I was in a local bookstore, recently. It was chilly out, so I made use of a gift card to buy a cup of hot chocolate and peruse the magazine rack.
I noticed a young mom there. She had a young baby in a carriage, a phone on the table in front of her. In fact, she had an entire mobile office with her, including a laptop and small printer.
I leaned over to smile at the baby. Then I turned to the mother and said: “Forgive me for being nosy, but I see you’re working! Do you own a home-based business?”
“Yes, I sell Mary Kay cosmetics!” she replied.
She spoke a few moments about her business. She had all the trappings of a young, successful, work-at-home (or at the bookstore) entrepreneurial type mom.
After a minute or two speaking about her business, she look at me and asked: “What kind of work do you do?”
I identified self as a pastor! To be honest, that often seems to shut down conversations. But not for this gal. She spoke right up to share her convictions.
“Oh, I do not believe in God!” she volunteered.
“That’s interesting,” I said. “Tell me what you do not believe about the God.”
“You know: the big guy up in the sky looking down with a disapproving scowl, ready to judge people and send them to hell!”
“Oh, I don’t believe in that God, either!” I replied.
“I don’t believe in some sort of impersonal magical force, either! All that new age stuff with crystals and crap like that just freaks me out. ”
“I don’t believe in that sort of God either,” I said.
She was quite for a moment, contemplating what to say next. Then she asked: “So, what do you believe about God?”
That’s the question I want us to explore this week in a series of blog post.
What do you believe about God?
I have to be honest, I understand many of the critiques of some atheist. Sometimes we RELIGIOUS types paint a picture of a god who is not worthy of our belief.
Here are some views about God that should turn us off.
- An aloof, cold, distant impersonal force
- An ogre looking down w/ disapproval & anger
- A judge sitting behind the bench ready to condemn
- A list-maker/bookkeeper with rules, regulations, obligations, and expectations
- Karma – if you do good you get good; if you do bad you get bad
- A piety deity w/ no room for joy or celebration
- A Philosophical deity: the Omni – First Cause – Unmoved mover
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be an atheist then to believe in these descriptions of god.
What do you believe about God?
That’s a good question.
Quick. Hurry. She’s got a baby in the carrier, a phone in front of her, a computer packed with things to do and products to sell. You’ve got maybe 30 seconds to peak her curiosity. What do you believe about God?
I offered her three sentences and a business card.
- I believe that God is eternally and extravagantly loving
- I believe that God likes, loves, accepts, includes, and adopts us through Christ
- I believe God is a Papa who invites us into an intimate relationship
Over the next few days, I will explore what these sentence mean (to mean, anyways), just in case she is reading my blog.
The Papa Prayer: The Prayer You’ve Never Prayed
by: Dr. Larry Crabb
publisher: Thomas Nelson, published: 2007-09-11
ASIN: 0785289178
EAN: 9780785289173
sales rank: 122344
price: $7.09 (new), $0.64 (used)
Learn the revolutionary way to talk with God!
Like millions of Christians, Dr. Larry Crabb has always considered his prayer life a weakness – “dull, intense only in crisis, occasionally meaningful and passionate but mostly lifelessly routine.” But for everyone who struggles to pray in a way that matters, who is bored with prayer and doesn’t know where else to turn, this groundbreaking book whispers of hope for change.
Something new and real and deep started happening in him, Crabb says, when he began practicing the four steps of what he calls the PAPA prayer – a revolutionary conversational approach to talking with and enjoying God. As this fellow seeker shares his journey and education in the mysteries of prayer, he guides us to see ourselves and God in a different light . . . which will alter the way we talk – and listen – to Him.
