A Few Questions of Faith

Some strange things have been rattling around in my head lately...so to  cut down on the noise, I'm gonna spill them here.  Tho they're phrased as questions, I'm really not looking for advice or answers...they're more of the "things to think about" variety.

1. Do you think God gets angry when conservative Christians and Islamic zealots recognize only one of His faces, and condemn all the rest?

2. Why is it so hard for many people (like myself) to conceive of a God that cares about the individual?

3. Why is it so easy for others to conceive of God as their personal pitbull? 

4. Where's the love?  No, really.  Where is it?

5. And if we can't have the love...how about the simple kindness?

6. Is God really just "a kid with an ant farm." (from the film Constantine)

7. In cases of natural disaster, is it possible to sue God for child abuse?

...discuss amongst yourselves...

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Slang of the day: God's medicine: narcotic drugs (Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm)

Comments

[Toni]

I don't see us as having what I call a "joystick God." I don't think there's a master plan, and I don't believe in the devil. This is really woo-woo, but I believe God is love. It's the embodiment of love, the energy that connects us all, the light in our eyes. I appreciate the need to anthropomorphize God, and I have no problem with that. But I also remember being totally shaken up reading "The Color Purple" where the characters discuss God as being the color purple in a field of flowers instead of the bearded old white guy in a robe. Really epiphanic for me. I also believe in karma, but not in a guilt/punishment kind of way. I think hell/evil/punishment are within us (most of us, anyway; sociopaths and toddlers excluded, of course).

I can't stand seeing people hate in God's name. How they don't see what they're doing.

[Leah]

I think there is a huge distinction between God and religion. Religion is our way of trying to understand God, and is sadly lacking.

Here's my tagline from a website I post on:

Religion is merely a reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of humanity.

[Sarah]

I really like the tagline Leah posted...thanks, Leah!

I think questioning these things is healthy, Charlie. I have found faith easier to swallow when I think of 'God' as more like a 'flow' in the universe. Keep it really simple: try to do right, try to read the signs, try to be loving.
Sometimes, as you well know, shit rains down. I have never seen this as 'God' pulling a lever. I can't see it that way. Humans can sometimes be really fucking cruel, and sometimes, things just happen beyond anyone's control. It is what we do with the bad times that shows who we are, that teaches ourselves and others the real meanings of 'love', 'courage', 'strength'. You have all these things and more. Even when you are bitter or angry or scared, you are a man of honesty and loyalty and kindness.
Here's the love, Charlie. Right here.

[Catherine]

After much soul-searching and intensive research, I've come to my ultimate opinion about all this: God exists, but he's an idiot.

[Rob Merola]

1. Yes.

2. Alot of reasons, I think. One of which would surely be that the church hasn't done a very good job of giving people a reason to believe that God cares deeply about them. I don't know if you saw my post comparing the church to AA, but I think it gets to the heart of the matter. You can find it here, if interested: http://daddyroblog.blogs.com/daddyroblog/2005/05/mia.html

3. Frederick Nietzsche nailed it in "The Will to Power". People seem to get confused pretty easily into thinking that religion is about power rather than love.

4. Fair question. I think it's there, but it just doesn't get the press.

5. I'd still like to believe we can have both, but I fully admit some days its difficult.

6. No, but I can see at times how it looks like it.

7. Natural disasters are a toughy. Most religions are pretty clear this is not the world God intended; that there are other forces at work that run counter to the plans and purposes of God; that at the moment God made man free, He/She/Purple limited Himself; and that somehow, someday, in someway, God is at work to "redeem" or "restore" Creation and free it again to become what He/She/Purple yearns for it to be.

Great questions, Charlie.

[Ninotchka]

LOVE #7! ha ha ha Priceless. And my take on #6 is very much like that of a Simpson's episode, one of their Halloween specials, when Lisa accidentally creates a very advanced society in a petri dish of all places. They beam her down because Bart finds the dish and starts taunting them and wreaking havoc. One citizen asks "Um, God, hi, um, why do bad things happen to good people?" And Lisa said "I don't MAKE those things happen, YOU DO, I just created you."

I personally believe there's a little more to it, but for the most part, I think this interpretation is pure genius.

[Anne]

You know, I'm a practicing conservative orthodox Catholic, and I've struggled with a number of those questions. Especially about where the love is. When I lost my daughter in Feb. many of the Catholics who came with good intentions did more to drive people away from God than to show them how He could guide us through trauma. Please don't judge the faith by some of the people who practice it. We're not perfect.

God is not my pitbull. He is my creator, my example, and my savior. He is deserving of my obedience, respect, and love. And we do that, not through feelings, but through action. I wish people could understand that. But when they keep treating God like a baseball bat with which they can beat others over the head, it wont happen.

[Emily]

So Charlie, when I got pondering after reading these little 7, what came up for me is my frustration with the personification of God. Questions like these made an image that resembles a person come to mind, for me-along with that came all the assets and defects of people, human characteristics. I can not imagine God being human-like in any sense. I tend to feel a more collective consiousness kind force at work. I dunno that what this got me thinking.

