Does God Need a Defence Attorney? Part 2

More than anything I want to have an authentic and honest faith.  This is too important for me to play religious games, wasting my time defending that which seems indefensible or justify that which seems unjustifiable - at least in my own mind. I want to focus on that which rings true for me, which generally are those things that can be investigated and have some measure of concrete support. That's my primary goal. My secondary goal is to be able to communicate to others, who also are earnestly seeking to have an authentic and honest faith, the rationale of my faith so that they can work on theirs. I'm really not interested in defending, justifying or even explaining my faith to those who are not seeking. I really don't care anymore whether or not people think I'm a fool, a religious nut-job or faith fanatic.

When I was an atheist, I reasoned that if a deity (or deities) existed, then by the very definition, that god could do whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted and with whomever it wanted. That god would not have to justify himself to those he created. She would be under no obligation to explain her actions to those whose lives she sustained or chose not to sustain. And I reasoned that there was no way I would ever fully understand that deity, because it would be so far beyond me in terms of power, ability, knowledge, etc., with nothing among its creation to which to compare it. So, when it came to the Bible, if there was a god, he could chose to create the entire, virtually infinite universe in six microseconds, six hours, six days or six millennia -- any way he chose, any time he chose. It could then chose to destroy what it created and start all over again, and not have to justify or even explain. And if it chose to come into this world as a human being and prove its divine nature by performing miracles, why not?

I think when those of us who believe in the divine being as revealed in the Bible get ourselves into trouble, is when we think we have to explain, defend and justify the things he is reported to have said and/or done throughout history. Maybe, just maybe, he isn't accountable to us. And maybe we don't like that and refuse to believe in and/or put our trust in a god that we can't fully understand and therefore explain. But isn't that us wanting to make god in our own image? Isn't that us wanting the god we chose to believe in, the god that we want. We want our god to be accountable to us. We think his thoughts and actions should be what we think they should be. We want him to explain himself so that we get it, agree with him and can justify him to others. But maybe, just maybe, we can't expand our thinking enough to understand all that he is and is able to do. Because he is god and we are not, then maybe, just maybe, he's not accountable to us in any ways other than how he chooses to be.  And he doesn't need me to be his defence attorney to the world.

I am challenged by passages in the Bible that utilize the analogy of the potter and the clay, because the clay does not say to the potter, "Why did you create me like this?" (See Isaiah 29:15-16; 45:9-12;  64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-11; Romans 9:19-24.) God is God. I am not. Though I seek to understand, my understanding will always be limited. Either I accept my limitations or I will put those limitations on the god I claim to believe in.

God doesn't need me to defend him. He is not accountable to me, but rather I am accountable to him. Instead, I will choose to stand back in awe and say along with the apostle Paul, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen." (Romans 11:33-36).