God is Dead...well, maybe

I’m beginning to wonder if God might be dead.

Perhaps my statement may seem odd and the antithesis of all that we are encountering in this “Bright Week,” the holy week wherein we observe the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Christ is Risen—he is risen indeed! O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Surely God is not dead; so much beauty in the world serves as a testament to the God’s eternal creating spirit. I look out the window and see the earth renewed by gentle evening rains. Trees worshipfully extend leafy branches to the sky, as if to shout eternal “Hosannas!” Without extending too much into natural theology (I’m trying to avoid at least some heresy), I know that, to quote G.M. Hopkins [again]: “the world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

Surely God is not dead; in this age of mass-media, God has never been more accessible. We are blessed to live in a society where books no longer exist in musty chained libraries but are inexpensive and bountiful. God is, literally, everywhere.

Yet, I am beginning to suspect that American [specifically, United States] popular culture is precipitating the slow, stifled death of God. Religion in this country is the proverbial “hot commodity;” Jesus not only saves--he sells. Christians across the country have historically been an untapped resource and major corporations have now realized that Christians will snap-up Jesus themed t-shirts, household accoutrements, and what-not faster than a greased snake on a slip-n-slide. Forgive me for sounding a little harsh, but I equate the selling of Jesus merchandise with the archaic practice of selling indulgences. Buying christo-religiocentric merchandise is a way for good, God-fearin’ folks to satiate a consumerist appetite while mitigating guilt.

I suspect God is dead when we no longer believe in the actual God, but instead place our faith in the impotent God of commercial consumerism. If we believe in and worship “false gods” [whatever these may be], does our one true God, the Holy One of Israel, cease to exist? Most of us in Western culture are familiar and well indoctrinated with Arthurian legends, all of which are set within the cultural context of the schism between the ancient Pagan world and the birth of Medieval Christianity. During this era of ancient myth, many of the kings and peoples in Britain have converted from paganism and have begun to embrace monotheism and the Christian God, a change which serves as a powerful contrapuntal theme throughout the legend. This schism was addressed in a fairly recent television mini-series, Merlin. The dark-sorceress, Queen Mab, is dealing with an inevitable fact that human beings no longer worship and revere the “old ways,” the ways of pagan ritual and belief in magic. Subsequently, as increasing numbers of human beings begin to worship the Christ rather than Mab and her minions, the figures of the pagan religion begin to fade out of existence. Because human beings no longer believe, the old ways cease to exist.

Once again, I find that an archetypal story continues to resonate with the modern world. If we put our faith in human strength and human constructs, will God, like other ancient Gods, fade into oblivion?

As a good reformed theologian who believes in the full-sovereignty of God, I would have to answer that regardless of human actions and interactions, God will always exists. We call this divine aseity—God did not create because God has low self-esteem and needed creation to justify God’s existence. Because God is the “ground of all being,” according to theologian Paul Tillich, the very fact that we exist is proof that God exists. God, after all, is not “a being,” but rather “being itself.” God is different from the self-centered and self-serving ancient gods, sorcerers, and supernatural beings because God’s existence is not contingent on human response.

Still, I am concerned with the state of religion in America. Ours is a nation suffering deep hurt, resentment, cynicism, and superficial spirituality. A deep pain permeates our national psyche, a pain that continues to motivate senseless consumerism, ego-centrism, and blatant disregard for the global community. Assuredly, God is not dead—but God may be dead in our lives.

I intend to further investigate this matter in future posts. Until then, peace unto all.