Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Thoughts on God
Being that it's been a month since my last post, and the new blog isn't getting up and running quite as quickly as I would like, and it seems that my life is not slowing down any time soon, I thought I might post here some more.
I recently got in a conversation about God with some friends, and wanted to share my thoughts here, sort of as a journal entry...
Ever since I started reading about the Jewish Renewal movement, one particular thing has haunted me -though in a good way. Rabbi Lerner basically said that God is the force in the universe that makes possible transendence and healing.
Perhaps then it is how we define God, or what we define God as. When Historian/Bishop NT Wright was told by one of his counselees, "you won't be seeing much of me, I don't believe in God," His response was, "Oh, that's interesting; which god is it you don't believe in?"
In fact, Wright sums up the Jewish view of God quite well, at least for the first century...
God's Spirit broods over the waters, God's Word goes forth to produce new life, God's Law guides his people, God's Presence or Glory dwells with them in fiery cloud, in tabernacle and temple. These four ways of speaking moved to and fro from metaphor to trembling reality-claim and back again. They enabled Jews to speak simultaneously of God's sovereign supremacy and his intimate presence, of His unapproachable holiness and his self-giving compassionate love.
Nadine explained it well to Jonathan (our son) the other night. He beats himself up at times because he wants "to be perfect like God." She responded to him by telling him that she thinks of God as love, which he seemed to get very well. Our pursuing love (in deed, character, and core value) is to become closer to God, be governed by a higher power, and repair and heal not only our own soul, but also the world around us. To act in love, and to cherish and be governed by love at the core of our being, is what I believe the entire point of Torah is. God is to me that unseen force that allows for healing and transendence; God is in this sense, what I believe that often misunderstood and misused Jew named Paul was referring to, Love.
I find it interesting that within Judaism God is referred to in a feminine and nurturing sense much more than the masculine. Describing God is usually in a very feminine light (Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, El Shaddai -the many breasted one, nurturing, giver of life, compassionate, etc). The masculine is not descriptive as much as it is a place of honour (like King of kings which was originally said to piss-off the king of Babylon, or Father, which gave a place of honour as protector and provider).
I think this also gives some insight into the differences of how the majority of Christians and Jews relate to God. My online friend, Pooh Man, posted a short story to his blog the other day that I think shows a bit of how this difference looks in everyday life. You can read it here.
