Sermon for 29 September 2002, 1st Unitarian Church of Alton,, Illinois
WHERE IS GOD?
Ronald J. Glossop
I. Introduction.
A. The question, "Where is God?" can be taken as a cry of despair or as a religious/ philosophical question to be explored.
B. As we consider this question, I want to show how our concept of "God" needs to evolve as our knowledge and experience of the world evolves.
II. The traditional view of God developed during the civilized, agrarian period of our human history, that is, after the agricultural revolution, focuses on power.
A. "Gods" control Nature, and the forces of nature are manifestations of this divine power.
B. "Animism" sees divine power in all kinds of objects while "polytheism" starts to classify particular kinds or areas of power and ascribes them to particular gods and goddesses.
1. People try to learn the right rituals or magic words or sacrifices to entice the gods to help them rather than their enemies.
2. At this point there is little connection between morality and religion. Good fortune indicates that the gods are with you, and bad fortune indicates that they are against you. The problem is a practical one of how to get them on your side.
C. Gradually the gods and godesses are viewed as under the authority of one god (Zeus or Jupiter or Yahweh), the divine monarch who rules over all Nature.
D. The Jewish prophets such as Amos and Hosea and the Greek poet Hesoid start putting forth the idea that the divine ruler is concerned about morality, just as earthly rulers want an obedient and peaceful community where people follow the laws. God, the heavenly king, will reward those who follow the laws and punish those who violate them. Virtue will lead to good fortune but vice will result in social disorder, punishment, and suffering. The priests work hand-in-hand with the political leaders to create an obedient, orderly society.
1. Why is God conceived of as male? Because at this time almost all rulers are males.
E. So we reach the culmination of this view of God as ruler: God is all-powerful but God is also good. God's providence guarantees that goodness and justice will prevail.
1. As poet Robert Browning put it: "God's in his heaven; all's right with the world."
2. But with the view that God is an omnipotent good ruler comes the problem of evil. In a world under the control of an omnipotent, good God, why is there any evil? Even things that seem bad, such as sickness and death and conquest by wicked enemies, must somehow have a purpose and cannot be ultimately evil.
3. When disasters occur, people naturally ask: "Where is God?" The answer usually given is that God really is still in control, even though it may seem for the moment that he is not.
a. In the Biblical tradition Jewish prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel preached that the fall of Israel and then Judah to foreigners, had a purpose. The Jewish god Yahweh had not been overcome by the gods of the Assyranians and Babylonians. He has merely been chastising the Jews like one would discipline a disobedient child, but in the future a Messiah will come to redeem Israel.
b. The story of Job provides another strategy for dealing with the problem of evil: trials (evils) are a test of faith. Those who pass the test will be rewarded later.
c. But another point in the story of Job can be emphasized, namely, that God is God and humans should simply accept whatever the creator/ruler dishes out. This viewpoint is put forth by Philip Simmons in the UU World for May/June 2002 in his article "In Praise of the Imperfect Life." Simmons suffers from Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), and has thus been forced to deal with the problem of evil on a very personal level. He says:
"But maybe we're asking the wrong thing of God. Rhyme and reason, after all, are human values, not divine ones. Wanting human suffering to fit some divine plan is like wanting to fly an airplane above tornado wreckage and see that it spells out song lyrics or a cure for acne. At some point in life, in the face of illness, violence, accident, or injustice, each of us confronts the possibility that rhyme and reason may not be on God's agenda. This, of course, leads many people to dispense with God and religion altogether. . . . God, the power that creates and sustains the universe in each moment and has given us our very lives, doesn't owe us reasons.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For those who think reason has the final say in human affairs, Job reminds us how little reason avails us when we try to understand all that befalls us. For those who are religious yet want to think of God only as the God of goodness and love . . . Job offers a severer, more inclusive view. 'Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?' Job concludes that God is the God of good and of evil, light and darkness, sweet and bitter, harmony and discord."
And it is this viewpoint that Simmons finds significant in his own life: "God's ways are past humankind's understanding." But I reject his viewpoint. I think that we must move on to a different view of God from that which Simmons has. I see no reason for humans to worship raw power which exhibits no concern for human values like compassion and justice. Simmons is relying on an old concept of God taken from an authoritarian kind of social system which we have moved beyond. I believe that we can dispense with that supreme-ruler-of-the-universe concept of God without giving up on religion.
d. The story of Easter provides still another response to the problem of evil: Jesus overcomes even death and powerful evil governments, but not in this life or this society. Good will prevail in the end, both for the individual and for the community of believers, when this world is replaced by a new one in another time and place. This view has been mockingly summarized as, "You'll get your pie, By and by, In the sky, When you die."
