Reflection: The Classical Conception of God
We (Christians, Jews, and Muslims) who have grown up in a cultural environment shaped by an Abrahamic conception of God quite naturally associate God with properties such as omnipotence and omniscience, as well as with the fact that He is the Creator of the universe.
These properties are so self-evident to us that, in our view, God cannot be otherwise than possessing them.
We often place a great deal of hope in this conception of God.
When, for example, we go through difficult times, we not infrequently turn to God in our fear and hope that, since all things are possible for Him, He will show us a way.
This immense trust in these divine properties also has its darker sides.
For:
How often have hopes placed in God's omnipotence remained unfulfilled!?
How often has everything remained the same!?
How many people continue to live in poverty and endure unspeakable suffering, even though they have trusted in God and His power!
At times, disappointment sets in.
A disappointment that, increasingly, especially in Christian Western countries, culminates in open criticism.
"Why does He allow this to happen?
How can this be?"
For Christians, it is particularly difficult to understand why God seemingly does not act in many respects.
According to the Christian understanding, God is all-loving.
God is Agape - through and through.
For many Christians, all-love and all the suffering that occurs both in their own lives and in the world increasingly do not fit together.
More and more, when they have the freedom and the choice, they begin to turn away from religion.
In some parts of the Christian Western world, the disappointment is so great that, as surveys show, the number of those who are no longer believers is greater in some countries than the number of those who profess a religion.
HOWEVER:
And this is frequently overlooked in surveys:
The fact that people are no longer members of a religious organization does not necessarily mean that God no longer plays any role in their lives.
And the fact that, for some, an omnipotent, omniscient God who is the Creator of everything is a fantasy likewise does not necessarily mean that these people have ceased to believe in God.
Many surveys do not capture this other, no longer classical approach to God.
I believe that it is a mistake not to take non-classical belief in God seriously.
Individuality is an essential part of Western identity.
And the personal experience of God is likewise a profoundly personal experience.
Why, then, not allow greater individuality in faith?
Why not allow a faith that is not organized?
Did the early Jesus movement possess fixed organizational structures?
Were those who followed Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee in order to hear Him live and to experience Him in person therefore less faithful believers because they did not belong to a church?
I believe that individuality in faith should not be confused with arbitrariness.
And belief in God should not be confused with disappointment regarding a particular conception of God.
A proponent of classical belief in God could now rightly object that God's nature and His truth do not depend on whether one person or another is disappointed by them.
And yes, this objection must be taken seriously.
"God is not as we would like Him to be!
God is as He is!"
BUT: What is God like?
What is He actually like?
What is His objective nature?
One way of approaching the answers to these questions consists in questioning the classical conception of God.
The research questions are:
Where does the classical conception of God that is so familiar to us come from?
What are the most essential properties of the classical conception of God?
Which properties of the classical conception of God can be philosophically falsified, and which continue to hold?
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