Who Is This God Guy, Anyway?

Nary a church service can be found where a good portion of time is not devoted to praising God. It set me to wondering: who is this God guy, anyway? Why is He so insecure that He is in need of constant praise?

The questions continued unmercifully and unbidden, once they started. Why oh why, given His omniscience, would He need us to pray out loud, anyway? Is the Old Man getting deaf with age?

I am reminded of a snippet from Rumpole and the Judge's Elbow:

Dr. Horridge: "The line of the body, Mr. Rumpole, is the line of God.
We are all of us created in His image."

Rumpole: "Yes. I've often thought He must be quite a strange-looking
chap."

I suppose my own faith is grounded less in what my fellow man tells me I should think than what I know to be true in my heart. Faith in the Bible, I have often said, is less important than faith in God. After all, those with faith in the Bible must be asked, "Which one?" Many Christians do not realize that not only are there many translations, but there are Bibles that differ in composition as well.

Martin Luther, convinced that the Jews held the authority where Old Testament texts were concerned, persuaded his followers to remove the so-called "apocryphal" books from the Bible. So the Protestants took them out.

The irony of thinking that the Jews should decide what is canonical for Christians is self-evident, one would hope.

Canonical issues make many a priest and parson uncomfortable - and with good reason. We can't have Christians thinking for themselves! No, that would just not do. They might begin donating their money to the poor, instead of to the new addition for the church, or, better yet, a newer and even more glorious structure, often financed to the tune of millions of dollars in some cases.

No, far better to go to church and talk about our values than to live them. Didn't Jesus Christ say "I am the Way," you ask? Must have been your imagination.

I am aware that there are those who would rather drive their high-end SUVs to church and drift off into a reverie while the preacher talks about good works than simply doing good works. And I'm afraid I can't helps these folks. In fact, I don't need to; there are multi-million dollar ministries with Armani-attired evangelists that will fill this void. They'll tell you exactly what you want to hear, rather than what you need to hear - God wants you to be wealthy. Forget about doing good works!

Too bad saying it doesn't make it so.

Further investigation into the composition of the Bible leads to yet more uncomfortable questions. Why need there be so many books after the gospels? Did the Son of God forget to say something important while He was around? Did he mean to engage in a solid round of homosexual bashing, but simply ran out of time? I find the idea farcical myself, so I read whatever fills me with the Spirit, and leave the rest for those that would place Man's institutions over pure faith.

Sooner or later, if you insist on a canon, you'll have to either gather your own, or accept somebody else's. Ignore your inner Spirit, and you'll place your faith in your fellow man over your faith in God.

So choose wisely. And beware those that insist they speak for God - I sincerely doubt He needs their help.