Bumper Sticker “Wisdom”

No, you read it right the first time.  I saw this bumper sticker on a car as I drove Eva to dance class tonight. I just couldn’t believe it! Somebody has got to help me find the humor here.

 

I understand that its message is probably “stop complaining.”  Obviously, that’s a sentiment I support. But even so, I have so much trouble with saying that God would somehow “make” us live longer as punishment for complaining.  Even if it’s meant in jest, it’s not funny to me at all.

 

This is probably due to my trouble with what I’ve come to think of as the “SimGod” theory.  I believe that God is all-powerful and there’s nothing He can’t do.  But I don’t believe that He is sitting around hitting little “Live” and “Die” buttons based on any kind of formula. I blogged previously about the tragedy that hit our community.  There are some people saying that it was in “God’s plan” or “God’s will” that Michael and his sister be murdered by their (step)father.  I just can’t buy into that.  Yes, I believe that we should pray for those who are sick and hurting.  I believe that we can focus God’s love with prayer, like a magnifying glass focusing rays of light. We can direct comfort and healing where it is needed with prayer.  But I don’t believe that people live or die based on the amount of prayer they receive.  Sahara Aldridge had thousands of people praying for her. Was it somehow “God’s plan” for her to die of cancer at such a young age?

 

After 9/11, my pastor used a phrase that has stuck with me.  “God didn’t cause this, but He can use it.” That matches with my philosophy pretty well.  Bad things happen. They aren’t caused, they just happen.  How we choose to deal with it reflects our faith in God.

 

If our way of “dealing with it” is to complain, I certainly don’t think it will prolong our life.  I know this was a roundabout journey from one stupid bumper sticker, but I guess that’s how my mind is working today.

What are your thoughts?

Knowing God

 Today, I get to make my own contribution to the Desiderata Project.  I got to reserve my favorite section for myself.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.

I’m a Baptist married to a Catholic. I’m cool with both methods of worship.  Automatically, that puts me in a bit of a different category than most people of faith.  So many people that I’ve encountered believe that there is only one way to know God. Only one version of God… and they are the only one who can truly tell you about Him.  They are the only one who knows the special trick you have to do in order to have access to God.  Listen to me, they say, and I will introduce you to God.

My image of God is influenced by the fact that I spent my formative years in a Baptist church.  My parents and grandparents were sort of “charter members” of a church that formed in my hometown, and I spent a lot of time there.  The soundtrack of my preschool years is made up of traditional hymns and Southern Gospel music.  Blessed Assurance, Just As I Am, Oh How I Love Jesus? So how I “conceive Him to be” is in the image of Jesus, knocking at the door to my heart.

I’m an Evangelical Christian, though I shudder at the connotations that label has in our country today. I want people to know God, and I am active through my church in trying to introduce people to God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I want people to know that God that I know… the one who loves me enough to forgive me for all of the stupid stuff that I do and wants to help me be more like Him.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:17) The God that I know is more interested in saving people than condemning them.  But again, I seem to be a little bit different than other folks in my particular faith tradition.  A lot of those people spend more time putting little “Marriage = Man + Woman” bumper stickers on their car and the like.  That’s not for me.  My faith tends to focus on what I can do to be a better person and to make life better for other people.  I don’t spend a lot of time trying to condemn other people in God’s name. I just don’t think that’s my job.

It’s amazing that we can all have such a different impression of God. I won’t even get into different religions today, beyond just to say that I am happy when people connect to God in any way that works for them.  If a person connects with God as a Muslim, Buddhist, or Wiccan… I am cool with that.  I just want everyone to encounter God, to touch Him, to be close to Him, no matter what path they choose to take.

I believe that God is big enough to be experienced in a variety of ways.  I think maybe that’s why we all see Him so differently.  Maybe we’re all just discovering different aspects of Him that He’s choosing to reveal to us.  It sort of reminds me of the story of The Blind Men and the Elephant.  We only know God through what we’ve actually felt in our lives.

If it’s been a while since you’ve felt God’s presence in your life, I hope you’ll take some time to look for Him. Then maybe you can tell me and others how you “conceive Him to be.” That way, we can all come to know Him more fully.

Image from The Visual Church Blog