Comments on: Faith and God http://robern.net/2009/11/08/faith-and-god/ Robern Dot Net Thu, 24 Jun 2010 23:08:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Seth A. Roby http://robern.net/2009/11/08/faith-and-god/comment-page-1/#comment-117 Seth A. Roby Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:14:36 +0000 http://robern.net/?p=134#comment-117 Not so much "heretical" as "completely foreign;" I'm not going to cast you out of the church, because I don't think you're inside of it. That doesn't mean I'm not interested in the idea, however. Not so much “heretical” as “completely foreign;” I’m not going to cast you out of the church, because I don’t think you’re inside of it. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in the idea, however.

]]> By: Josh http://robern.net/2009/11/08/faith-and-god/comment-page-1/#comment-116 Josh Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:54:03 +0000 http://robern.net/?p=134#comment-116 Not defining God as the power of love, but as the <em>personification</em> of the power of love. Important, in that it casts God as a human construct (which I'm sure is heretical to your perspective). As to the latter half of your comment, yeah, lack of context. UU's formulation of "love" (or at least one of them) is the impulse that moves us to act with compassion, honesty, consideration, and so on. Those things do translate to justice and freedom (which are big things in UUland). This reverses a lot of things from Christian thought, obviously. Christian Faith is about God; in this formulation, God is a way of thinking about Faith. Which appeals to me in lots of ways — it 'clicks' for my brain and my heart. Not defining God as the power of love, but as the personification of the power of love. Important, in that it casts God as a human construct (which I’m sure is heretical to your perspective).

As to the latter half of your comment, yeah, lack of context. UU’s formulation of “love” (or at least one of them) is the impulse that moves us to act with compassion, honesty, consideration, and so on. Those things do translate to justice and freedom (which are big things in UUland).

This reverses a lot of things from Christian thought, obviously. Christian Faith is about God; in this formulation, God is a way of thinking about Faith. Which appeals to me in lots of ways — it ‘clicks’ for my brain and my heart.

]]> By: Seth A. Roby http://robern.net/2009/11/08/faith-and-god/comment-page-1/#comment-115 Seth A. Roby Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:53:16 +0000 http://robern.net/?p=134#comment-115 I'm not so sure, but it's probably just a lack of context. Is it just defining "God" as the "power of love" in that he has no other properties? Are those two equivalent, in this telling? I think that's selling God short. And "better" is a little vague. Love can do a lot of things, and most of them make things "better," but it can't do everything and I'd argue that it can't do some very important things: justice and freedom have to be rather oddly-defined to fit into a rubric of love. And my brain and my heart can't say that those two aren't important enough for deity-level attention. I’m not so sure, but it’s probably just a lack of context.

Is it just defining “God” as the “power of love” in that he has no other properties? Are those two equivalent, in this telling? I think that’s selling God short.

And “better” is a little vague. Love can do a lot of things, and most of them make things “better,” but it can’t do everything and I’d argue that it can’t do some very important things: justice and freedom have to be rather oddly-defined to fit into a rubric of love. And my brain and my heart can’t say that those two aren’t important enough for deity-level attention.

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