex question, and one cannot begin to address adequately here. But it seems clear that for many the dying God includes at least the following:

*the God who symbolized the hope and assurance of inevitable human progress;

*the impassible, sovereign God of classical theism, with His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence;

*the God tied to a shaming doctrine of the Fall, in which humans are destined to inevitable sin, due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, an yet held responsible for that sin;

*the moralistic God whose chief role lay in the reinforcement of the commands of parental superegos;

*the God who legitimated the collusion between thrones and altars and blessed the accompanying patterns of economic power and social class systems, in the variety of monarchical, socialist-democratic, or capitalist-democratic forms;

*the God with the 'invisible hand' who could be counted on to manage everything benignly, from the 'free market economy' and the avoidance of nuclear war, to the preservation and healing of nature.

*the God of nationalistic doctrines of 'manifest destiny' and world imperialism

*the God of the gospel of wealth; and

*the male gendered God.

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I think that he's dead on. And he's not the only person talking like this, as you probably know. And not surprisingly, the idea of God as any type of "Lord", "King" or anything like that is kicked out of the mix. The view of God Fowler paints later is basically the type that I had described above. As he would put it, religions are expressions under the broad umbrella of the HUMAN vocation. God is the big creative unity in diversity/source of unconditional love in the sky. That's about it.


This is probably just my bitter state right now talking, but I will say it anyway. Theology is DYING, if not dead. We are now indulging in ANTHROPOLOGY dressed in theological garb. The "God of Praxis" is in vogue. What do we want to be? What gives our sense of purpose ultimate meaning? How should we live? How should we act morally, spiritually, etc? WHO exemplifies these traits? Hey, let's call him/her/it/them/us GOD. YEAH! And Christs, Buddhas, Avatars of the world...their just expressions in part of this wonderful truth. YEAH, YEAH! Oh, but what about worship? Well, let's check our notepads here. Is God worthy of our worship? (dons the judges robe) You know we can't worship an unworthy God, you know. Wouldn't be prudent. Not just any view of God will do. Right, right. He is the perfect being, you know. And perfect beings have perfect goodness, right? Right, right. Would this God do anything strictly for his own pleasure? YOU IDIOT! Don't you know that God's ultimate pleasure IS our ultimate pleasure?!? God takes the greatest joy in making US happy! Oh, sweet. Then that IS worthy of worship...


So, what's my ultimate dilemma? I'm sick and tired. I sick of the smugness and self-righteousness exhibited from liberal and conservative theologians. I'm sick of seeing people theological PANHANDLERS doing so-called "study of the Scriptures" just to pass off their own moralistic beliefs. I'm sick of people saying they have "honest" differences of opinion, when many times they are FAR from honest. I'm sick of political chicanery in what is SUPPOSED to be spiritual searches for truth. I'm sick of the emotional and spiritual abuse perpetrated by self-proclaimed "do-gooders" Basically I'm sick of people treating this whole God thing like it was THEIR thing. And I don't know if I can take it anymore. My close friend (the one who is no longer a Christian after going to seminary) and I were talking at Border's one day. I talked to him about my frustrations with the lack of consistency, unchecked sin, unbridled arrogance, mealy-mouth bleeding heart moralism, and unscionable self-righteousness in the face of God. "What about TRUTH," I bellowed. "What about trying to be COMPLETELY honest with all the facts, no matter HOW they turn out???" He basically told me that I was on a fool's errand. "People will believe what they want to believe, dude. Dialogues become little more than people using other people to convince themselves of their own position." Then he said something that chilled me to the bone! "The search for spiritual truth IS the search for happiness. They are now one and the same. You just haven't learned that yet." Those words still ring in my ears. Was he right, y'all? Am I the proverbial dinosaur on that score? Am I wasting my time even trying to be a theologian, seeking "truth" wherever it may be found? I'm beginning to think that I am.

AHHH. I feel better. I would ask that no one take this post as my saying that NO ONE ELSE feels like I do...or that no one else values truth. That's not what I'm saying. I'm just posting how I honestly feel about things right now. Hope you don't mind. As I said before, I'm very busy and I won't be posting for a bit. I would appreciate your prayers. For my wife and her current situation (which I cannot discuss right now) For my beautiful son, and his safe return home from visiting with relatives. Lastly for me. For strength, sanity, and resolve. If you love me at all, please pray for me. Thank you.

And thank you for hearing me.

On Official Hiatus,


PS: Mouse, I promise that when I get back, you will be the first person I answer, 'kay?



Edited by - Mephi2K on 07/26/2001 1:16:09 PM