Remembrance of just Who is Who
“This is God's Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: 'Call to me and I will answer you. I'll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.' Jeremiah 33:2
I just finished reading Karen Armstrong’s 1998 book, “The History of God”, which is actually the overview of humanity's misconceptions about the Creator and about many of the explanations of who God is, and the cosmologies behind the general existence we all experience as the reality of life on earth.
From one perspective, it is really quite depressing.
So many egregious and dysfunctional human behaviors have been attributed to G-d.They cannot be counted.
The G-d concept has taken many forms and constructs, all of which seem flawed. My mind is drawn to many versions of the Creator, some of which have been constructed by Israelites and Arameans, some of which have emerged from neighboring cultures, such as the Arabs. And these are just those which have passed into our cultural stream as humans who have been the recipients of the Middle Eastern belief systems known as Western Civilization. I dare not try and capsulize all the Eastern/ Asian concepts contained in Buddhist and Hindu cultures which predate our own.( Although I admire the humility of Buddhism. There is an underlying concept of "not knowing" which seems to me to be very wise.)
From the emergence of El—the Most High ( which infers that there are “gods” who are lower than The Most High), to Elohim, which also infers that there is a pantheon, to the One, who appeared as three men to Abraham, and who then bargained with old Abe about how many people might be “good” in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities who He was going to blast into smithereens. (As it turned out, only Lot, his wife and two daughters were spared, and Lot’s wife’s confusion turned out to be her demise!)
So, “He”, G-d, just went ahead and performed his version of thermonuclear destruction and cleared the property of people, and even their animals and plants. Not a happy time. And all this, before recorded history. How did the writers of Genesis “know” this?
Hmmm.
The list goes on—from Hagar’s ElRoi, to Jacob/IsraEl’s wrestler at BethEl, to IshmaEl’s descendants conception, which later emerged as the Islamic concept of AlLah—completely a version, in my view—of the same deity.
Then finally, to Yahweh—the familiar conception of the Lord God Almighty who, in the stories related to Moses, acted quite capriciously in setting forth the 10 commandments, relented, changing His mind and then establishing His preferential attitude toward His chosen people…who over time, really did not seem to appreciate all this preference.
Whew.
Let's stick with Jesus.
All I am saying is that I much prefer Jesus’ conceptions and illustrations of “what the Kingdom of Heaven is like”, which although in most cases is characteristically vague—does help us emerge with more of a consistent G-d concept, that of LOVE, or so interprets the Apostle John—whose concepts I prefer.
It has emerged since 1945 that Thomas offered his own Jesus stories, but the “church” did not seem to buy into those interpretations, and caused Thomas’ writings to be hidden away for eons, before they were unearthed in Egypt.
Uncertain? Confusing?
When considered over the sweep of history—it is all a bit overwhelming. This is where faith comes into play.
Faith does not require certainty. Faith requires trusting in what we cannot understand. There is so much to this G-d stuff that I don't understand...
Lord, increase my "faith". Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
I just finished reading Karen Armstrong’s 1998 book, “The History of God”, which is actually the overview of humanity's misconceptions about the Creator and about many of the explanations of who God is, and the cosmologies behind the general existence we all experience as the reality of life on earth.
From one perspective, it is really quite depressing.
So many egregious and dysfunctional human behaviors have been attributed to G-d.They cannot be counted.
The G-d concept has taken many forms and constructs, all of which seem flawed. My mind is drawn to many versions of the Creator, some of which have been constructed by Israelites and Arameans, some of which have emerged from neighboring cultures, such as the Arabs. And these are just those which have passed into our cultural stream as humans who have been the recipients of the Middle Eastern belief systems known as Western Civilization. I dare not try and capsulize all the Eastern/ Asian concepts contained in Buddhist and Hindu cultures which predate our own.( Although I admire the humility of Buddhism. There is an underlying concept of "not knowing" which seems to me to be very wise.)
From the emergence of El—the Most High ( which infers that there are “gods” who are lower than The Most High), to Elohim, which also infers that there is a pantheon, to the One, who appeared as three men to Abraham, and who then bargained with old Abe about how many people might be “good” in Sodom and Gomorrah, cities who He was going to blast into smithereens. (As it turned out, only Lot, his wife and two daughters were spared, and Lot’s wife’s confusion turned out to be her demise!)
So, “He”, G-d, just went ahead and performed his version of thermonuclear destruction and cleared the property of people, and even their animals and plants. Not a happy time. And all this, before recorded history. How did the writers of Genesis “know” this?
Hmmm.
The list goes on—from Hagar’s ElRoi, to Jacob/IsraEl’s wrestler at BethEl, to IshmaEl’s descendants conception, which later emerged as the Islamic concept of AlLah—completely a version, in my view—of the same deity.
Then finally, to Yahweh—the familiar conception of the Lord God Almighty who, in the stories related to Moses, acted quite capriciously in setting forth the 10 commandments, relented, changing His mind and then establishing His preferential attitude toward His chosen people…who over time, really did not seem to appreciate all this preference.
Whew.
Let's stick with Jesus.
All I am saying is that I much prefer Jesus’ conceptions and illustrations of “what the Kingdom of Heaven is like”, which although in most cases is characteristically vague—does help us emerge with more of a consistent G-d concept, that of LOVE, or so interprets the Apostle John—whose concepts I prefer.
It has emerged since 1945 that Thomas offered his own Jesus stories, but the “church” did not seem to buy into those interpretations, and caused Thomas’ writings to be hidden away for eons, before they were unearthed in Egypt.
Uncertain? Confusing?
When considered over the sweep of history—it is all a bit overwhelming. This is where faith comes into play.
Faith does not require certainty. Faith requires trusting in what we cannot understand. There is so much to this G-d stuff that I don't understand...
Lord, increase my "faith". Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.
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