If God wants to connect with people, He has many choices. He could let inexplicable phenomena occur, which people then give to him (nature religions). Also a message / information would be possible that we could decode and understand (Islam). It would be easiest if he spoke directly to us, for example about a burning bush (Judaism). The Hindu God tells the people: “The Atman is Brahman” with the interpretation that every soul is individual and God at the same time. One can hardly say anything about the nirvana of Buddhism, because it is an explicit “nothingness”. The Christian god as successor to JAHWE has decided to show himself as a human being. He has probably the widest and most comprehensible spectrum to communicate.
The three absolute events in being human are procreation, birth and death. Everything in between is life. Even a God who decides to be truly human has to go through these three stages. The birth of Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem was nothing out of the ordinary in those days. The inhabitants living there, desert nomads, often gave birth to their children in places that do not mean house and home. If you were pregnant and pregnant at the same time, something like that could happen. However, Mary and Joseph could not get lodgings for this “holy night”. Yes it is true – God was not received with all honors in the world. It was like the average of all human children born on this planet. As such, Jesus once arrived as a real human being. However, what he already misses at this time is the natural procreation, which also makes being human. The ecstatic love of two young people is portrayed in the Gospels rather as a purposeful relationship. No yearning, no climax and no fulfillment can be felt. Did not God want to get to know this side of the people? The other side, the suffering and dying, he has experienced more and more intense than most people. In addition, the two God-sent Jesus and Buddha agree: “All life is suffering”. Humanity has so far had hardly any images of God that place happiness, freedom and ecstasy at the center of life. What is the message that God communicates to us through his humanity in Jesus. The summary can be found in the Sermon on the Mount:
- Godly (soulful) are the mourners, the meek, the merciful, the hungry, the peaceful, the poor and the righteous.
- Light of the world: “So let your light shine before the people, that they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven.
- Justice: “If your righteousness is no better than that of the scribes, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
- Killing: Being angry with his “brother”, calling him a fool or a fool is just like killing him. “You will not get out of there until you have paid the last penny.”
- Adultery: “He who looks at a woman to desire her has already broken the marriage in her heart”.
- Swear: You should not swear at all, neither in heaven and earth nor in Jerusalem. But your speech is: “Yes, yes; No no. What is above is evil. “
- Retribution: Not an eye for an eye, but: “If someone hits you on your left cheek, offer it to the other as well”.
- Enemy Love: “Love your enemies and ask for those who persecute you ….”.
With all these messages, Jesus addresses social issues. This was something people could understand, even if they were already very paradoxical in the context at the time, because they were completely against the established doctrine. In today’s scientific era, they are even less understandable. The real spiritual topics like: where do we come from? What is the meaning of being? Where are we going?, are not addressed. Like all other religions, Christianity has used social issues as instruments of power.
A theological masterpiece was achieved at the Council of Nicaea (325). There, the Christian creed was fixed. Jesus is therefore: “undivided and unmixed God and man”. God Himself is a trinity of Father, Son and Spirit. These definitions are also very paradoxical and hardly understandable for humans. Although, that someone could be human and God at the same time, was known from antiquity. The Trinity, however, makes the Christian God comparatively difficult to understand; is not easy. William P. Young dedicated himself to this theme in his 2007 novel The Cabin – A Weekend with God.
The action takes place in the USA, in a very puritanical society. Social coexistence is determined mainly by the ecclesial community. Family problems, including domestic violence, are kept below the surface. In the family Mackenzie God has a very high priority. He received the affectionate name “Dad”. Obviously everything is fine. A camping weekend, however, changes everything. Missy’s smallest daughter is kidnapped and murdered during an inattentive moment. Father Mack blames himself for it just as he accuses “Papa” of not having prevented the misfortune. He is increasingly turning away from God. One day he finds a written invitation in his mailbox. “Daddy” invites him for a weekend exactly in the hut in which his daughter was found murdered. After some back and forth he goes there and experiences “daddy” as a trinity. His evangelical image of God (Sermon on the Mount) is beginning to change.
What has changed since the Sermon on the Mount is shown in the following dialogues and quotes:
The cabin itself is a log cabin on the edge of a mountain lake, with a workshop for Jesus, kitchen for “daddy” who is actually a mom and a garden for Sarayu the Holy Spirit. The Trinity lives here in harmony and has fun with it. Sarayu and dad are dancing to pop music and Dad is lying in a sun lounger in the sun. Jesus enjoys fishing:
God is fun too, allows fun and lives in relationship
Mack asks dad, “Why did you allow that? You have boundless power and let my daughter die! When she needed you the most, you left her alone! My God why did you leave me!
God does not intervene in the event. No matter what you have to go through, you are not alone. I will always be with you.
Mack accuses God of having to blame for all the suffering of this world. Daddy: “You wish you a life without pain?” Mack is asked if he can distinguish good and evil: “Yes, everything that helps me is good and what harms me is evil”. In addition, Sarayu shows him a highly poisonous plant (evil) in the garden. In combination with another it becomes a highly effective remedy (good). Unless we know all the connections, and we never do, we must not judge others.
God is not and will not be our judge. Good and evil are not decidable.
Now Mackenzi does not know any more. Dad: “I’m in the middle of what you call confusion. You are looking for explanations for the world with a very sketchy picture of it. You look at everything through the keyhole of your pain. You can not understand me therefore. Nevertheless, I work in your life only for your own good “.
God transcends all conceivable. All writings are human inventions out of a (painful) context.
So there are no easy answers. In the end, Daddy gives him just one thing to follow: “Life takes time and a lot of relationships and that leaves its mark. All this together is love”.
Man is at the center of love and all intentions of God
God has arrived in the hut after 2000 years. There it is much more comfortable than in a stable. At home, it would be even more appealing. Should not we build a kingdom that God would like to come to? With joy, fun, harmony, without prejudices and without Vor (writings). Let’s just turn the relationship around.