Hard To Talk, and Write, About God
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Author Jonathan Merritt, who describes himself
as “the son of a prominent megachurch pastor,” decries “a decline in our spiritual
vocabulary” that makes it hard for modern people to relate to religion.
“More than 70 percent of Americans identify as Christian,”
Merritt writes, “but you wouldn’t know it from listening to them. An
overwhelming majority of people say that they don’t feel comfortable speaking
about faith, most of the time.”
I believe that’s true, but I don’t think the problem – as the
writer proposes – is that people don’t know the churchy vocabulary. It’s much
deeper than that. It’s that people, for many, well-known reasons, see religion
as irrelevant. They know that many others feel the same and are embarrassed to
talk about something that others don’t care about.
Decidedly Uncool
Most of us disdain being perceived as antiquated, and talking
about God and religion is decidedly uncool. And apart from the cool factor,
many people have serious questions about such subjects that haven’t been
satisfactorily answered.
But the problem, as I see it, isn’t that people take those
questions seriously but that they don’t take them seriously enough. I suspect many
spend little time or effort trying to get answers.
Regarding the religious vocabulary, I believe we should move
away from churchy jargon and speak in a clear, direct way about faith, using
words and phrases that people today are likely to understand.
Still, as I am painfully aware in writing a blog about faith, it
IS hard to talk about God because fewer and fewer people are interested at a
time when the world needs God more than ever. I believe people are reluctant to
give this blog a “like” or “share” on Facebook, for instance, because their
friends will see they may be interested in religion.
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(I know. It could be that they just don’t like my viewpoint or
writing style, or me, but I think it’s more than that. I greatly appreciate
those who do give the blog a “like” or “share,” by the way.)
As a believer, I suspect that so many of society’s problems –
poverty, violence, family estrangement and disintegration, our obsession with
sex and consumerism, our mistreatment and wastefulness of the earth and its
resources – are at least partially the result of our communal antipathy toward
God.
I’ve been re-reading the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, and one
of its constant themes is the trouble that comes to people who ignore God. Of
course, for many in the Old Testament the consequences were seen as immediate
and harsh because they imagined God as similar to the tyrants of the time.
But that so many Christians, especially – people who have heard Jesus’
words on these subjects over and over - are unwilling to put his words into
practice and apply his teachings to them is discouraging. And I believe that’s
one of the reasons many people consider religion irrelevant.
Clinging to God
However, though it may be hard to talk, and write, about God
today, a great many people – most of whom go about their business unnoticed –
cling to God in love and faith and show it in the way they live.
All of this brings to mind Jesus’ story, mentioned in the
gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke, about the fate of seed that falls on a foot
path, a rock, among thorns and on good soil. Here’s how Jesus explained his
parable.
“The seed is the Word of God. The ones along the path are those
who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts….
And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it
with joy; but these have no roots. They believe for a while and in time of
temptation fall away. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who
hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the riches and pleasures
of life, and their fruit does not mature.
“And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing
the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with
patience.”
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