Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

God Is Not On My Side. Or Yours
Time ^ | Sunday, Dec. 09, 2001 | ROGER ROSENBLATT

Posted on 12/12/2001 3:36:02 PM PST by JediGirl

This is the season when one tends to think about God (if one thinks about God at all), and I would like to offer the opinion that God is not thinking about us. Or if he is (I'll stay with he), one has no way of knowing that--unless, of course, one is like Mohamed Atta, who had a pathological view of faith, or Jerry Falwell, whose mind is Taliban minus the bloodlust. This week the Taliban leader, Mohammed Omar, may be wondering how tight he is with God, after all. In September he was certain that God rooted for our extinction. Now, with the surrender of Kandahar, the mullah may be shopping for a more competent deity.

"A fanatic," said Finley Peter Dunne's Mr. Dooley, "is a man that does what he thinks th' Lord wud do if He knew th' facts in th' case." On the other hand, there are folks like me who are fanatically uncertain about what God is thinking. I believe in him, all right. But I do not believe that he is on our, or any, side in wars or that he oversouls his way through the trees or that he presides over my bowling game.

The essential act of faith, it seems to me, is wonder--a sort of involuntary fascination in awe. By awe, I do not mean the act of seeking, either--the quest one hears a lot these days in the affectionate recollection of George Harrison's My Sweet Lord. I don't believe in seeking, and I don't believe in finding.

Most religions make awe difficult, because they are concerned with ideology, uniformity, loyalty and favoritism--not the most useful tools for those who choose to live in mystery. One says that he respects someone else's religion, but it is like saying he thinks someone else's children wonderful.

Similarly, if one prays for gifts and protections, one must naturally assume that God micromanages the universe for the advantage of particular believers. If, however, one sees prayer as what theologian Paul Tillich called "the great deep sigh," prayer becomes an act of unconscious adoration. Religion becomes more generous and modest. Even the Gospels were written "according to," which was a way of saying "as I see it."

One would like to think that God is on our side against the terrorists, because the terrorists are wrong and we are in the right, and any deity worth his salt would be able to discern that objective truth. But this is simply good-hearted arrogance cloaked in morality--the same kind of thinking that makes people decide that God created humans in his own image. (See the old New Yorker cartoon that shows a giraffe in a field, thinking "And God made giraffe in his own image.") The God worth worshiping is the one who pays us the compliment of self-regulation, and we might return it by minding our own business.

So indefinite is my idea of God that I do not even connect it to morality. It is pleasant to believe that God wants us to behave well, and that if we do, we may be making those choices that he hoped for when he let us alone. Then again, we may not. What if God is who James Joyce said he is in Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, one who sits back after creation "paring his fingernails"? The idea is hard to swallow, which is what makes faith equally confounding and thrilling.

In practical terms, it might be quite upsetting to learn God's opinion on such issues as human cloning, abortion, school prayer, capital punishment, conservation, nuclear weapons, starvation, disease and an excessive number of Krispy Kremes. Where has God been since 1973 regarding the New York Knicks? I'd like to know. If one wants proof that God does not side with someone who merely invokes his name frequently, take point guard Charlie Ward (please).

This whole business of knowing God's devices is particularly nettling to us modern scientific Americans, who have assured ourselves that we are capable of knowing everything. But it is always interesting to see how knowledge, no matter how fundamental or revolutionary, discloses as many mysteries as it unravels.

Theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer made his way to America from Nazi Germany at the outbreak of World War II but then decided to return to his country to join the Resistance. He participated in a failed attempt to assassinate Hitler, and was caught, jailed and hanged. Bonhoeffer addressed this question of knowing with the example of a rose. He said that science allows us to grasp nearly everything about the composition of a rose because we have learned so much about pollination, photosynthesis and so forth. And yet, he said, once we have done all that analysis, we still ask, What is a rose?

Hitler had a different question. "Who says," he asked, "that I am not under the special protection of God?"


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-108 next last

1 posted on 12/12/2001 3:36:02 PM PST by JediGirl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
Rosenblatt can only imagine a God as wise and capable as Rosenblatt himself. If God were only as wise and capable as Rosenblatt, I'd hold God in derision and utter contempt too.
2 posted on 12/12/2001 3:41:03 PM PST by Kevin Curry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
Ahh, more rediculous blathering from the pages of the anti-Religious Left. I may hafta buy a copy of this magazine to use for kindling...

