Misapplied Mystery and "the god of our many understandings"

"My intention is not to invoke the name of Jesus, but to make this a prayer for Christians and non-Christians alike. Although I hold the Scripture to be the word of god, those Scriptures are holy to me and to Jews and Christians, but to many other faith traditions, they have their own sacred texts, and so rather than insert that and really exclude them from the prayer by doing so, I want this to be a prayer to the god of our many understandings and a prayer that all people of faith can join me in . . . let's face it, each one of us has a different understanding of god. No one of us can fully understand god or else god wouldn't be god."

-"Bishop" Gene Robinson, on his invitation to offer a prayer at the Obama Inaugural Event this Sunday (source: NPR News)

Wow, that last sentence was really great. As for the rest, what else could we expect from the first openly gay Episcopal bishop?

There are those who want to emphasize the mystery and hiddenness of God in order to deny the truth He has plainly revealed about Himself. We must be careful not to overstate either the hiddenness or the revealed-ness of God. God has made known certain things about Himself, leaving all people guilty and without excuse in their rejection of Him. Yet He has also hidden some things from those who do not believe, while unveiling them to His elect. And He has left some of His glory shrouded in a wonderful cloud of mystery, even to those who trust in Him with all of their hearts (this is where Robinson's last sentence would rightly be applied by someone who believes the Word of God). The very angels who stand in God's presence wonder at His ineffable greatness. But it is pure heresy to broadly and recklessly use the hiddenness of God to undermine the crystal clear revelation of His nature, will and acts found in nature and the Bible. The Truth constantly shouts at us through the things that have been created, undeniably proving that God is good, all-powerful, eternal and wise. With the added testimony of the Scriptures, we are faced not only with a plain account of God's essential being, but also a written statement of His eternal will - and a record of His dealings with man in history. But Robinson ignores all of this, instead using one little piece of truth in a vain attempt to sweep away volumes of revelation. This is a crime against Truth itself (or should I say Truth Himself?). It is a crime that God will judge, but it is also a judgment in itself.

The reality is, mankind's "many understandings" of God are the rotten fruit of rebelling against the one simple understanding that is as plain as the nose on our collective face. For those who seek Him, there is a further development of this simple truth, but for those who make themselves His enemies there can only be obscurity and confusion in the maze of man-centered ideas that is falsely called "wisdom."

I once heard a Biblical counselor tell someone, "Here is why you are confused: you have been told what God expects of you, and you don't want to do it. When you agree with God and begin to obey Him, your confusion will disappear." There is much true wisdom in this statement.

Robinson's thinking is sad. It is confused. It is heretical. It is nonsensical. And yet, "but for the grace of God . . ."

Let us pray.

NOTE: What is written above is an extremely loose paraphrase of Romans 1:18-25.

"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen."