Why Did God Unplug the Fax Machine?

By Trish Patrick in All Sorts

New possibilities to be explored and debated to enhance our understandings of God and Christianity.

Why Did God Unplug the Fax Machine?
Many years ago, our son, having heard his bible class leader proclaim
scripture as the inerrant word of God and not to be changed or added
to, asked us “ why did God unplug the fax machine. Did he run out of
ideas and stuff? ”
At the time we were attending a deeply conservative church of the
denomination David and I were raised in. We were feeling increasingly
uncomfortable with the theology and 'teaching' but felt a bit trapped
since all the other options available were of the same mindset. To
question was to be a backslider and doubt of any kind a slippery slope
to perdition.
Our son's questions 'gave us permission' to have good discussions and
read more books written by theologians like Lloyd Geering, Bishop
Spong, Karen Armstrong to name a few. It became very clear that there
was a world of scholarship yet to be discovered.
Around this time ( late 1980s ), a women's group had formed and a
number of clergy women plus lay people like myself were invited to
attend. What a Godsend! Whole new vistas opened...what a
revelation!
New possibilities to be explored and debated. Things started to make
some sort of sense. Our move to Dunedin meant finding a church
home. We found it at Mornington Methodist church. A safe place
where all questions were valid and exploration of theology openly
encouraged. For me, it was returning to my family's roots... My
maternal grandparents were Methodist and of course, married in the
Caversham Methodist Church.
In the current geopolitical climate, where many norms and values are
being eroded at a terrifying rate, it’s a privilege to live in a place as yet
largely unscathed, although signs of it are quietly sneaking in under
the radar. We all need safe harbour to gather and take stock of these
perilous times and think about how best to navigate these situations at
both a personal and community level.
For some, the concept of the 'common good' has become an
outmoded idea with 'rugged individualism' gaining ascendency. This is
becoming increasingly apparent in some of today’s politicians. For the
church writ large this flys in the face of the teaching of Jesus. The
present Pope in his first encyclical strongly lamented this trend which
is infecting many communities. The fundamental idea of the common
good is at the very heart of the gospel. We ignore it at our peril.
The people of our communities who, every day, struggle simply to put
food on the table despite the fact they are working two or more jobs,
is a spreading blemish on society. Not to mention poverty stricken,
war-torn countries suffering at the hands of authoritarian leaders and
Oligarchs, some of whom claim to be Christian.
However, their priorities are to amass great wealth for themselves,
families and cronies and the retention of power. In order to justify this,
they quote passages of scripture from Old Testament writings and
contort themselves into pretzels to prove their point, ignoring the fact
that these were ancient writings for a specific time in humanity's
journey...and all the while ignoring the teaching of Jesus.
So...
Has God, whoever or whatever you perceive God to be, unplugged the
fax?
Personally, I think not. I think it's still being written as new
understandings are revealed and science makes new astounding
discoveries. Certain values and concepts are changeless and vital to
our wellbeing, indeed our very survival...for example, the common
good. At its heart the gospel is a 'social gospel' as opposed to the so
called 'prosperity gospel' so beloved by wealthy oligarchs and
'wannabe' oligarchs. Many people will cry out that the church should
keep out of politics... Jesus was very political, and he died a politically
motivated death.
The bible is not a history book. Nor is it a scientific book. It does
contain great truths and much wisdom...but I do not believe it to be
the inerrant word of God to be read literally. It is a book of metaphor
and contains the stories and struggles of humanity in particular
periods of human history.
And it contains much wisdom to be mined with thoughtful care and
respect.
Postscript
Our sorrow is that our sons didn't have the nurturing and grounding in
faith they would have received had they grown up in this spiritually
safe environment, an environment where all questions are
valid...Mornington Methodist Church.
Trish Patrick.