Everything seems so black or white in our society. For example, Christopher Hitchen's book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, he really sound like a fun dinner guest...right? My initial response to Richard was to rush to the defense of religion since the institution is attacked constantly. Now it just seems unnecessary.Upon further reflection he most likely has much in common with Pastor Hagee. While on the other end of the spectrum and still someone I will not be inviting to dinner, Pastor John Hagee the San Antonio, based mega-church leader who claims that it was God's will that Hurricane Katrina be sent to punish the people of New Orleans for their behavior. He also teaches that the Catholic Church is "The Whore of Babylon" spoken of in Holy Scripture. A catchy name..."The Whore of Babylon."
What is the will of God?
The rabbis of the Jewish faith will tell us that the gift of prophecy was lost to Israel after the Romans destroyed the Temple. But we hear the frenzied voices shouting in certain mosques that the will of God is to strap on a bomb and blow up yourself along with God's enemies. Osama bin Ladin surely believes he is doing God's will. Christopher Hitchen's who spends his time trying to convince everyone that he can prove the is no God and therefore no such thing as God's will, Paster Hagee and bin Laden would all enjoy each others company immensely at there own private dinner party.
Spiritual humility will tell us to not tread on God's mystery and majesty by attempting to explain His Universal Mind in some simplistic manner. Blind faith and atheism are both equally stupid. Having the willingness to do God's will is a wonderful way to start. "Just do the next right thing." If we want to turn our lives over to God's will the following passage may be helpful.
Once we have placed the key of willingness in the lock and have the door ever so slightly open, we find that we can always open it some more. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 35
I telephoned my spiritual advisor and asked, "What is God's Will?" TG answered.
"whats next is God's will."
Good night TG,
Dave
1 comment:
A couple of things here. I've always found Hitchen interesting. I actually attended a lecture he gave at the college I went to. However, what always amazes me about people who doubt God is that just because they cannot prove it, does not mean it is not real. There are many things in life that one cannot prove, we have to have faith. Even think about love, one can say they love you, heck they can even sometimes show it, but at the end of the day we have to trust that the ones that say they love us do, I cannot prove that, I have to trust and have faith in that. So, just because you cannot prove something, does not mean it isn't real. I always laugh at this, because it is as if anthiest do not realize that believers don't put limits on God, it simply makes me smile in the humor of it all. Also, I do like what you said about spiritual humility, I think we could all agree that more of this is needed in us all. Lastly, Hitchen was on a 60 minutes episode earlier this year where he refuted her saintly-ness, I must admitt, I had to turn it off. I lack complete charity to hear an opposing view. Sorry, my comments are long--Hitchen gets my blood boiling.
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