Defending God?

I wonder if atheism goes in cycles like, you know, wide ties? Lately it seems that books on atheism are on the best seller list. "God is Not Great," and "The God Delusion" are two that come to mind. Laced with this are thoughts like those of John Shelby Spong who wants to debunk "theism" by stating that there is no God "up in the sky." I'm not just being defensive because I think we can learn from the "loyal opposition."...but...

The problem with some of this "God is outdated" kind of stuff is that the choices given are 1)to be simple minded believers or 2) with-it realistic atheists. Somebody needs to tell these God knockers that there are a whole lot of choices between being a rigid fundamentalist and a "no thanks to God" advocate.

For one thing, God and science do not have to be such opposites if one has an expansive view of God and an educated understanding of what the Bible is and what it is not. Don't lump me with the foolish believers who have to spend all their time criticizing evolution and the big bang theory. The God of the universe has enough imagination to do whatever God wants when it comes to creation.

And I'm tired of TV talking heads who seem to "represent" Christianity. Most of them do not represent my understanding of Christianity so quit doing the "one size fits all" kind of defense of atheism. The God that some of the atheists don't believe in sounds a lot like the God I don't believe in either.

I like what Karl Barth, the eminent German biblical scholar and theologian said when asked, "Dr Barth, it sounds like you do not take the Bible literally?" His response was, "I take the Bible far too seriously to take it literally."

Well that goes not only for the Bible, it also goes for one's understanding of God. There are many ways to understand God besides the simple "man upstairs" or "cosmic policeman" or "divine puppet master." Another theologian named Paul Tillich called God, "the ground of all being."

So you can save your wide ties and know full well that atheism comes and goes along with all kinds of "views" of God. The deal is that if there is a God, and what do you think...I think there is...then the real God has to be much more complex than our mere views of that God.

So yes functional atheism can kick in when God let's us down or does not show up or is accused of allowing some "god-awful" (interesting expression) event to happen like a tsunami or something. The God who is way beyond any sky and a whole like deeper than our human thoughts can handle our disbelief and disappointment. Some religion can't handle complexity, ambiguity, and doubt; but the God of the universe is way bigger than religion.

I'm not big on the "Faith for Dummies" brand of faith that the latest atheists suggest that we believers espouse. There is no fact about the Bible or finding from the world of science that "true believers" need fear. Bring it on. The really big God, who by the way cannot fully be understood literally, can handle the questions.
Bless you
jody jseymour@davidsonumc.org