Another worldly post

A comment was left on my last post that insinuated that my comparing one’s relationship with God to a card game may be the result of me being too worldly. Regardless of whether the comment was in jest or not (and given the written word’s poor ability to communicate sarcasm, I really don’t know if it was in jest), it brings up two good questions.

Question number 1: Why don’t I talk about God without using analogies?

Short answer: Because I can’t. That’s not an admission of the limits of my skills with the written word. I’ll readily admit that the world is full of people who spin language better than I. Instead, that’s me admitting the limits of language in general.

To describe God in plain terms to someone who’s never experienced Him is impossible. Imagine trying to describe a smell to someone who doesn’t have that sense, or a sunset to a blind person. You can’t do it for the simple reason that the person you’re trying to explain it to has no personal frame of reference for what you’re trying to describe. God’s like that. A lot of people don’t have any experience with God. You can only accurately relate God inspired moments to those that have had similar moments. Which is all well and good if you want to preach to the choir, but absolutely useless if you’re trying to talk to someone not wearing a robe and bursting into song. And it’s certainly a waste of your breath if you’re trying to convey something new, or even a new perspective on an old truth. This same limit applies to anything beyond the actual experience of your audience.

That’s why I use analogies. They let me compare facets of God with something that both my reader and I are familiar with. All of a sudden, I can get points across left and right. A whole new world has opened up. Well, it would have been a new world opening up if the Bible weren’t already full of analogies. Kinda makes my whole “need analogies to describe anything spiritual” epiphany more of a rerun than anything else.

Which brings me to my second question.

Question number 2: Is it okay to use analogies that border on distasteful?

There are those that think cards in general are evil, the spawn of Satan, put on this earth solely to corrupt the souls of the unwary. I’ll admit that certain card games are not really beneficial to people. For example, you’ll never catch me playing Go Fish. It’s a well known fact that Go Fish today leads to debauchery tomorrow. So is it okay for me to use a card game analogy, or does it mean I’m doomed to Hell?

To answer that question, I’ll go to the Bible. More specifically, I’ll go to a minor prophet called Hosea. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. You read that right. The Creator of heaven and earth told His voice to the people to marry a prostitute. Why? God wanted to make a point. His point was simple: His chosen nation was acting like a whore. When they ran after other gods, they were acting like a married woman sleeping around with other men.

The discerning reader will note that prostitution is a sin, and that God Himself used a sinful act to make a point that He felt people needed to hear. Now, I’m not God, nor am I His voice on earth. That said, I am a Christian who likes talking about God. If I have to use an activity that can be deemed sinful in an analogy so that I can make a point, I’ll do it. By using it in an analogy, I’m not endorsing the act itself. God didn’t endorse prostitution when he used poor Hosea as an example. And I’m certainly not endorsing anyone play card games. Who knows what kind of trouble you’d get yourself in if you started down the slippery slope that is Go Fish.

As a side note, please note that I don’t ever once argue the assumption that I’m too worldly. I may very well be. Nobody’s perfect, and I’m certainly not content with my relationship with Christ as it stands (don’t think I’ll ever be). If anyone out there sees a serious theological flaw in this or any other post I make, please feel free to point it out. You’ll be doing me a favor.