Sunday, November 28, 2021

The God(s) of the Bible

The annual Pew religious survey came out this week. It says that 58% of Americans believe in God as described in the bible. This is highly problematic. Because the bible does not describe one version of the divine, but many. The book does not require readers to believe in the whole thing, but to make choices and take sides and be faithful to it in the midst of life’s messiness. The real question for American bible believers is which god we really believe in. The authoritarian god that demands assimilation and sacrifice, or the abolitionist god who sets the captives free? The reigning Solomon god who silences all others with violence, or the Sabbath god of rest who builds the beloved community by dismantling hierarchies?

 There is a biblical god on a throne who is male and angry and always in control and calls some an “abomination” and tells others to “submit” and subs out mystery with supremacy and certainty. But there is another biblical god who weaves the world with wonder, who is more feral and more feminine, who moves on love and liberation, who is both high and holy—but always with the humble and contrite, who groans with oppressed people, who composts new life out of our weakness and waywardness, who beckons “believers” to subvert supremacy by doing justly, loving mercy and walking humbly.

 For the 58% who believe in the God of the bible, it cannot possibly be “all of the above.” Can it?

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