Your letter continues.
"He made us a perfect world that works according to physical laws that we can understand - wouldn't he also make a religion that anyone can understand? ANYONE CAN UNDERSTAND ANYONE CAN UNDERSTAND Why is it that only religious leaders claim to understand it? Why do you have to go to seminary to understand it? Doesn't he love us all? Doesn't he treat us all the same? Doesn't he want us all to know Him? Why did he create a confusing religion? Did he create a confusing religion?"
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Hmmm...that's a lot, and I guess a good place to start. We've already observed that the world works according to physical laws which are extremely complex; few people today truly understand General Relativity, and many argue that large aspects of it aren't true, based on little more than that it seems counter-intuitive. Maybe anyone can understand the physical laws by which the world runs--but not without a great deal of study and attention. Were I to choose which was more difficult--theology or physics--I would choose physics every time.
But perhaps physics may be a good example. After all, every child learns that when you drop something, it falls. By the time we're in grade school, we've come to understand some of the principles which Galileo proved--especially that all objects fall at the same rate. Most of us move on to learn at least some of Newton's laws, and some of us learn most of those, and also learn some of Einstein's work. Very few of us go deeply into Relativity, and fully grasp such concepts as time dilation, absolute speed of light, change in mass, matter/energy conversion, or any of the other basic concepts of the theory. Fewer still go on to work in quantum mechanics, trying to uncover the as yet unknown secrets of the universe. There are many who understand the physical laws of the world better than I; and there are many for whom such a level of understanding would not be feasible.
Yet for them, such a level of understanding is not necessary. The Einsteins of the world, the Hawkings, the Fermis are driven to understand beyond what the rest of us consider necessary; and they have the ability to do so. Most of us have neither the ability nor the desire to understand the world so well. Yet at times we need to understand the world better than we do. We have technological problems to solve, and they are uncovering the answers. Thus we go to our scientists to give us the understanding we need to make our lives better, not because only they understand the world, but because they have taken the time to understand it better than we have.
The analogy to religion is obvious. We all understand some of the theology of our faith; most of us understand most of what we need most of the time. But sometimes we come to problems which require that we understand more; and some of us are compelled to pursue an understanding beyond what most of us need. But those are the people to whom we turn when we come to the times in our lives when our understanding of our religion is not adequate for our own needs. Just because some people understand more doesn't mean that others don't understand at all; they just don't understand as much or as well.
Do I love my children equally? Yes. Do I treat them all the same? May it never be. They are very different people, with different strengths, different needs, different perceptions. To treat them all the same would be to pretend that who they are doesn't matter. Yet we know that who they are is very important to them. If I treated each of them as if they were all the same, they would feel that I didn't care about them. It is by acknowledging that they are different and learning who they really are that I build relationships with them. God does not "play favorites". He treats each of us individually in the way which is best for each of us and for all of us.
Knowing God is a simple thing; anyone can do it. Understanding the complex concepts of the theology which attempt to explain how and why the supernatural and natural realms are the way they are is more difficult, and it may be that this, like physics, is beyond some people. But knowing God and understanding theology are no more the same than making love and studying and anatomy. Both are valuable, but one doesn't require much thought at all, and the other appeals to a much smaller audience.
I remember many years ago I was seeking for that secret which would change me into someone more "spiritual". I thought that there was some secret, some truth, some doctrine, which would transform me once I understood it. I remember as a freshman recognizing that one of the sophomores seemed to be truly in touch with God, seemed to have that quality of "spirituality" I sought. So I asked him what the secret was. He said there was no secret. I concluded that he didn't even know what it was that he knew. But he was right, I was wrong. The "secret" to being more spiritual, more in tune with God, is to take the time to be alone with God. The thing which these "spiritual" people had in common was that they set aside a chunk of time every day to pray, read the Bible, worship God--in short, to get to know Him. Now, I'm still far more attuned to comprehending and explaining the truth than I will ever be to simple prayer and worship--my calling is to teach, and my passion is to understand--but I also have come to understand that knowing God, as opposed to knowing about God, comes through this personal time devoted to being with Him.
Did He create a confusing religion? No, He created a very simple one. "Love God, and do as you please" was one summary of the Christian faith which I heard; there's a lot of truth to it. Of course, doing what you please in the light of a desire to please the One you love puts a completely distinct spin on that concept--love is an active thing, which like faith demands something of us. In a very real sense, the gospel is God saying, "Let's forget the rules and get to know each other. I'll change you into what you should be." Are there difficult and confusing issues in theology? Is the supernatural world hard to comprehend? Are there aspects of the truth which are mysterious or paradoxical? Of course there are--reality is like that. Does that have anything to do with religion? Only in the most peripheral of ways. To comprehend God is to grasp the infinite, to push beyond the boundaries of our minds; it's bound to be difficult. But to know God is to have a friend, and that's simple enough for anyone.
I keep thinking that I'm starting the last response; yet I fall short of completing your letter each time. There's not much more ahead, but enough that it deserves more attention than I can give it at this time of night. I think there will be one more installment of this--but I've been wrong about that before.
--Mark
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To Mark J. Young's Bible Study Materials
Read about the Multiverser role playing game--accused by some critics of being "too Christian"
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