Being Definitive About God (or lack thereof) is a Risky Business

This past week has put God in the news.

Magician, comedian, and entertainer, Penn Jillette wrote a column in which he firm states, ‘there is no God.’ His premise, of course, is that belief in God is irrational and because of all the evil done in God’s name, it places the responsibility of evil on God without blaming on a non-existent entity. He states that such things as forgiveness come to us because of human charity or forgetfulness and that when people suffer we do not need outside explanations as to why things like this happen. Needless to say, if one has faith in God, Mr. Jillette’s statements can be seen as a personal affront.

Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, who is a current Presidential candidate first bashed Mainline Protestantism and then stated that President Obama’s theology is a phony theology. Considering that when President Obama has spoken of faith his theology has sounded very much Mainline Protestant and very United Church of Christ, which makes sense since his church background was in the United Church of Christ. Needless to say, if one is a Mainline Protestant and, more specifically, a member of the United Church of Christ, Mr. Santorum’s statement can be seen as a personal affront.

Having said this, I cannot say that I am going to lose any sleep over the fact that neither Mr. Jillette nor Mr. Santorum agree with my theological worldview. Mr. Jillette sees me as believing in little more than a fairy tale and Mr. Santorum seems me as having a phony theology. They are both entitled to their opinions as I am entitled to my opinion. I will also not attack either of their theological worldviews for the same reason I don’t believe they had any right presuming mine is a fairy tale of phony. Religious faith, it seems, has some rationality with a great sense of irrationality. And irrationality is not always a bad thing.

In Carl Jung’s personality type functions judgment is either seen as Thinking or Feeling. Thinking is often seen as objective, totally rational, and fact based. Feeling is often seen as subjective, personal more than rational, and on values. While theology is a rational subject it often uses faith, which is actually more irrational, as its starting point. Theology often attempts to articulate what faith cannot.

In stating this, I am not stating that only crazy irrational people have faith. Many people of faith are highly educated and can articulate, theologically, very serious issues concerning faith. The thing about faith is, however, is that it ultimately boils down to personal values. It always does. At some point, all people of faith come to that spot in the third Indiana Jones movie when all he can do is to step out in faith. That ‘leap of faith’ is a reality.

Which brings me to my point----No one can be definitive about God. We cannot even be definitive about a lack of God. Jillette says that you cannot prove a negative which is true; but with God you cannot prove a positive either. If one believes in God, and I do believe in God, that last step always needs to be a step out in faith. We can reason our way to a limited understanding of God, but we cannot definitely prove that God exists and we cannot prove God’s definitive will or worldview on anything. There is no one of any particular religion or denomination of any particular religion who can speak definitively about God. Christians claim that the only one who could ever do that was Jesus Christ as God’s Son, who was, according to our faith, God Incarnate. Anyone who believes they totally understand the totality of Jesus by reading the Gospels is missing the key point of the Gospels. Much of Jesus is beyond our comprehension.

To me, as a Christian Minister, this is good news. I like and appreciate a God who is beyond human understanding. To me, a God who I can totally understand is not worth having as a God. God is bigger and wiser, and better than any of our projections. That is, in my mind, a good thing.

For Mr. Jillette my faith in God is only a fairy tale and he is entitled to his opinion. Mr. Santorum believes my faith to be phone and he is entitled to his opinion. People who disagree with them, however, are also entitled to their opinions without ridicule as being fools or phonies.