The Marketed, Manipulated God :(

God is going to do a new thing!  Get ready to be blessed!
"LIKE" if you love God.
"RESHARE" if you love God, in 120 seconds He will do you a favor.


It was the last one that was the straw that broke my back.


If you believe what I believe, God, the One Whose name we cannot even properly articulate, is the creator everything.  The earth is His, and everything in it.  He created mankind (I refuse to write awkwardly just to be politically correct, but for the sake of the PC police, know that I man all humans without regard to gender when I say mankind), out of His love, giving  us dominion over the earth.  And what did we do???  We messed it up -- and we messed us up -- and quite thoroughly, I might add.   


Now, fast-forward a few millennia.  Here we are in the 21st century.  One would think that by now we would have figured out a few things, for instance:

1. It rains on the just and the unjust (see Matthew 5:45).  Just because you're having a good time, that does not mean you are king (and yes, queen also) of one-upmanship over those of us who aren't.
2. Your illness is not necessarily a satanic visitation.  Have you considered His servant, Job?  Or, have you considered that the white bread, hormone-enhanced fried food, Bluebell ice cream with 12% butter fat, processed meats extruded from some machine that makes perfectly formed loaves of God only knows what (and don't forget the pink slime), the fruits and vegetables you refused to eat, the 4-pack-a-day cigarette habit, the booze you boozed or all of those cookies and candy bars finally caught up with you?  
3. Those prayers in which we thank God that we are on top of the ground and the ground is not on top of us . . . what's that all about?  Then we turn around and sing I've got my mind made up and I won't turn back because I want to see my Jesus some day.  I suppose we all just want to wait around for other the second coming -- and that would be some day.  No one is ready to die.  
4. We are not guaranteed a huge house.  If Jesus didn't even have a fixed place of residence, what makes us so special?  (see Luke 9:58)
5. AND . . . if we do have a huge house, that does not necessarily mean we are blessed and highly favored (consider the rich fool, Luke 12:13-21).  Of course, it doesn't mean that we are lousy people either.  The point is that your huge may be inconsequential.  
6. Your clothes do not make you or set you apart as a child of God.  How many suits did John the Baptist have?  Jesus?  I'm just asking ...

I'm a big proponent of the KISS principal.  Considering how lame-brained mankind can be, there is something to be said for KISS.  Keeping it simple would relieve us of the hype, pomp and circumstance that folks buy into, trying to reach God through all machinations of catch phrases, conventions, programs and paraphernalia that do nothing but perpetuate mindless consumption of tapes, books and stuff, looking for an answer other than THE answer which was handed down -- well -- at least a couple of millennia ago.  We are forever using religion to reach God, when the religion pales in significance to the relationship God prescribes for us.    


So, why does God have to do a NEW thing?  He is eternal.  He was before there was a was.  He is here and now.  And He is in the future that perhaps our children's children's children will see.  He stands with one foot at the beginning of . . . well . . . the beginning -- and the other at the end of infinity.  Well, where is that?  How long is infinity?  How far can you go?   God is incalculable, unquantifiable.  If one is able to define God within human parameters, why bother believing in Him?  He would be no more potent or powerful than the one who can define Him.  


So, now, enter the Social Network.  There are great things about Facebook, most likely the premiere and dominant social network of the worldwide web.  This writer happens to appreciate Facebook.  It allows her to connect with people she knew in her childhood and grade school, distant relatives, people who share that dread disease Sarcoidosis, people who like word games like Words With Friends, people with whom she shares common interests -- like insurance, current events, the practice of law, writing, performing (especially music) and visual arts, and worship.  Yes, Facebook is great.  Then again . . . 


Why do you suppose that this omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful God, needs to be marketed and manipulated on Facebook?  Why must we LIKE Him to get a blessing in 120 seconds?  His blessings are perpetual, ongoing, never-ending.  From before we were expelled from her mother's womb, we were blessed with a place to gestate, be nurtured and grow.  Even as we read He is blessing us -- we are breathing, touching, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, feeling.  Even in our literate, quasi-sentient, semi-intelligent, idiosyncratic ways, He still blesses us.  Even while we grasp at straws, looking for some magic formula while denying the simplicity of His Gospel, He blesses us.  Even as we embark on greedy quests to amass the trappings of tangible and financial-but-long-run-worthless wealth and be the best at things that don't even matter in the big picture, He blesses us.  So . . . why the HECK do we need to click LIKE and be blessed in 120 seconds?  Do you think He is looking down to count His LIKES?   Is He your genie in a bottle, waiting for you to rub it and say the magic words?  Will He move at your command -- or should you move at His?


Alright, I'm just asking . . . .


Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  -- Matthew 18:20

You may say click LIKE and He will do you a favor.  He said "go . . . and I will be with you."

I'm just saying . . .

Remembering Mr. G

Just now I learned that I lost a friend.  One might think us an unlikely pair to befriend each other.  He was old enough to be my father and from a socio-economic background and a side of Houston that in my childhood I would not have known existed. but for television.  Still, we had some crucial commonalities:  belief in God, a sense of fairness, trying to do the right thing, wanting to make things right when they're not, what marriage is supposed to be about (even though we are both divorced), an observation of folks' penchant for power and the corruptibility of such.   He was no saint, and would freely admit it.  Although I knew his name well and had known of him for 30 years or so, had he not needed my legal support services, we would never have met.

We had not known each other long, and our visits were generally no more frequent than bi-weekly.  But during those visits when our work was done, we took time to converse.  The subject matter of our discussions was not frivolous, nor their content pretty or politically correct.  We both spoke in a plain, straight-forward manner, and while respectful of each other, we never shied away from the issues of race, gender, wealth, professions, or any other factor pertinent to our discourse.  While we did not butt heads, he did observe and respect my willingness to question his positions and my unwillingness to rubber-stamp his declarations.  

I expected to see him yesterday, but never received a call to establish a time for our visit.  Since I last spoke with him either Christmas Eve or the day before (right now I'm now quite sure which), he has weighed heavily on my mind, more so than usual.  As I thought of him early this morning, I realized that I was more concerned about not having heard from him for the sake of hearing from him, than not having heard from him for the sake of whatever task he would ask me to tackle next.  And in my driving around Houston yesterday and today, I realized that I was thinking of him more than I was listening to my own music.  Now I understand why.  

My friend was as genuine and down-to-earth as any man or woman I have ever known.  His voice was as rich and resonant as his face was smiling and friendly.  His parents named him well, as in many ways he was his name personified, even while, during the time of our acquaintance, the last year of his life, he admits that he did not always do that name justice.

I soon recovered from the initial shock of the news.  So, why speak of my friend now, especially in a way that says he is not due to be canonized?  It is simply for the reason that I am reminded that none of us have come here to stay -- even if we want to, or try to.  Life is a gift of indeterminate ticks of the clock.  True, many of those ticks have been wasted by all of us in some quantity or another.  In hindsight my friend saw that waste and was trying to do better.  And today each of our "hindsights" can be used to plot a clearer, surer, more sustainable path to the future.  Notice I did not say an easier path.  As some of us can attest, it is one's quest for the easier path that can cause one to waste many ticks of the clock.

Well?  What about you?