part II of 3

2: I struggle with the idea of a static God.
for more from me on this subject : Proverbial Paradox

Humanity longs for purpose, meaning, identity, worth.I long for worth, a part to play in the story of the cosmos. Sometimes, it seems that the idea of God reduces rather than enhances the feeling of human, individual worth.

There are really two basic worldviews regarding humanity’s purpose and worth:

Materialism: what you see is what you get.
You are an ape with an overactive brain, and too many emotion chemicals. Real materialism ends in nihilism—there is no meaning, everything is blind chance.

Existentialism / Post-modernism / New-Ageism:
All of these are basically the same. There is no objective meaning to life, or at least if there is, it is ineffable. So, meaning is created. We create it ourselves in our fight against blind nature, or as a part of consensual reality, or through ecstatic (many times drug induced) “spiritual” experiences.

Then there are the Theistic versions of these two:
I will stick to Christian theology, as that’s what I know best. However, from what I can tell, all other theistic religions function basically the same, and non-theistic religio-philosophies are either not-so-new versions of the New Age trick, or an inverted materialism that ends in annihilation; nihilism.

Nihilistic Theism:
In most Christian theology, God replaces the universe as the blind chance in our existence. He starts the story. He ends the story. He inserts and discards us in the story as He sees fit. Our existence or non-existence has no effect on the direction, or the conclusion of the story. We are merely actors speaking our lines in a story determined before time.
This is the basic worldview of Reformed (Calvinist), and Armenianist theology. Nothing we do ultimately affects the PLAN. You can see this in the belief that we truly cannot oppose God’s will. If He wills it, it will come. If we cannot oppose, we cannot consent. We cannot work with or against. We simply are and play our role—the role determined for us. I cannot live this way.

Existentialist / Post-modern / “New-Age” Theism:
Existentialist equaling Open or Progressive theism; Post-modern being communally, rather than dogmatically driven; and “New-Age” representing mysticism. I find myself in all three camps, barring the Progressive variety of existentialist Christianity.
It’s a mystery. I take comfort in the statement that “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” But, there are times when that makes Jesus look very cold and aloof, almost ineffable. I want God to be dynamically involved in my daily life, not statically faithful to His PLAN.
Of course, what I want has no effect on reality, but I do believe in and worship a dynamic God. Am I orthodox, Biblical? I think so. I hope so. Somehow, someway, God is perfect (un-improvable and un-defilable), yet active and moving. The Bible calls Him the Living God; alive with joy and love and wrath!