My reading today is from James Martin’s The Jesuit Guide to Almost Everything. In writing on the various paths to God, he writes of the path of exploration. The benefits of this path are readily apparent – an explorer has a lot to choose from. There is truly a buffet line of faiths out there, each with its own beliefs to pick and choose. Yet Martin notes that the path of exploration has some pitfalls. We can become overwhelmed with choices, and thus never choose. That is, the exploration never ends. Also, in the exploration mode it is easy to develop what Martin refers to as a “pocket-sized God,” a personal God that is small enough to pull out as needed, but put back in my pocket when personal God doesn’t suit me or isn’t needed. This is, I suppose, creating God in my own image, or at least to my own liking. I am reminded of the quote I like so much from Anne Lamott’s Traveling Mercies — “You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”
It occurs to me that this is like treating God as a screwdriver or some other tool. I get the tool I want/like and then I pull it out as needed. I have this Craftsman screwdriver set. Do I need a straight blade or a Phillips, and what size? But of course no one ever (at least I hope not) develops a relationship with a screwdriver.
It occurs to me... 