Our daughter Lucy, 7, and I were enjoying some afternoon ice cream, which for her was the perfect time to express her heartfelt blasphemies.
“It’s a good thing God is dead or He’d probably be doing a lot of bragging,” she said.
I asked what she meant.
“Well, He’d be like, ‘I created this. I created that.’ He’d really be pretty full of Himself.”
I think she was comparing God to Timmy, a second grade classmate of hers who is being raised by well-intentioned parents who are doing their utmost to ensure their runny-nosed son will never be troubled by any low self-esteem issues.
I told her we believe God is not dead and it’s unlikely He’s doing much bragging these days. Sure, the Pittsburgh Penguins are finally doing better on the power plays, but other than that His creation seems to be a bit flawed.
I asked her where she heard God is dead. She said she didn’t remember.
I fear it may have been Elton John.
In his catchy ’71 tune, “Levon,” a song I’ve played for her and her sister many times, he sings:
He was born a pauper to a pawn on a Christmas Day
When the New York Times said God is dead and the war’s begun
Who knew my attempts to steer my daughters into a tasteful appreciation of pop music would one day lead one of them straight into the arms of Satan?
I guess the Baptists were right.
I love discussing theology with 7 year olds because everything’s on the table. It’s always fun to ask someone that age what God looks like and if He does things like skateboard.
You can’t talk about these things with some adults.
A Facebook friend recently took me to task for some unspecified post: “A lot of people take God much more seriously than you do. You might want to think before alienating any more of them.”
I messaged him back to try and discern what I’d written that may have offended my Christian friends. Was it when I wondered what God says when Jesus sneezes? When I asked, “If marriage is so great then how come God’s still single?”
He never wrote back so I may never know.
Honest, I’d never do anything to intentionally upset my friends of faith, true faith being something I admire. It’s beautiful and soothing to be in the presence of anyone who is utterly convinced of the existence of something that can’t be seen.
My daughter’s like that with Santa Claus — and those of rigid faith might not want to ever ask her who’s higher on the depth chart, God or St. Nick.
I have faith, but lack the cement certainty of so many God-fearing Christians.
It’s maybe the one thing I have in common with Thomas Jefferson, who said, “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there is one, He must more approve of the homage to reason than that of blindfolded fear.”
It zeroes right in on the God in whom I believe. He could have made us uniformly stupid so we’d never think to ask such impudent Almighty questions.
He instead imbued us with our restless curiosities, our outreach and intellect.
The God in whom I believe would never begrudge us our questions, our uncertainties, no more than I’d scold my darling daughter for hers.
So I will be mindful about posting anything that might offend the dainty sensitivities of those of faith who lay their heads down at night assured they have it all figured out.
I do not.
Thus, I will continue to ask questions and seek answers and forever rage at the rampant injustices in a world that all too often seems truly God-damned.
And I will raise my daughters to do the same.
See, I don’t believe God is dead.
I just think too often He acts like He just doesn’t care.
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7 comments:
You shouldn't lie, Chris. Or perhaps you were drunk, or are just sloppy with facts in general. You wrote:
You can’t talk about these things with some adults.
A Facebook friend recently took me to task for some unspecified post: “A lot of people take God much more seriously than you do. You might want to think before alienating any more of them.”
I messaged him back to try and discern what I’d written that may have offended my Christian friends.
No, you did not try to discern what you'd written to which I was referring. You asked me to wait until you had thought about it further, and so I did. Here's the entire exchange. Nowhere do you ask me what I'm referring to:
John Marsh
A lot of people take God and Jesus much more seriously than you do...might want to think twice before alienating any more of them
Chris Rodell
4/25, 3:20pm
Chris Rodell
Thank you, John. That's wise advice for many reasons. I'll address this more thoughtfully tomorrow. Have a great night!
Chris Rodell
4/28, 2:18pm
Chris Rodell
Haven't forgotten about you, John. Don't want to rush my thoughts. Soon!
Chris Rodell
5/3, 9:29pm
Chris Rodell
Ah, sorry about the delay. Thank you so much for the reminder, John. It's never my intention to offend, but perhaps to challenge conventional thinking. But I'll try and be more sensitive about issues of faith, which matter so much. Thanks!
You're the one that didn't want to talk, Chris. It's cowardly and dishonest to pretend that I was unwilling to discuss this.
Am not!
Am not!
