God is a myth.
Posted: November 28, 2008 12:47 amFiled under: Kevin, Uncategorized, photo, reflection, weather
When I started writing this blog, I thought about titling it “Fresno Family & Fresno Friends.” Then, I changed my mind and thought that “Chaos theory, God, Family and Thanksgiving,” would be better. But as you can see, I chose an entirely different title.
You simply gotta’ click there to →
I have family in Fresno, California.
Tonight, though I am thousands of miles away from Alabama - my home of record - I was at home.
I did not fly to Alabama.
I stayed in Fresno.
I shared one of the most pleasant Thanksgivings I have ever experienced with my friends and their family.
In all my life, I have never enjoyed such stimulating and thought provoking conversation at such a time.
I think that for me, what made it all the more enjoyable was the fact that in our every thought, in our every conversation - especially and particularly with the three of us men folk - Christ and His presence in our lives, in our daily living, in our thoughts, God’s will, His place in our work, our very being, i.e., even in the most mundane things… He was the forefront of our conversation.
It’s not that all we talked about was “God” or “Christianity.” No, not at all. We talked about our stories.
My friend Anthony spoke of a paper he wrote about Genesis as myth.
Not myth in the sense of something that is unbelievable or false. But myth as in the oral tradition of story telling. It is from the Greek word “mythos” which simply means “speech, thought, story.” Other definitions include that of “a common or shared experience,” or “a narrative that tells of origins, not necessarily an ‘untrue story.’” But this definition brings it on home: “a story that has been told and re-told for centuries and which seems rooted in universal human experiences that people want to re-experience in new forms again and again,” or those stories that are “more than true.”
For example, at the time of the writing of the Genesis account, Moses was speaking to the people of his era, thus he had to “couch” the message of the Almighty in the pictographic speech of his era. He contrasted the message of the Almighty with the message of the gods of the pagan culture. In contrast to a pagan deity that created chaos, Moses - using an oral tradition of story telling - spoke of a God who spoke into the nothingness and made everything and in did so in an orderly fashion.
In essence, Moses prepared their hearts to believe. He was perhaps the first apologist (one who give defense for the faith).
Every culture has a tradition of story telling.
We Southerners know that to be especially true for us. We have stories to tell.
Perhaps that’s why and how we understand faith and Christ’s redemption so well. It’s because we have stories to tell about ourselves, and how we interact with each other. Stories of good and evil… stories of redemption, stories of failure and eventual triumph…. stories that go beyond us to a common and shared values and experiences… something beyond us, something bigger than us, that is not us, but by and through which we share the common denominator and the triumph of love over evil.
Consider also this: Fractals.
Yes, they are those mathematical and artistic models that when each part is examined it is a reflection of itself. It is a repetition to the nth degree. From the macro to the microscopic, it is like itself into infinity. And, it can be expressed in a mathematical formula. Fractals “are reminiscent of natural objects like mountains, clouds, coastlines, blood vessel networks, and even broccoli, in a way that classical shapes like cones and squares can’t match. They have also turned out to be useful in scientific applications ranging from computer graphics and image compression to the structural mechanics of cracks and the fluid dynamics of viscous fingerprinting.” (Consider reading “Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering” by Steven H. Strogatz, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-7382-0453-6)
There is structure in what we term chaos. In 1963 MIT meterologist Edward Lorenz demonstrated “that there was structure in the chaos - when plotted in three dimensions.”
So, what do fractals have to do with faith, God, and the message of Christ?
Scientists and researchers discovered that using the mathematical model of fractals, they could predict where blood vessels would branch. (Consider reading ” Nonlinear Oscillations in Biology, Lectures in Applied Math” by Art T. Winfree (1979).)
I was amazed, and immediately said,”Wow! It’s a wonderful example of intelligent design!”
Then, of course, the conversation took a turn toward how God has worked historically, and is at work in our lives similarly today.
Another example is when Joshua said that “anytime anyone comes to me saying that I ought to do so and so because I ought to be afraid of what will happen, I ignore it, because “perfect love casts out all fear.”"
In all my blood relatives, I have never heard such speech. It’s not that they’re not Christians, it’s that I have never heard such faith!
To me, and from my limited perspective (I think it’s being broadened), it’s a mark of Christian maturity. That’s not a negative reflection on my relatives, but rather is a greater understanding of how my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ thousands of miles away in metropolitan areas are relating the world of faith, the world of our God, of the Almighty Maker of the universe to this era, in their lives today.
It is an everlasting story, of His power and redeeming love for all of humanity expressed in Christ.
It is myth perpetuated throughout the ages. It is the power of His life into ours.
Yes… God and Christianity is a myth.
He entered into time and space.
So, what will you do with Jesus Christ?