I remember when I was training for my B'nai Mitzvah 2 years ago, and my Rabbi described the Jewish God as being only 2 of 3 things. She suggested we pick which 2 we are most comfortable with. I am sure you can guess em:
All Knowing
All Powerful
All Loving
This way it seemed like God always has some sort of out. But found I the game of trying to pick the 2 rather interesting.
Thanks so much for getting my brain cooking.

[melissa]

question 4 is what I ask myself every day.

[libby]

The love is here, my friend. In you gently asking these questions and the diverse yet respectful responses. The love is hard to find these days in our country, so I want to thank you for your contribution.

[Rachel]

I'm no help on this sort of thing -- confirmed atheist and all that. Sorry.

[Orodemniades]

Here's a question for you:

Why is it that non-Abrahamic faiths don't ask these questions?

[Amocca]

I must say that I found a renewed belief in simple kindness when reading this post on "the naked ovary":
http://thenakedovary.typepad.com/the_naked_ovary/2005/05/birfday_yayay.html

Great questions...

[Mel]

Love those thinking questions!

I think the answer to #1 is yes. I've always felt god is just god. Not the christian god or the muslim god or the pagan god or any of that. Just one supreme being/existence. So yeah, I would think she/he/it/them/whatever would get irritated.

As for #2, I think sometimes it's harder for some to think that god cares about an individual if said individual has problems realizing that anyone could care very deeply about them. For example, if one is raised in a family where one was not cared for adequately or lovingly, it would be hard to think of god as caring for an individual also.

I have no clue about #3. It is beyond my grasp. I just cannot understand people who think that way.

#4 - it's around.... Just not always obvious. I look to nature when humanity fails me.

#5 - see the answer to #4.

#6 is an interesting thought. Won't we all be disappointed if that's the case. ;) Maybe we're just part of some cosmic diorama? There's no hope in that idea, so I think maybe that's why it doesn't fly for lots of people.

I'm surprised someone hasn't tried #7 with the way lawsuits fly all over anymore....

GREAT questions.

~Mel

[Charlie]

Orodemniades -
Not sure where the "God the Father" or "God as caretaker" concepts started, but you're right that they seem absent in Eastern faiths...and those faiths seem to get along OK without asking those kinds of questions. Excellent query for a theologian/anthropologist. I'd be interested in the answer myself.

[Amanda B.]

Very profound. I'm glad to see people are talking about these things. Thanks for the thoughts.

[Meg]

Where's the love?

Ummm, I think it's under the couch.

Where did you see it last?

[wookie]

Comment to Orodemniades:

My take on this (and I'm no expert) is that the non-Abrahamic faiths focus on the concept of God/Universe as an impersonal being/thing, more of a force or flow or universal conciousness. The reason Charlie's questions plauge the Abrahamic faiths is because of the self/personal centeredness of those faiths... the father, the caretaker, etc. So it's literally a matter of definition. Perhaps the questions plauging the eastern faiths are more along the lines of "Why does love exist? Why should I sacrifice of myself?" etc. etc.

Which is more accurate? No one can say for sure, but I've heard it said that those of the non-Abrahamic faiths have no comfort on their death-beds (spoken by a palliative care nurse of 25 years experience in a reasonably culturally diverse hospital).

Religion is what you make of it. For some that is a way to challenge oneself, learn, grow and give back to the world that surrounds you. Others use it as a way to excercise personal power. I doubt that changes wether you're examining eastern or western culture.

[Beth]

1. Yes.
2. Probably because there are so many of us. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around the concept that God(dess) cares about us as individuals because we are all so self-absorbed, we are not trained to look for the mysterious ways in which the spirit moves through our lives so we fail to see it.
3. Because they are spiritual children, as opposed to adults. They are self-absorbed, ego-bound and cannot conceive of a universe where more then one answer might be correct. Everything must be black and white to them otherwise it all starts unraveling and spinning out of control. Shades of gray, those things we do not fully understand, are to be feared and hated.
4. Here! In my heart! There! In Cecily's heart! Oh, look, Hammer left a big slobbering gob of it on your lap! Also, wherever we choose to give it.
5. Yes, that random kindness stuff, those senseless acts of beauty, bring 'em on!
6. Um, yes...and no. It's complicated, but when I get it all written down, my theories to all life's questions and stuff, I'll be sure to cc you on it. But please understand, the number 42 does figure prominently in the grand scheme of things. ;)
7. Hmmm, I don't think we can sue, but you can always try to petition the lord with prayer...

I should add that I was lucky, I grew up in a church where we were *encouraged* to think for ourselves. So, while I feel a deep and personal relationship with the creator, I've sort of invented my own religion as I went along.

I keep trying to explain it and deleting it so I'll stop now but I want to leave you with one true thought, which I believe because I've seen it in action so many times. Karma (call it whatever you want) works in mysterious ways, the flat tire you have today could be a blessing in disguise, keeping you out of a deadly accident somewhere down the road.

[Orodemniades]

Wookie: Very good point on the God/Universe thing, very true. As for the comfort thing when dying, funnily enough, I would suspect that while most people are grieving leaving their loved ones behind, they don't necessarily see it as leaving? Hmm, something to ponder.

[Rachel]

If it's all relative, what the hell does it matter what any of us does? Why don't I just go kill my neighbor? Who's to say that's wrong?

That's the biggest problem I have.