You were correct that "you can’t talk about these things with some adults." Problem is that you were pointing a finger when you should have been looking in the mirror.
Moving on:
First, I’m assuming you don’t have delicate sensitivities yourself, and will take this post as it’s intended – in the spirit of frank intellectual debate, and not as a personal attack.
Also note that my entire reply is too big for one comment and will be broken into two or more. That said:
I have faith, but lack the cement certainty of so many God-fearing Christians.
It’s maybe the one thing I have in common with Thomas Jefferson, who said, “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there is one, He must more approve of the homage to reason than that of blindfolded fear.”
It zeroes right in on the God in whom I believe. He could have made us uniformly stupid so we’d never think to ask such impudent Almighty questions.
He instead imbued us with our restless curiosities, our outreach and intellect.
This fits well with Christianity. God purposely laid out the Bible in a way that requires study.
Proverbs 25
2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter.
Some people criticize the Bible for being difficult to understand, and ask why God didn’t simply make it like a college textbook and give us the answers. The answer is that god sees value in the search, as well as in the answer. This should be understandable. Teachers frequently assign research projects for questions to which they already know the answers. They see value in the search itself – but they also expect the student to come up with the correct answer, or at least a reasoned answer.
To be continued…
The God in whom I believe would never begrudge us our questions, our uncertainties, no more than I’d scold my darling daughter for hers.
So I will be mindful about posting anything that might offend the dainty sensitivities of those of faith who lay their heads down at night assured they have it all figured out.
I do not.
Yes, the student who studies for the exam and believes he knows the answers sleeps better than the student who sits in the bar questioning and raging rather than studying.
While there is value in the search itself, there’s also value in finding answers. In the area of religion, you laud questioning without finding answers, and disparage those with answers. This seems to be an ad hoc position. Would you prefer a doctor who just asks questions, or one who follows through and finds answers? Same with an auto mechanic – do you laud the one who’s asking questions while you’re on foot? Don’t you prefer the mechanic who actually fixes your car?
For the past fifteen years, I’ve been a regular debater on one internet atheist forum or another. I’ve made well over ten thousand posts on religion. I’ve done a lot of research. I’ve found answers. Like the doctor or the mechanic, some of my answers are wrong. But they’re much more useful than unanswered questions.
BTW, I don’t have delicate sensitivities, or I’d never have survived the atheist forums. I was giving you some practical advice. George Carlin could afford to be flippant about God (and flippancy was what I was referring to – Jesus in an afro wig, Springsteen as god, etc. – as noted, I have no problem with serious questioning and in fact welcome debate) because the target audience for his books welcomed it, and he had a publisher. As you’re promoting a self-published book which I presume to be family-friendly (correct me if I’m wrong, I haven’t read it), and a good chunk of American families are Christians, it seems to be poor strategy to lump Jesus in a group with Hitler and Mitt Romney in a blog post.
Thus, I will continue to ask questions and seek answers and forever rage at the rampant injustices in a world that all too often seems truly God-damned.
And I will raise my daughters to do the same.
Raise your daughters how you like, but note that it’s easy to ask questions and rage at injustice. It takes time and effort to search for answers or actually do something about injustice.
See, I don’t believe God is dead.
I just think too often He acts like He just doesn’t care.
1. The Problem of Evil is a classic charge of atheists, and to some extent it’s effective for them. However, as you’re a professing theist, I don’t see that it helps you. I have an answer for the POE from a Christian perspective, and can share it if you like. Why does the god you believe in allow evil and suffering in the world?
2. Actions speak louder than words. Again, it’s easy to rage at injustice. Anyone can do it. But if you really cared about suffering in others, you’d live accordingly. Take the time and money you spend in The Pond and devote it to reducing suffering in your fellow man. As it is, it seems that your own pleasures are more important than others’ suffering. Now, I don’t mean to single you out. Most people are like you. I’m like you. The only difference is that I’m honest with myself, and so I don’t rage about things that, by my actions, I can see I don’t really care that much about. As I age, I’m beginning to care more. But instead of raging, I’m increasing my charitable activities and contributions. I could do much more if I cared enough, though.
This reminds me of a song on the Christian stations lately in which a man looks around at the injustices in the world and says to God, “Why don’t you do something?” God replies, “I did do something – I made you.”
I’m also reminded of a saying I picked up in AA – when you point a finger at someone else, you’re pointing three back at yourself.
Cool. Thanks, John!
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