2. The problem of evil is still very much alive those who continue to think of God as a good and great ruler controlling the forces of nature in the universe. The suffering of innocent people from war, tyrannical governments, crime, disease, hunger, earthquakes, hurricanes, accidents, terrorism, etc. is overwhelming. Why does an all-powerful God allow such things to happen? They must still wonder, Where is God?
III. Let us focus on just one major recent event: September 11, 2001 - Where was God?
A. Was God (Allah) with those who carried out the attacks against the Twin Trade Towers and the Pentagon?
1. Those who did it felt that they were doing God's will and that God was with them. And many others had the same perspective. "Praise to Allah."
2. Does their success in carrying out those daring deeds show that God was with them? If everything that happens is in accord with God's will, weren't those events also the effect of God's power?
3 Was a just God punishing wicked Americans for their indifference to the suffering of others in the world?
a. But were the people who were killed or injured there the responsible individuals?
B. On the other hand, on September 11 and the days afterward, there also occurred an outpouring of love and compassion and a desire to assist those who were suffering. Was that perhaps where God was, in the people providing help to the injured? If God is love, isn't that where God or love was? Maybe we have been focusing on the wrong place in our thinking about God or the divine or the supreme good.
1. If we think of the acts of kindness and compassion emphasized by many of the world's religions and philosophies plus the lives that have been committed to making society more humane and just, isn't that where the highest good is?
2. If we think of long-term commitments to the welfare of family members, to spouses, to parents, to children, and to grandchildren, isn't that where God or love is?
3. If we think of concern for others who are hungry or sick or injured or isolated or unable to take care of themselves, isn't that where God or love is?
4. In that same May/June issue of the UU World there are two articles about efforts by UU churches to promote racial reconciliation in Cincinnati, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Is that not where God or love is?
5. Yesterday on the news I heard the story about a Jewish man mortally injured by an explosion set off by Palestinians whose kidney was nevertheless donated to a young Palestinian girl who needed it. Is such generosity not the work of God or love?
6. Maybe we need to take more seriously the notion that the word "God" refers to a spirit, the spirit of love and compassion and concern for others, rather than to a single supernatural heavenly male ruler who is in control of everything that happens.
7. The problem is that the word "God" is a proper noun, and this makes us think of a person rather than a force, as something outside of us instead of within us, something that Jesus seemed to have in mind when he said, "The kingdom of God is within you."
IV. In a previous sermon, I noted that the word "God" indicates some thing or force which combines power and goodness.
A. The problem of evil becomes unsolvable for us only when those features are taken to the extreme, that is, when God is viewed as both all-powerful and benevolent.
B. The traditional view of humankind's agrarian period has viewed the power of God as more important than the goodness of God, but that is just where I think that our concept of God needs to be modified. We need to emphasize teh goodness of God and be less concerned about power. But we need not neglect the power dimension completely.
C. In a previous sermon, I reviewed the book Three Faces of Power by Kenneth Boulding. You may recall that Boulding defined "power" as the ability to get what you want.
1. For Boulding the first face of power was pure physical force, the stick. This is the main method used by humans during the agrarian period of human history from the agricultural revolution to the industrial revolution. People are forced to obey by threat of force against them. In religion people obey God because they fear what they will suffer if they don't, which could include suffering eternally in hell after death.
2. According to Boulding the second face of power was economic power, the power of exchange, the carrot. It consists of exchanging something you have with someone else in order to acquire something they have. It is the main method used by humans as they move into the current industrial period. The key question becomes, "How much does it cost?" In religion many people obey God in order to be healthy and properous in this life and to get into heaven after death (as the terrorists expected to do).
3. Boulding's third face of power was love, the hug. It consists of getting what you want by being loved or respected. One example he uses to illustrate the power of love is how a baby usually gets what it needs and wants even though it completely lacks power in the first two senses. It has no physical power and no economic resources. In the political realm this third kind of power means that people willingly obey the leaders of the state, including serving in the military and paying taxes, because they respect what it stands for. In religion and morality people do what is right just because it is the right thing to do.
D. This third kind of power can lead us to a new concept of God and religion. God's power is strictly the result of the goodness of love and compassion and concern for others. We do what is good and right and compassionate and just, not out of the fear of the punishment we will suffer if we don't or the desire to gain something for ourselves if we do. God is love and love is God, and no extraneous threat of punishment or promise of reward is necessary.
V. Conclusion - Where is God? God is where love and compassion and goodness and justice are, and the spirit incorporated in those things has its own power. Religion needs nothing else.