;) ttt

3 posted on 12/12/2001 3:41:12 PM PST by detsaoT
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
He either doesn't read the Bible or doesn't believe it.
4 posted on 12/12/2001 3:43:10 PM PST by shrinkermd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

All your Gods are belong to us:^)
5 posted on 12/12/2001 3:43:58 PM PST by Eternal_Bear
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Eternal_Bear
Jesus loves me,..but he can't stand you..
6 posted on 12/12/2001 3:45:35 PM PST by Rustynailww
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
God Is Not On My Side. Or Yours

While it is true that G-D is not on my side, I am most assuredly on His. Somehow I doubt that the author can make the same claim.

7 posted on 12/12/2001 3:49:49 PM PST by BenF
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
One of our famous leaders in the past said something close to this:

When asked if God was on our side, he replied,"We better be sure WE are on GOD's side !"

8 posted on 12/12/2001 3:51:50 PM PST by UCANSEE2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
What is your point besides asking God to smite you for blastephemy? If God were not on our side the taliban would be moving into the White House about now, or it would be smouldering rubble.
9 posted on 12/12/2001 3:55:31 PM PST by wwjdn
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
So indefinite is my idea of God that I do not even connect it to morality.

So why are you writing about something you don't know? Typical leftist.

10 posted on 12/12/2001 3:55:33 PM PST by Brett66
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl

11 posted on 12/12/2001 3:59:48 PM PST by Incorrigible
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
He almost had a point with the 'involuntary awe' part and then pulled back from it in the attempt to justify his amoral liberal 'do-as-thou-wilt' stance.
12 posted on 12/12/2001 4:01:10 PM PST by Cogadh na Sith
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth and over all the creatures that move along the ground. Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image. in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...........God is with all of us, it is our decision on whether or not we are on God's side.
13 posted on 12/12/2001 4:02:00 PM PST by jmccoy1252
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Brett66; wwjdn; Kevin Curry
So indefinite is the author's idea of God that he just makes it up as he goes along. Kev's right - this man's god is too small.
14 posted on 12/12/2001 4:03:45 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
Similarly, if one prays for gifts and protections, one must naturally assume that God micromanages the universe for the advantage of particular believers.

Nope. The assumption is that God can if He wants. Whether he chooses to do so is another question. Sometimes the answer to a prayer is "no."

But this is simply good-hearted arrogance cloaked in morality--the same kind of thinking that makes people decide that God created humans in his own image.

Hardly. If you believe that God is an intelligent, creative force, then it should be easy to see that we are images of God -- as small-scale, intelligent, creative forces. We are not so much physical images of God -- though no doubt, He can look human, if He wishes -- as much as we are small-scale versions of God's essence as Creator.

At least, that's my belief.

15 posted on 12/12/2001 4:07:08 PM PST by Celtjew Libertarian
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
The author is perpetuating lies about God.
16 posted on 12/12/2001 4:13:51 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JediGirl
This entire article, and all current replies, were best covered in a speech by Abraham Lincoln 140 years ago.

It may be that God is on my side and not on yours. It may very well be that God is on your side and against mine. It also may very well be that God is on niether of our sides. But it is impossible for God to be on both our sides
Paraphrased, with my appologies.

17 posted on 12/12/2001 4:15:52 PM PST by M.K. Borders
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lambo; He Rides A White Horse
Ping.
18 posted on 12/12/2001 4:17:04 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: anniegetyourgun
The author is perpetuating lies about God.

In my humble opinion, so is every person who ever said anything about any god, including the authors of such works as The Holy Bible, The Q'uran, The Upanishads, or, The Bhagavad Gita.

That's my opinion, your mileage may vary.

19 posted on 12/12/2001 4:21:07 PM PST by LuvItOrLeaveIt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: anniegetyourgun
I think it was St. Anselm who called theology 'faith seeking understanding.' This guy is trying to do theology with little or no faith, which makes for some pretty bad theology.
20 posted on 12/12/2001 4:25:13 PM PST by dell Arpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-108 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson