Interview with God

Yesterday I came across this video at The Onion.


The first few seconds of the video were perfect and made me LOL. The smug human with his fancy haircut and suit, is going to make use of his special connection with the Big Man upstairs. He is giving us the privilege of being a spectator as God is put in the dock.

But then I quit laughing. The video brought up a few memories that hang in the back of my mind even now.

The ancient man approached God (or even the gods) as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man, the roles are quite reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock. He is quite a kindly judge; if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty, and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God’s acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the bench and God is in the dock.” 

― C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics

As a boy with an active imagination, I spent a lot of time in my bed at night wondering about the big questions like what happens when a person dies and what it would be like to meet God. I would literally become dizzy trying to truly comprehend things that I heard in science class or in church, like what an expanding universe or time eternal might mean.

And now, having accrued 40 years of life experience and some knowledge, these things still hurt my head.

I'm not claiming to be an expert.

My credentials include watching what's happening around me for 40 years. That, and I've sat through two Bible studies on heaven and the afterlife. Over the years I have read a few books by Randy Alcorn and nearly everything by CS Lewis, some of it twice. I've read Rob Bell's Love Wins and Francis Chan's response to it. I've read a few New Testament scholars who dissect the Bible like a forensic anthropologist. I've read the atheistic/materialistic perspective and, quite honestly, find that the most terrifying.

It all still hurts my head. And even now I find it difficult to keep in mind that this video is satire.

What The Onion got wrong, I believe, is the type of fear they portray. I think they should have shot for a respectful fear, not wrath and outright fright. I do believe in a judgment of some sort. Jesus spoke a lo about this and indicated that many of the religious insiders will be surprised at how they are judged.

Imagine what it would be like to experience a blinding flash of all of reality, as if seeing through the eyes of God. I think the feeling would be of great love and peace on Gods end, and much regret on ours. But I do find it likely that all we have to say for ourselves may sound something...This is not satire.

"I understand. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thank you."