Let me make it clear from the outset that I have nothing against religion or religious people in general but some philosophies puzzle and concern me.
If I am only supposed to do whatever God wants me to do, then why bother living? I realise that the idea is that He has a purpose for each of us. However, if I supposedly have no say in this purpose, then I am basically a puppet. Following this traditional view, God is surely an authoritarian parent - his boundaries are too tight.
http://chriskidd.co.uk/category/childrens-and-youth-work/
As a wise woman said, in a talk I attended the other day: Give your children elastic, not string. Meaning you should gradually give your children more and more freedom. Speaking of string, when you are an authoritarian parent, like God, your children often end up resorting to more and more inventive ways of cheating you, in order to survive, mentally. Take the ridiculous Jewish invention, the eruv. This is when string is attached to various poles outside, creating an artificial enclosure, which some Jews pretend is actually a courtyard extension of their house. That way, they are not breaking God's commandment that they stay inside on Holy days, or at least refrain from carrying certain objects around outside (e.g. keys, medicines, babies). They seem to believe that God will be fooled into thinking that they are still inside. That's alright then. However, if God really was as short-sighted as Mr. Magoo, or as stupid as George W Bush, I would not trust him to peel my carrots, let alone save my soul.
Jews behaving like sneaky teenagers or some Catholics sinning and automatically repenting, in the way a 4-year old might ("Sorry!", then immediately doing it again), is exactly the kind of off-spring God produces as an authoritarian parent.
In the past few weeks, 2 people have told me that they obey God and listen to God, as opposed to listening to what they themselves want. The first of these people was a woman I had only just met that evening. She was terribly sweet and pretty-looking, but I found her excessively annoying, because everything she said was referring to God. (Example: She talked about having looked at a book about step-parenting at the event we had just attended. Thinking she definitely sounded like she needed some good advice, I innocently enquired: "Did you buy it?" "I was blessed with it", came the reply. Feeling puzzled, I said nothing for a second, but she added, helpfully, "Somebody gave it to me"). She also explained that God has ensured that they are successfully selling off their furniture in preparation for an overseas move (and here I was thinking it was good old-fashioned luck). On the subject of how she and her husband came to sell their house, she explained, earnestly, that at first they had considered just letting it out, because One does not sell One's house without asking God first, but that a buyer was interested as soon as they advertised it for sale. I was dumstruck but nodded politely. Her 2 new step-children are therefore being dragged across the sea to a country they have very little connection to, because God, luckily, is calling her and her new husband to preach His gospel in her small, home-town. How lucky that it is not some hunger-ridden war-zone somewhere. Also, if God is conveniently helping them with absolutely everything, does this mean that He is also busy doing everything for other people? Giving them cancer; making sure they are raped; ensuring a gang kill them etc.?
The second of these people is a friend of mine who explained that she would never encourage her children to follow their hearts - that that is the definition of sin. She would instead encourage them to follow Jesus. My problem with this statement is three-fold really: (1) It feels very sad to teach someone that their own desires are basically evil and cannot be trusted. What would that do to a person's self-esteem? (2) As I said before, what is the point of living, if your only purpose is to fulfil somebody's else's plan for you? (3) How can you possibly know the difference between what is in your heart and what Jesus is telling you to do? Unless you only ever consult the Bible, rather than assuming that God speaks to you through your mind/thoughts.In which case, why do people ever pray for clarity? Perhaps the ones who do are not opposed to following their hearts? Anyway, I am just suspicious when people believe that God is conveniently telling them to do things they wish to do anyway.
I am not saying that people who live like this are lying deliberately. Rather that they are, probably fooling themselves.
I wanted a snazzy end for this post, but I am afraid God did not bless me with one. Git ;)
If I am only supposed to do whatever God wants me to do, then why bother living? I realise that the idea is that He has a purpose for each of us. However, if I supposedly have no say in this purpose, then I am basically a puppet. Following this traditional view, God is surely an authoritarian parent - his boundaries are too tight.
http://chriskidd.co.uk/category/childrens-and-youth-work/
As a wise woman said, in a talk I attended the other day: Give your children elastic, not string. Meaning you should gradually give your children more and more freedom. Speaking of string, when you are an authoritarian parent, like God, your children often end up resorting to more and more inventive ways of cheating you, in order to survive, mentally. Take the ridiculous Jewish invention, the eruv. This is when string is attached to various poles outside, creating an artificial enclosure, which some Jews pretend is actually a courtyard extension of their house. That way, they are not breaking God's commandment that they stay inside on Holy days, or at least refrain from carrying certain objects around outside (e.g. keys, medicines, babies). They seem to believe that God will be fooled into thinking that they are still inside. That's alright then. However, if God really was as short-sighted as Mr. Magoo, or as stupid as George W Bush, I would not trust him to peel my carrots, let alone save my soul.
Jews behaving like sneaky teenagers or some Catholics sinning and automatically repenting, in the way a 4-year old might ("Sorry!", then immediately doing it again), is exactly the kind of off-spring God produces as an authoritarian parent.
In the past few weeks, 2 people have told me that they obey God and listen to God, as opposed to listening to what they themselves want. The first of these people was a woman I had only just met that evening. She was terribly sweet and pretty-looking, but I found her excessively annoying, because everything she said was referring to God. (Example: She talked about having looked at a book about step-parenting at the event we had just attended. Thinking she definitely sounded like she needed some good advice, I innocently enquired: "Did you buy it?" "I was blessed with it", came the reply. Feeling puzzled, I said nothing for a second, but she added, helpfully, "Somebody gave it to me"). She also explained that God has ensured that they are successfully selling off their furniture in preparation for an overseas move (and here I was thinking it was good old-fashioned luck). On the subject of how she and her husband came to sell their house, she explained, earnestly, that at first they had considered just letting it out, because One does not sell One's house without asking God first, but that a buyer was interested as soon as they advertised it for sale. I was dumstruck but nodded politely. Her 2 new step-children are therefore being dragged across the sea to a country they have very little connection to, because God, luckily, is calling her and her new husband to preach His gospel in her small, home-town. How lucky that it is not some hunger-ridden war-zone somewhere. Also, if God is conveniently helping them with absolutely everything, does this mean that He is also busy doing everything for other people? Giving them cancer; making sure they are raped; ensuring a gang kill them etc.?
The second of these people is a friend of mine who explained that she would never encourage her children to follow their hearts - that that is the definition of sin. She would instead encourage them to follow Jesus. My problem with this statement is three-fold really: (1) It feels very sad to teach someone that their own desires are basically evil and cannot be trusted. What would that do to a person's self-esteem? (2) As I said before, what is the point of living, if your only purpose is to fulfil somebody's else's plan for you? (3) How can you possibly know the difference between what is in your heart and what Jesus is telling you to do? Unless you only ever consult the Bible, rather than assuming that God speaks to you through your mind/thoughts.In which case, why do people ever pray for clarity? Perhaps the ones who do are not opposed to following their hearts? Anyway, I am just suspicious when people believe that God is conveniently telling them to do things they wish to do anyway.
I am not saying that people who live like this are lying deliberately. Rather that they are, probably fooling themselves.
I wanted a snazzy end for this post, but I am afraid God did not bless me with one. Git ;)
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ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDelete