How Not to Speak of God

Peter Rollins in his book, How Not to Speak of God, reminds us that it is just as important to avoid saying the wrong things about God as it is figuring out how to say the right ones. This is of course a huge challenge, and one that few, if any, of us have figured out.

Nonetheless, I couldn't help thinking about Rollins' book after dinner on Friday night. I was at a dinner for a Christian organization when a lady blurted out, "I don't know why God made poor people, maybe it was so we could know him better." In sum: God made people poor in order to reveal himself to rich Christians.

After I fainted and had to be taken to the emergency room, I regained enough composure to reflect on the event. This woman is a dedicated Christian who clearly does not mean what she said. The way she is living her life and her dedication to helping those in poverty repudiate her spoken theology that poor people exist for rich people. That being said, speaking in this way about God is problematic for countless reasons. But before I cast this woman out of the kingdom, I think we must also admit that we have all been in her shoes, speaking about God in ways that if we actually thought about it would repulse us at one time or another. I certainly know I have.

One of the many benefits of theological education is that it forces you, at least sometimes, to think about how we speak of God. We are reading and talking and singing and reflecting about God so much in such a concentrated experience that how we speak of God is always near the front of our minds. Although we still put our feet in our mouths (me more than most), the tendency is decreased because of our constant reflection on God.

It seems to me that one of the great thrusts of Christian education in our churches and in our communities should focus on providing our people a vocabulary with which to speak and think about God. Not only the words, but the grammar in order to speak with confidence and credibility in the world. A non-Christian at dinner Friday night would (and should) have been repulsed at hearing this discussion of God. For a God who creates poor people to suffer for the purpose of bringing rich people closer to this God is not a God worth worshiping.

We know that this is not the character of God, for the character of God is one who gives to all of us in our poverty and who promises to give to us the riches of the kingdom, which are not always material, just in case you are reading Creflo. How can we teach one another how to speak credibly of God? How have we learned to speak of God and what would help us? I know I need help in my God-talk. Do any of my three readers have any ideas?