LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

Monday night I shared with about fifty men how I had come to grow in my understanding and perception of God. In a very brief form, let me lay it out for you. From my early childhood to the day I gave my life to the Lord (age 17), I saw God as a Natural Literalist. I had no other concepts: it was an age of innocence, much like Adam and Eve, in the Garden Of Eden.

From roughly 17-27, I moved up the self-deception feeding chain and became a Conscious Literalist. It began in college where I was confronted with other religions, other cultures, and FACTS that I could not logically refute. So, in order to interpet the Bible LITERALLY, I had to consciously keep telling myself, I am a literalist, I am a literalist, I am a literalist. I believe in factual fundamentalism. The Bible is inerrant, infallible, and inspired.

And then life suddenly became more diffcult to hold together. My wife was killed in a plane crash and I had a 3, 4, and 6 year old to take care and love. The struggle in this third phase of my life is what’s known as Supernatural Theism wherein I knew God existed; however, He was far removed from where I was living. Where was He when I needed Him? Maybe He did create the universe: I am sure He did. But, He’s nowhere around when a man needs help raising three kids without a mother!

Alas, some time after I was baptized in the Spirit (age 42), I began to look at God as not OUT THERE, somewhere separate from my world, but He was in fact IN ME! My Baptist denomination never told me about all those Scriptures, or I must have been sleeping when those sermons were delivered. All I knew was that God was transcendent. But, now I was coming to an understanding that He was immanent as well. I had finally arrived at a term never before described- panentheism. I’d heard of pantheism: it was bad though I didn’t know why.

I now had it all together. He was out there and He was in here (my heart).

Marcus Borg breaks it down very simply in what he describes as three stages. First comes “Precritical Naivete” where in child like faith one believes anything they are told (by the group they are attached). The second stage is called “Critical Thinking” , wherein one is allowed to question as ask WHY they believe what they believe without fear of punishment, banishment, or being ex-communicated. The third phase he calls “Postcritical Naivete” wherein one mixes a pinch of common sense, with a little intelligence, and heaping portion of the Spirit of God, and some study and advice from the sages of antiquity.

Sound too complicated?

Well then, try living life in some other fashion. What price is too steep to pay for the one who gave His life for us. Do you really realize what Jesus Christ did for you? When you do, there’s nothing that will get in the way of knowing Him- however difficult the search, however long the process!