The New White Stripes Album Is The Good

Is it so necessary I see my thoughts laid out in a way that they may be discovered by someone else? Am I trying to replace my loved ones and acquaintances with a personified ether? Am I so narcissistic that I imagine my silly one-off thoughts are worth saving or sharing? I'll probably find it less and less necessary to think about that as time goes on and I become more and more comfortable with this forum- or as I become so self-absorbed I no longer care about those concerns. But rather than sort out any of those thoughts dig this:

I used to play soccer with some Muslim guys from Kuwait. In our pre-game routine, if anyone would say we were going to win, one of these Muslim teammates would invariably say, "Insha Allah." This simply means, "If Allah wills it." (I don't mean to imply by saying "simply" that there are not a number of theological implications to discern by that statement- only to say that's what it means). At first I thought that was a reasonable thing to express, especially since we weren't always very good and it could relieve a lot of pressure if I failed at my position. It just wasn't God's will that we win, oh well. And I figured allah just means god, so why not get in on this little prayer to remind myself that "the race is not always to the swift" blah blah blah and ultimately, no matter what I do or prepare, God's in control and we may not win.

But the details. I am not Muslim. Nor do I believe that Allah is a generic term for God, nor does Allah refer to the God that I know. We don't have the same god (aside: I think my God is better). While I know that God can do whatever God wants, or as has been said better before "can do all things, and that no purpose of [God] can be thwarted, " and in that sense I say,"I will do such and such if God lets me." I also know that God can be petitioned, convinced, and known, not just conceptually but in an ongoing and evolving relationship. So I stopped saying, or agreeing with the sentiment, "Insha Allah."

Anyway, I am not pretending to know all the nuances of Islam through that one phrase, but in it there is a sense of humanity being at the will of a god who is separate and whose desires are not known. That may or may not be the case in Islam. Whatever, in my case, I have a pretty good sense of what God wants. Although to be fair I also think any knowledge of God is at once a projection of the human ideas of God and desires as well as a revelation of what really is God. I may be missing a lot, but I do know that God is an actual entity engaged in a relationship with humanity collectively and with individuals.

I don't mean to be preachy; I just want to lay some groundwork. There is a generic concept of God, but that is not who I know to be God. I don't know God as simply an unnamed "other" or the sum of the unexplained phenomena beyond human comprehension. I believe that God is known by the revelation that is Jesus and the implications of that revelation are pretty revolutionary as far as life is concerned.

Anyway, a coworker of mine told me her god has a problem with the Indigo Girls. I happen to believe I was made in God's image so it would be cool to think that if God has a problem with girlie pseudo-folky college-rock, then I would too. And I do. It makes sense. If all of humanity is made in the image of God, pseudo-folky college-rock's existence as a genre is evidence of rebellion against that image. Further, anything I do or don't like is evidence of the nature of God. I like stuff because it is absolutely good; stuff that sucks is evil, to wit, The White Stripes new album is not just good, it is divine, they are the good. The Indigo Girls' music is evil. This knowledge of the good and bad is easy. I know what I do and don't like.

I don't really think that. And, anyway that's not what my coworker meant to say.

What my coworker was really trying to say is her god doesn't like lesbians. She said she is totally fine with the Indigo Girls musically, and if it were up to her she would like them, but because they try to spread their lesbian politics around her god won't let her. And as far their being people is concerned, she really wants to like them but, sorry, she's not allowed. It came about this way: The Indigo Girls came on the radio and she said something about really liking the Indigo Girls in the past. Someone else asked if she didn't like their style now or something like that and she said- No that's fine, but my god says homosexuality is wrong. Now what exactly that means can be debated but, like my Muslim teammates, I don't think she and I know the same God.

What she was describing then and at other times as god was something that remains external to her but reflects her desires- some type of rule by which she can negotiate the challenges and difficult questions of life while at the same time affirm what she has decided is good. She mentioned some Bible verses that had something to say about sexual behaviors and said it was necessary for her to adhere to the commands of these verses, but if challenged with very clear commands about poverty, war, life, etc... she has a way of explaining them away.

There's a lot there but long story short, this coworker worships conservatism. That's not unique or difficult to identify. I am surrounded by Christians who do that and anything I say about it here probably won't be new but that won't stop me from saying it. Maybe if I decide to share this site with anyone else I can get some feedback and some help in what I have kind of discovered to be my struggle: to just be a prophetic voice in my little congregation, to share a hope in the future and remind us of our responsibility now.