Question
I agree with you on evolution, homosexuality and
more. However, I think we need to appreciate the fact
that the conservatives" problem with evolution is
based on more than Genesis. The premise of the Old
Testament is that God does stuff on earth - lots of
stuff. If God is not managing how life forms on earth
are created, what else isn't He (She) managing or
doing? The notion that the messes we create on earth
are not part of God's plan and that God is not going
to intervene and fix them is a scary thought. The
question is how can we get the conservatives to accept
the idea that we are responsible? Jesus showed us
what to do. How can we get them to accept that now it
is up to us to do it?
Answer
Your point is well made. What we need is maturity in
religion not childlike dependency. We don't need to
be "born again," we need to grow up! But religion
encourages childishness by proclaiming there is a
super parent in the sky ready and willing to take care
of us. So we seek to please this God with proper
worship and proper living. We flatter the God in
worship (listen to the words of our hymns: "How great
thou art!" for example). Because we learned as
children that flattery works with authority figures,
we assume that it will also work on the ultimate
authority figure! That is why I have argued that
"theism" as a definition of God has got to go. That
does not mean that there is no God, no holiness, and
no "otherness." It does mean that the old definitions
do not work any longer. I see God as life, love and
being. I worship God by living, loving and being. I
serve this God by seeking to build a world in which
all people have a better chance to live, love and be.
That seems so simple to me and yet it constantly fills
me with wonder. When I live into this meaning of
worship, religion and life flow together as one. That
is the heart of mysticism.
It makes sense to me and it places God in the center
of all that is. That is where I always meet holiness.
John Shelby Spong
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