a god too small
We’ve made God small. At least that’s what I think. Beyond that, I’m not sure what to do about these thoughts, other than to acknowledge they rent more space in my head than they should.
[ample warning, I switch between images because this is still being formulated and one image wasn’t enough]
When I look around at churches and social media, the God I see portrayed there feels diminutive. Often constrained to a particular gender or limited to a set of beliefs, God is little more than a lap dog of pastors, church-goers, and theologians. They are something to put in a handbag and carry around wherever we go. A cute little yippy annoyance nipping at the heels of our lives.
Another image that comes to mind is that of an ice cube. Something constrained and brittle, something that would shatter if it dropped on the floor, something cold and unyielding.
It’s a fragile God whose impotence requires us to believe in guns and toxic cultural norms. It’s a god who can only be found one way through one set of beliefs. Ice cube god can be carved into any image we want them to be, and that’s a problem.
Just look around at what passes for Christianity today. It’s either sanitized garbage in the form of the prosperity gospel, hyper masculine fundamentalism or evangelicalism, or rigid doctrine with high barriers of entry and acceptance like in certain denominations.
It's such a small God, but that’s what we’ve bred. When we’re taught to depend on independence, there’s really no way for God to become bigger and more expansive than our individual imaginations and capacities. That’s why, when idiots with power talk about God or Christianity on a national stage (looking at you Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Bobert) no one with voice or power condemns them.
Christianity has become such an individual pursuit that we don’t feel qualified to look someone in the eye and say “stop talking, that’s bullshit.”
The inevitability of small and constrainable gods is the proliferation of idols. We worship guns, independence, and almighty dollar. Many of the people who’ve backed us into this corner would like to think they’re creating a big and powerful god, but I think they’re confusing coercion and coercive power with an expansive understanding of God.
You’ll notice the little g god in that statement above, that’s merely because the people who preach and believe in this god have effectively neutered them. The moment hardship comes the little g god shatters, like an ice cube hitting the floor, and all that is left is for me to take up the power and coerce others into doing what I tell them.
The only thing that ever comes from believing in a little g god is little people. They’re fragile, domesticated, and prone to fits of rage. They’ll point to certainties because uncertainty calls out them out of the safe little spaces they’ve built. It means that the lap dog they put into a cage whenever it’s inconvenient has suddenly become unruly. Like a chihuahua in a room full of strangers, those who believe in this god we’ve allowed to be created stand on their little pillows shivering with anxiety and barking for attention.
And, that is the key, we’ve allowed this god to proliferate out of some misguided sense of politeness. We let harm perpetuate when we’re overly generous to harmful theologies. When we don’t call attention to the hurt being caused in these spaces, all of us lose.
Our only answer thus far, has been call and acquiescence to call out culture. Meeting coercion with shame. Only those who preach, write, and attend to the proliferation of these belief systems have shown themselves impervious to shame, or at least letting the shame fuel a doubling down on disastrous doctrine.
So, what’s the alternative?
Well, I’m still working on that, more to come later…