Apart from the worrying amount of times I seem to be using the word ‘I’ in my blogs (it seems I concern myself with little else than myself and the world as it relates to me) I would like to continue last weeks train of thought.
Last week I noted how odd it must be to talk to God in the aisles of Tescos, this week I would like to note how odd it would be not to.
As it stood I thought that the world must think it very strange for somebody to communicate with a deity to such an extent that they actually shape their decisions and worldview around that relationship. Choices based on voices in the head (from another world) and a warm peaceful sensation in the soul is recipe for, at least, some kind of restraining order. Let’s be honest; a life based on a fantasy can do and has done a lot of damage.
Could it be that I, and millions of others who believe in God, need the hammer of gentle persuasion upon our heads to knock us back into the real world? The land of the true issues? The land of the sane?
For a moment (a whole 10k run of thought moment) I considered the ‘fantasy’ against the ‘non-fantasy’ and realised that the ‘fantasy’ may actually be more real than the ‘non-fantasy’. That is to say: my faith in God (the fantasy) could ground me more in the real world than no belief in God (the non-fantasy).
Why? Because my faith in God gives me a sense of responsibility for this world and a desire to do something about the injustices in it in a way that brings me crashing down to earth like a ton of bricks. The call to ‘consider others greater than yourselves’, to ‘take on the nature of a servant’, to ‘love your enemies’, to ‘do good to those who harm you’ and countless other challenges in the bible about this world and it’s people could hardly be more grounding.
It’s eyes-wide-open and go to the darkest places kind of grounding. And when you get there it’s ‘do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit’, ‘walk humbly, act justly and love mercy’ and ‘consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds’ kind of grounding - and that’s just a tiny fraction of the picture!
The reality is that the ‘fantasy’ is not really a fantasy it absolutely reeks of the truth; the open-eyed, see the meaning of life, see the damage done by brokenness, see the hope for eternity, see every person in this world loved, equal, respected and provided for - truth!
The ‘non-fantasy’ (no belief in God), all of a sudden, now looks easier to stomach than the supposed ‘fantasy’ because it permits the individual to create a framework of ethical and moral truth based on their own conscience rather than an external one, such as God's, therefore offering an opportunity to shut out issues based on personal prejudice. (Please note - I am not suggesting atheists don't care about the world and neither am I suggesting that people who believe in God do care about it - that would be foolish as it simply isn't true).
CS Lewis said "Now that I am a Christian I do have moods in which the whole thing looks improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable." (Mere Christianity)
My faith in God may seem to be a ‘fantasy’ for some – but I say: If that's what you think: try it and see before you judge who is really living in a dream world. Listen to God in the aisles at Tesco and see what he says. The ground may not be as near as you thought.
Bob Dylan sings:
“You got some big dreams baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep.”
“When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up
When you gonna wake up strengthen the things that remain?”
And once again, almost as quickly as it left, inner peace, amidst the fantasies and truths that compete for supremacy in this world, can return unrivalled to inhabit the limitless stretches of my internal landscapes.
Paul Ad