Subversive Christian Unity

My thinking has veered in an odd direction due to some life trials that made no sense. If we are to trust God even when life takes on an absurdist air, when try as we might we cannot make sense of what is happening, we should ask what that says about our rationality and the role of intellect. There are times when our understanding fails us and only faith avails us anything. Finding that out has changed the way in which I approach ecumenism, and everything else. I was dropped into a series of circumstances that were on an objective level unreasonable, by which I mean they made no sense to me and would make no sense to anyone. I was tempted by the falsehood I have already described in these pages as the "bad daddy argument," in which we ask something like "where is God when things are so messed up?" One may even cry out, "Oh God, how could you?" Then the tempter invites us to conclude that God is not really there, or if he is, not on our side after all. ...

I am pleased to report that many people of my acquaintance, pastors and teachers in various denominations, are speaking out against lightweight, cheap grace, thoughtlessly feel-good Christian sentimentality, and against the moral lawlessness that frequently accompanies a gospel of all sunshine and lollypops. A gospel that speaks as if the Christian life is free of trials and torments and troubles makes me wonder just how that is even slightly plausible, but there is an answer of sorts in Hebrews 12:7-8. via  http://www.whatisthegospel.org.uk/ A related ill in the church world is thinking that it is not nice or proper to talk much about our trials. That idea is all wrong--we should talk more about our trials. If we do not tell others what is going on with us, we may lead other people who have troubles in life to think their problems are somehow new and different, despite 1 Peter 4:12-13. It is not quite a matter of misery loving company, more a matter of helping others ...

New Atheists place great reliance on what I shall call the Bad Daddy argument: God is accused of numerous crimes and shortcomings. The idea is to portray belief as ridiculous by making God out to be a scoundrel, having done and said things inconsistent with being all knowing and all loving. The argument says that is more sensible, or even morally superior, to disbelieve in the character religion portrays as the supreme being. A milder form of this argument is that it is easier not to believe in a God guilty of sins of omission: an unanswered heartfelt prayer, a clear wrong that goes unrighted, an unbearable loss that you  must bear none the less. The goal of this argument is to undermine faith by equating the value of our faith with our wishes being met. Sometimes this form of the argument is given a metaphysical slant: If the universe really meant anything more than just our own experience of it, as accidental creatures, the universe would work better than it does. Our desires ...