Crabs are interesting creatures.
They have soft bodies which are protected by an exoskeleton—a hard outer shell. As a crab grows, it becomes uncomfortable inside of its shell as the shell does not grow. In order to keep growing—in order to become mature, the crab has to go through the process of removing its shell in order to grow a new one which will better accommodate its new larger size. That time between shells is always a dangerous one as its soft body is vulnerable. It is now exposed to predators without its layer of protection. Once its new shell is is place it is much safer once again, but will continue to grow and will once again outgrow its shell. It is a healthy, necessary and ongoing process.
Recent observations have shown us that the universe is not only expanding, but picking up speed in its expansion. The universe and everything within it is geared for forward momentum—for growth. If you are not growing, you are dying. This is true of crabs. This is also true of your intellect.
I’m always amazed and perplexed by people who are resistant to new thoughts and ideas. Quite often, the resisted thoughts and ideas aren’t really even new. Just new to them. As humans, we seem to have this tendency to find comfort in certitude. We believe something because we learned whatever that is from someone we consider to be trusted and reliable and well…that’s good enough for me. If you tell me something different, I’m just not going to believe you. In fact, I might even consider your strange ideas to be dangerous.
This is our intellectual shell.
Our beliefs become our protective identity and we find great comfort in them. The only problem is…we are designed to grow.
Our shells do not grow with us.
If you are healthy and growing, it’s inevitable that you will start to find your shell to be tight and uncomfortable after awhile.
I find that intellectually, scientists tend to be much more honest than most religious people. Einstein, for most of his life, argued tooth and nail for Newtonian physics and against the emerging science of quantum physics. Near the end of his life, Einstein admitted that even though the findings of quantum science were “spooky”, he grudgingly accepted them as possibility. Einstein had to remove his shell as the Newtonian science he had always believed and taught became too restrictive. He grew as a scientist.
Most religious people that I know, which are in the Evangelical Christian camp of my upbringing are quite comfortable with what they have always believed. They have lived in the same echo chamber of thought for most of their lives, having their same old thinking reinforced by the confirmation bias of their particular religious tribe (denomination). The shells of their religious identity are quite comfortable and always have been. For some of them, they have heard “new” ideas about God and have indeed grown and become uncomfortable in their shells. Unfortunately, they fear being vulnerable. They fear being unprotected and naked in the uncomfortable position of having more questions than answers. After all, there are always the dangerous predators to fear. And they generally end up being the members of our own religious tribe. The empire of religion is always very interested in self preservation and is quite resistant to anything or anyone who might disrupt their business. When one of its members resists the group-think, that person is seen as a threat to the system and subsequently removed from the tribe.
Its a scary place to be in. Growing, but without a shell, without a tribe. Predators who used to be your friends circling around you.
But, if you are not growing, you are dying. For myself, I prefer to grow, to be truly alive—risks and all. For that reason, I cannot embrace and participate in the intellectual complacency of my former tribe of “Evangelical” Christianity.
If you are in the evangelical world, it may seem like a “new” or “scary” even a “heretical” idea to you that God is actually not an angry judge who punishes people forever for sinning and not believing in Him. It might seem strange if I told you that Jesus is the perfect representation of who God is, what His nature is like—and that He contradicted what people thought God was like in the Old Testament. Indeed, Jesus went about His earthly ministry, forgiving, healing and indiscriminately pouring out love to everyone who crossed His path. There is no mention of smiting, genocide or really any other kinds of participation in violence of any kind. In fact, the only people who He had stern words for were the representatives of the empires of politics and religion who indeed behaved like the common idea of who God was according to the Old Testament. The ones who sought to control and manipulate people through violence and threat of violence—keeping them from living as fully human.
What if I told you that God’s concept of justice is all about restoring all people to perfect relationship with Himself as opposed to the human version of retributive punishment? What if I told you that Jesus death on the cross for our sins had nothing to do with God punishing Jesus on our behalf, but rather God in Christ refusing to participate in our violence. What if I told you that it was humans, our system of empire that punished Jesus and that Jesus showed us through this act that no matter what we did to Him, He still forgives us. What if I told you that it is impossible for us to stop God from loving us, to make Him give up on us.
Even in eternity.
What if God is just like Jesus? Imagine the implications of this!
These are not “new” thoughts. Just perhaps new to you. This is what the early church of the first 500 years had predominantly taught. What changed? A lawyer turned theologian by the name of Augustine of Hippo who had a background in Platonic philosophy and Gnosticism brought his pagan ideas of God into the western, Latin speaking stream of the church from which modern evangelicalism originates. And then…we have centuries of Christians who for the most part never questioned what they were taught. People comfortable in their shells of certitude. Not growing. Just dying.
If you still believe that God is vengeful and violent and will punish people endlessly, perhaps you still believe in the anthropomorphic god of our creation who Jesus came to contradict. Perhaps you need to grow. Yes, your shell will suddenly feel constrictive and you will need to shed it. It’s dangerous and yes, your tribe will not understand you. They will likely even reject you, but you will find life. You will become larger and healthier. Don’t get comfortable for too long in whatever shell you find yourself. Stay curious. Keep growing.
Be more crabby!
And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3