Tim Muldoon, theologian and dotMagis blogger, thinks that all the arguments for and against the existence of God are inadequate, “like trying to fit the ocean into a spoon.” And that’s OK:
Jesus reminds us that ultimately thinking is not the aim of faith; rather, living in love is, which he described with the metaphor of “the Kingdom of God.” At the end of the day, when I put down books with ponderous titles, having wrestled with great thinkers who try anew to stretch our imagination and our knowledge of the world, I get up from my desk and am immersed in a world that is in desperate need of rigorously thought-through love. If love is real, and if anything we do in this vale of tears carries with it the possibility of meaning or beauty, then it is because God is present throughout it.
There is so much about our faith in and about God that we wrestle with. Reconciliation, last judgement, we imagine and create the experience in our imaginations. But what about those who have had near death/white light experiences? They describe an immersion in Love, a knowing Presence, their outlook changed forever. I believe when we die we will be shocked by how easy it all is, it’s all about living for and serving Him who is Love, as Jim and Lynda describe. Now the harder thing is to put it into practice while we are still bumbling about here on earth.
There is so much in this article to ponder that I will need to return to it again. Yes, I have wrestled with God and realized that accepting God’s love was the only way for me to live. Faith is a leap in the dark and is not an intellectual exercise. We cannot possibly conceive of the mystery of God for however we define God, would limit God. God is love and is the loving presence in the world that gives meaning to our journey and Jesus has shown us how to walk in love.
“However we define God, would limit God”. That phrase used by Lynda leaped out to me and I thank her for it. I believe there is a profound meaning in this for me although it may take God’s own time for me to discern it. Surely attempting to define God in our own image and likeness must be the oldest form of idolatory but we still continue doing it.