Holes in My Childhood Theology

There are some theological concepts that you grow up being taught and absolutely never question. And then someone comes along and pokes a hole in said concept and you think, "Oh yeah, why didn't I ever see that?" I had such an occurrance last week.

I was reading the Real Live Preacher blog (which is an excellent blog by the way), and he was writing about a short film that he saw recently. Here is a little of what the RLP had to say:

You should remember that in the Jewish scriptures (Old Testament) God repents several times. In Genesis God repents and is sorry that he created humankind. In First Samuel God repented that he made Saul king. And, most stunningly, in Exodus God is angry and about to destroy the children of Israel. Moses intervenes and demands that he repent of this anger.

"Why are you angry with Your people, which you brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand? . . .Turn from your fierce wrath and repent of this evil against your people...And the Lord repented of the evil which He said He would do unto his people." (32:11-14)

This notion of God experiencing regret is only a problem if you are into the whole omniscient and omnipotent thing. And since those ideas are NOT IN THE BIBLE, I don't feel obligated to believe them myself.

Yeah, not in the Bible. The omni concept is more of a Greek, philosophical thing. Surprised aren't you?

He then had a link to an excellent little article by Tony Campolo that I encourage you to read (it's very short). Go here to read it: http://www.beliefnet.com/story/174/story_17423.html

Once it was pointed out to me that this idea of omniscience is not in the Bible, it becomes very clear to me. Hmmm....why do we continually teach this?

Anyway, I also encourage you to watch the short film that RLP was refering to. You can find it here: http://www.woollymammoth.com/credo/credo_rlp.html
It's only 9 minutes long. By the way, the lyrics are also posted at the website and it's helpful to have them handy as you watch the movie.

It's a very intriguing movie. It has made me think a lot, which is good. And it unsettles me too, which is good. I like what RLP had to say about it:

I loved it. It's lovely, precious, and endearing. And it's certain to spark some pretty intense conversations. As you watch it, remember this: It is a work of art, not a theological treatise. Don't pick the theology apart.

Keith Synder explores the idea of God, evil, and repentance in this wonderful little film. And if you can let go of the omni stuff, then you make room for the idea that Larry Picard's God character might actually be possible. Which is cool because I absolutely adore Larry in this film. I wish he was my friend in real life, but I'd have a hard time not always wanting to pray to him. ;-)

(By the way, does anyone know how to put links in this blog, rather than writing out the address like I did?)