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The
Problem with an Inexperienced God
by Darcy West
reprinted by permission
Christians are fond of saying that God, by coming to earth
as a man, is therefore acquainted with every temptation, every concern,
every sorrow man has ever faced, and thus he truly is able to be a wise
and"compassionate "father". He "knows" all of our troubles, they say.
But does he? If God exists, and if this God, in the form of Jesus, is
who many believers claim he is, then there is an endless list of things
humans have experienced that this god has not. For example, Jesus never
fell in love. He never experienced a moment of indecision. He was never
a father. He never was in a committed marriage. He never sat up through
the night with a sick child. He never experienced the anguish of wondering
whether or not his child would be okay. He was never uncertain about his
own destiny. He was never required to have faith. Think about it. He was
never required to have the ONE thing he requires of all humankind: FAITH.
How can he ask of others that which he has never had to do himself.
Anyone who is a parent knows how annoying it is when a young single person
who has never had children of his or her own tries to offer advice about
parenting. In this situation, all one can really do is smile and nod.
WE know that the advice-giver does not know what he/she is talking about.
Oh, he might have some good ideas. He might even have some great ideas.
But because the advice giver is inexperienced, he cannot really
be seen as a parenting expert. He may think he is capable of being
an expert, but parents everywhere know that he is not. Not really. And
this is how it seems to me that the biblegod is in so many areas. Christians
say that God is omniscient....that he knows all things. But how can this
be true? If he is omniscient, he has never experienced uncertainly, curiosity,
surprise, insecurity, confusion, disappointment, anticipation....all of
the things that we as humans know very intimately. If God has never experienced
these things, then he is, in many ways, naive, and he cannot be truly
empathetic to the human condition. He may have "head knowledge" of these
things, but without having experienced them himself, he cannot really
have the knowledge that comes from experience alone. So, in this way,
it seems to me that Jesus, AKA the Yahweh god, even if he exists, cannot
possibly be what so many Christians say he is. He cannot instruct us,
he cannot empathize with us, he cannot have genuine compassion, because
he does not KNOW, really know, what it is like to be completely
human.
Copyright © 2000 by Darcy West. All Rights Reserved.
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