Growing Up: A Metaphor for an Adult Relationship With God, Each Other, and Our World. Part 1

I.  PREFACE

     I want to start a series of Essays under the above title. Using a blog may be an unfortunate choice of procedure, but at least it forces me to forge ahead after a good deal of dithering.

     
    I want to try to talk about the possibility that God (whatever that term means, part of the discussion), either cannot, or will not, control the future of mankind. I say this because it seems quite apparent (to me) that God is not "working out a plan."

    Disclosure: C.S. Lewis once said (somewhere) that a Christian is anyone who says he is one. By that very generous definition I am, still, a Christian. My culture and family and tradition are all Christian. This will become obvious in what follows.  But this series of essays is not meant to be written only to Christians. Though I cannot help using examples from Christian ideas to illustrate what I mean, since my analysis cannot but be based on my experience as a Christian.  The fundamental error (as I see it) which is explored here is pretty well universal among people of faith, at least those who follow the monotheistic faiths. Certainly this analysis may be offensive to committed, orthodox, Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

    My hope is that any reader of this, regardless of his or her religious tradition or conviction, or even if of no faith save materialism, might at least recognize that what is proposed here—a self-limiting God—offers one reasonable description of reality and a potential resolution of some ancient questions that remain crucial and indeed fundamental to our future.

    Now, self-limiting is much different from absent,,,