Monday, January 26, 2009

Back in the beginning; with God


Have you ever been to a skeptics support group? They have them. The purpose is to help people who are trying to live without reference to God. But why do they need help? They need help because there is this nagging pull toward wanting to believe in the divine and worship.

The basic answer from skeptics to the reluctant disbelief problem is socialization. Parents, friends, community in general have all implanted an expectation for God that shapes people. Skeptics need to counter-socialize so that people can live free of a need to worship and answer to the divine. But is it just socialization? Or does socialization mainly affect the form of perception of the divine? Do the various forms of spiritual socialization arise from the universal human longing for an actual divinity, because there actually is One?

The Christian story begins with God creating man and woman and relating directly to humanity. In this relationship God provides goodness; including purpose. The role of people was to worship and obey God, serving as priests over creation. The transcendent God (greater than his creation) is made accessible to his creation through those created in his image living in creation.

As humans, our souls carry the inherent longing for God the way our bodies crave food and water. It is how we are designed, and it is how we live.

"The thought of you stirs him so deeply that he cannot be content unless he praises you, because you made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you" - Augustine
  • Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights first Triptych

No comments: