Harold Shank

The Bible uses many images to describe God.  He is a shepherd, a father, a warrior, and even a rock.  No one image captures all there is to say about God.

It may be that the two dominating images of God in contemporary society are General God and God the lawyer.   God is called a general when he attacks injustice and oppression.  The Lord of the army comes to the rescue.  We also know God as the law giver and law enforcer which perhaps links him to the contemporary role of an attorney.  God is both a general and a lawyer.

But he is so much more.

When we elevate the military and legal nature of God above all the other images of the divine being, we end up with a skewed vision of who he is.  Those images dominate and overcome other metaphors that depict another part of his nature.    All this has huge implications.

*The current anti-theism crusade attacks a God that is all general and no shepherd, one that is all lawyer and no loving father.  The God they attack does not exist. 

*Many believers wonder if they can believe in God any more.  Perhaps part of their doubt rests on a perception of God as general and lawyer.   Believers tend to look to the distorted God of contemporary culture rather than seek a more balanced portrait arising from biblical revelation.

*When we’re under attack we may be grateful for a God who can command armies.  When society turns barbaric, we can grab on to the God of order and structure.    But we must get beyond those two limited visions of God and probe deeper.  We must listen for the heartbeat of the essence of God.

The world’s most famous atheist, Dr. Richard Dawkins, spoke at the McCasland Field House on the campus of the University of Oklahoma on Friday night, March 6, 2009.   About 2,000 people attended the lecture.  

Prior to the event, the believers in Oklahoma House of Representatives considered a resolution opposing the event.   During the evening, one member of the audience, contesting the atheist’s points, stood up, screamed at Dawkins, and according to people who were there, publically condemned the speaker to hell.   Security officials escorted the man from the field house.

 Why are people so upset with Dawkins?  Increasingly atheists such as Dawkins speak out against those who do believe and insist that many of the great tragedies of our day are rooted in religion.  In the opening chapter of his book The God Delusion, the retired Oxford University professor anticipates responses like the ones in Oklahoma.  He talks about the angry, bitter, vindictive reactions he always gets from believers in God.  He says he knows they are Christians because they always quote the Bible.

 So, why do we need to study God?

 People like Dawkins work off a caricature of a god who does not exist.   They oppose a being that falls short of the God described in the Bible.  This false view is fueled in part by believers in God, like the one in Norman, Oklahoma, who respond in ways that run completely counter to the mandate of scripture that calls for a gentle, loving response to those who oppose us.   While we must oppose error, it seems to me, we need to get to the core of the issue.

 The whole anti-theism movement, headed by Dawkins and others, must prompt us to turn again to Scripture to probe more deeply into the true divine nature.  The more we know God, the more we will be like him.   The more the true God is known, the more he will draw people to him. 

 After the man who berated Dawkins was removed, the question and answer session continued.  One of the next inquirers prefaced his question by claiming to be a Christian and by apologizing for the man who was escorted out.

 Here are a couple of closing thoughts.  Let me know what you think of them:

 *Do not violate common courtesy and publically disrespect those who disagree with our view of God.   Do not violate biblical values in order to defend God.

 *When others throw stones and hurl insults, seek some way to counter their abuse with affirmation of Christian love and dignity.  

 *Seek the heart of God.   Seek to view the world from God’s point of view.

So why did I write a book about God?  What is the purpose of seeking out the divine heartbeat?

The world is filled with God-talk.  People talk about God.  Some speak for God.  Increasing numbers argue against God. A friend of mine says that atheism has become anti-theism.  He means that there is increasingly a militant voice against God.

All that drives me to find his essence.  As I started writing I did not want to study his names.  I wanted to move beyond apologetics.  Just listing his attributes was not enough.  There had to be more than what all the theologians had said about him.  All of those are good and proper, but I wanted to probe his heart.

The more we comprehend his core being, the better we understand who he is and the more accurately we can speak about him to others.

What do you think is the heart of God?

Luke 15 tells the story of the Prodigal son.  The more I reflect on this simple tale, the more depth that I see.  In the opening chapter of the book Listening to His Heartbeat, I use the story to give us entrance into the heart of God.  It does do that, but there is clearly more here.

The story invites us all to consider which role we might play in the story.  Am I the younger son seeking satisfaction far from my roots?  Or could I be the stubborn older brother busy protecting my own turf?   Jesus seems to be pushing us toward neither option, but calling us to be like the compassionate father.

The story covers all the major truths of our faith.  The younger boy sins, but repents, confesses and is welcomed back.  The father responds with compassion and grace.  The older brother centers on a works righteousness that leads to his own misery.   It’s a dictionary of Christian doctrinal truths. 

The story rehearses God’s mission.  The context of the story is that the religious people object to Jesus being with sinners (Lk 15:1-2).  Jesus tells three stories to recall why God continually comes to earth.  He seeks the outsider, the lost sheep, the missing coin, the wayward sons.   The story of the Prodigal son is “go into all the world” in story form.

 What do you see in this story?  I’m open to some other ideas.  A few are floating around in my head.  Let me know how the story of the Prodigal son has touched you.

Psalm 127:2:   It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives sleep to his beloved.

What’s the Point?

Many of us overwork.  We work all day and sometimes late into the night.  With our hand-held technology, our work goes with us.  Yet many of us experience work the same way as the Psalmist.  Working all the time is like living on a diet of anxiety and long hours.  It makes your spirit puny.

The end of the line hints at another option. The “he” is God.  No matter how hard you work, all rest and rejuvenation comes from outside.  Significance is generally not found in work, but in the one who renews our spirits and restores our soul.

It is not that we quit working, but that we quit looking to our toil for significance and renewal.  That comes only from above.  The first line of the Psalm reveals a critical life truth: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”