I think much of the modern problem about the belief in God comes from the image of God they reject. God as they see it is some grumpy old guy who never had a fun day in his life and now wants everybody to obey his every command and bow down to worship “that guy behind the curtain”.
What follows is a rant this old God might have about this world.
God Speaks:
“Oh I’m so worried about my children who don’t know me. I mean look at all I’ve done for them. I made them in my own image. I gave them an immortal soul created just so they can live in me eternally. When they wandered to every corner of the world (which I also made just for them) they forgot that I even existed.”
“Not only all that, but they’ve taken to hating one another for the dumbest reasons – – the different color of skin that I gave to each of them, the different religions that separate the human race, and now the huge gulf between the “haves” and “have nots”.”
“So never one to give up on what I’ve started . . . I myself entered the world. That’s right, I was born a human being some 2,000 years ago. My mother Mary gave me the name Jeshua (Jesus) and I tried like hell to show every- body that I was a God who could be loved and trusted. I even went so far as to let myself be falsely accused of blasphemy (Get that, Me, God, blaspheming myself!) and then crucified . . . dead at 33 human years.”
“But no, I’m still not done with my rebellious children . . . my immortal nature will not die. I Resurrect my Jesus back to Eternal Life and I begged any who would listen to follow me in that new direction of life.”
“So what do I get in return for all this goodness? “Maybe there’s a God. Maybe not. Who knows?” “God doesn’t seem to fix hurricanes so what kind of Supreme Being is that?”
“I trust things I can see and measure, how can I believe in something for which there is no proof?” (Get that!? I, who made the laws of physics and chemistry and gave people eyes to see my Milky Way . . . I, may or may not exist!!? Well La-Di-Da.)”
Aren’t we fortunate God is not like this? Like some grumpy uncle at a family reunion. Rather, how patient he is.
He’s waited billions of years to bring creation to this point. Life came forth from the watery slime; lungs and arms and legs evolved for life to walk the earth; a creature with the largest proportional brain of all living beings be- gins to stand erect on two legs and gaze at the stars from the safety of his cave.
And then . . . “in the fullness of time” . . . Christ.
So my point? Our children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors who don’t seem to know or care whether God exists (or has anything meaningful to do with them) . . . this doesn’t worry God one bit.
Wanna know why? Because he has a plan to get us. Somewhere in our life there will be time when all defenses are dropped, all excuses ring hollow, all false idols are seen as empty. It may be only at the time of our death that we realize these things. And what then is left . . . . . “you God?”
Hopefully it won’t take that long. There will be moments of love and kindness that touch their lives and lead them to the source of this goodness – – – Christ Jesus, “through whom all things were made.”
Certainly we parents have our part to play. We must bring our faith to our everyday lived lives. People need to see a kindness and confidence in life that can only come from the One who gave us life and loves us beyond our wildest imaginings.
Fr. Tim
PS. A friend told me to smile more. I’m working on it.
