I got into trouble the other day because I described someone as an atheist. "She's not an atheist" I was told, "She believes in God". I didn't pursue the subject but what I thought to myself was "No, she doesn't, she only thinks she does."
What I meant by this was that this person, like so many, believes she believes in God because in her mind she thinks that God might exist and she would like God to exist though on her terms. But she doesn't really believe. Her behaviour is not that of a person who takes into consideration what the existence of God might actually mean. She doesn't have any kind of inner connection to the reality that is God. God is not more real to her than this world. Worldly culture influences her far more than spiritual reality does. Her belief in God is actually a form of humanism with a small serving of God on top. He might be the cherry on the cake but he's not the whole cake.
The Pharisees thought they believed in God but they didn't. They believed in a construct of their own making not the living God at whose glance angels tremble (in love and awe not fear). The bishops in the Church of England think they believe in God but the only conclusion one can draw from their actions and words is that most of them don't. These people believe in the human race and they like to think there is some sort of spiritual component in humanity but they don't behave as if they have any understanding of the truth of God. If you don't have any understanding of God what is it you actually believe in?
To believe in God requires that you take God as the foundation of everything else you believe. He is not one ingredient among many. Everything else is seen in the light of that reality and is subsidiary to it. It also means you must have some understanding of what God is, how he expresses himself in creation and what he requires of you personally and human beings collectively. You might ask how can any mere mortal understand God? Obviously you can't completely but you can insofar as a human being can. He exists within your heart and will make his presence known to you if you listen properly, look correctly and remove, as far as possible, preconceived ideas and wishful thinking. You can understand God if you look at yourself in his light but never if you look at him in your light.
So, yes I would say that many people might intellectually acquiesce to the idea of God but they don't really believe in him. Of course, a lot of these people would feel insulted if you told them this but if they were honest with themselves they would see the justice of it. The problem for them is that until they see the truth of the accusation they will remain in illusion, thinking they have put themselves right spiritually while in fact they are as far away from the truth as any regular atheist.
You only really believe in God if that belief overshadows, indeed determines, every other belief you have. And nowadays if you say you believe in God but still go along with the worldly agenda, much of which grew out of the specific denial of God, then frankly you are no different from a non-believer. We live at a time of not just materialism but the assimilation of religion and spirituality to the materialistic ethos with the consequences that many of those who would call themselves believers fail to realise that believing in God means rejecting all the trappings and priorities of this world. Seeking to serve two masters they simply become absorbed by the world. Just like the bishops of the Church of England are demonstrating at the moment.
You must believe in the head and you must believe in the heart. If it is just the former then what you believe in is not God. It is only an idea you have about God and that idea will be formed from things other than God, very often things of this world - just like the bishops of the Church of England are demonstrating at the moment.
@William - I wonder if what such people believe-in is the abstract, pantheistic, 'oneness deity' - which puts everything onto a single level and dissolves any distinction between good and evil - all equally regarded as a product of illusion (maya)?
ReplyDeletePlenty of self-identified Christians advocate unconditional and accepting love of everybody and everything - as if this was what Jesus taught and practised; and their version of evil is anyone who makes ultimate value distinctions.
They do not desire the immortality Jesus spoke-of, but instead a state of blissful non-thinking, not-self, assimilation into 'the universe'.
I am continually amazed at how many people preach some version of this 'deism' - but call it God.
I remember being young and meeting religious people (Catholics, in my case) and thinking - what difference does this make? They did and liked the exact same things as everyone else. When I got to highschool everyone knew that the church-related youth groups and church girls in particular were the most depraved. It kept me from taking Christ seriously for a time.
ReplyDeleteA lot of worldly people when they decide to believe in God still have a worldly idea of God.
ReplyDeleteA believer thinks God is the center and he is a servant.
ReplyDeleteA modern person thinks he is the center and, if He exists, God is a servant to make his wishes come true. This is moralistic therapeutic deism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moralistic_therapeutic_deism
""God is something like a combination Divine Butler and Cosmic Therapist: he is always on call, takes care of any problems that arise, professionally helps his people to feel better about themselves, and does not become too personally involved in the process," Smith and Denton write.
ReplyDelete"moralistic therapeutic deism " is about right. That has nothing to do with any real spiritual understanding.
ReplyDelete"A believer thinks God is the center and he is a servant."
ReplyDeleteI think this is certainly the perspective of the Old Testament (and, indeed, of Islam); but if we regard the IV Gospel as a valid guide; Jesus changed this dispensation in speaking to his disciples:
John 15: [14] Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. [15] Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Of course, this single passage is not conclusive; but more generally, Jesus did not treat others as his servants, nor ask from them the kind of obedience that God had asked of the OT Hebrews.
And Jesus - by the advent of the Holy Ghost after his ascension - made it possible for those who wished to follow him to have direct and personal guidance; rather than following general commandments as made specific by priests.
In sum, regarding God as the real creator of reality does Not entail the OT attitude of obeying God in the way a servant obeys his master.
I think we know from IV Gospel (broadly confirmed by the New Testament more generally) that Jesus did Not regard this as the ideal relationship with God that all people should be aiming for for all time. But, on the contrary, the Master-Servant relationship was sub-optimal (even though it may sometimes be necessary - for instance with children and others who cannot take responsibility).
I'm keen on defining impiety as a madness, hoping it to be only a temporary insanity. A woman needs to know with what will contribute to her successful union. To bring forth a child into this world is the duty of God, and it can not be otherwise. This is part of the foundation of creation extending back as far as eternity until it can be more completely known for what it is yet that is not likely until after death. There awaiting is eternity once more. There awaiting is the eternal line of the fathers who have resurrected. Our obligation to allow the work of God in producing life has been the duty of this line of fathers, long before we were born.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what apocalypse or Ragnarok, the secular social contract will be lost and the above will define what it means to be alive.
There are many "God believers" who are actually deists or agnostics- and only theist when it suits them.
ReplyDelete