I have been assigned a reading for Religion 201: Creation and the New Creation. It remains a fascinating class, though frightfully early in the morning. And in an effort to keep a fresh induction of theological blood pumping on this blog, I've decided to incorporate my thoughts concerning the book Heaven is a Place on Earth by Michael E Wittmer.
Wittmer begins this chapter with the assumption that God is the very image of perfection and is therefore “wholly other than” all else in existence. To do this, Wittmer employs Anslem’s theorem, which itself is a rational catch-twenty-two that is easily dismissed by rudimentary logic. To say that humans are capable of imagining a perfect “form” of anything is absurd (i.e., after the introduction of sin) and is Platonic in origin. If God truly is wholly other than me, and if the biblical account of the fall prerequisites that all humanity at present to be “fractured” or “lesser than”, then I shall be wholly incapable of conceiving even a shred of his perfect state. Even if I should I somehow become capable of imagining a perfect form of anything, then that thing I have imagined is no more real than anything else I can imagine. What in Scripture supports an absolutely perfect Creator? Anslem’s argument looks like this: I can imagine something perfect; The most perfect thing I can imagine is God; God therefore necessarily exists. If that were truly the case, then the following atheistic argument can be made: I can imagine something perfect; The most perfect thing I can imagine is cold fusion; Cold fusion therefore necessarily exists. Wittmer concedes the futility of the argument as a starting point for discussion, believing the most valuable attribute of Anslem’s theorem is how it opens our eyes to the vastness of God and the sorts of words we must use to revere God with. However, I am logically predisposed to gravitate towards the Judeo-Christian source of such claims about God. But denying the whole of Scripture, can reason or philosophy ever explain the existence (or lack thereof) of God? Or God’s divine attributes? If all I ever had of the Bible was the first three chapters of the book of Genesis, to what view of God would I rationally concede? It is clearly a matter of faith and nothing more. Such a bizarre way to begin a chapter.
Wittmer’s take on metaphysical dualism and his criticism of Western Christianity seem to be above reproach. His distinction is perfect: A chasm exists between us and God. Logically, in order to recover the image of God we have lost, we must make no quarter for sin. However, we all retain a proclivity toward all manner of sin as a result of the “fall”. Therefore, the need for a Savior was and remains necessary. The line we draw at this point hinges on how gnostic our beliefs have become. Do we surrender to the majesty of a being that is wholly other than us? Or do we utilize our own sin-management and behavioural modification systems in order to escape the tainted bonds of this disgustingly evil earth?
Taking into consideration God’s necessarily transcendent nature, I wonder what the point of all this theology must be? If we will never fully know nor understand God (in this life or the next, as we are still created things) then why bother now? What is our ultimate purpose on earth in 2009? And what of open theism? How transcendent is God?
Wittmer takes a decidedly gracious (and correct) approach to the nature of this chapter. To concede that no one will ever know all of the answers to all of the questions (short of transcendence) is not only philosophically consistent with modern and ancient rationale, but remains supported by Scripture (as Paul attests, that our dependence upon and justification to a necessarily existent God is by faith alone). I am left with one thought: A necessarily existent God, to whatever degree of perfection, must be biased towards caring for the beings said God created. The notion that it is God’s will that I continue (or cease) to be is humbling to say the least. The very fact of my existence proves to me that God exists and God is good.
I am very curious to see where this reading will take me on my journey to a achieving a well rounded theological foundation.
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