the gods aren't angry

So last night I went to Rob Bell's tour of the gods aren't angry: why humans invented religion to make themselves feel better. I think every time I do something that involves Rob Bell I tend to go in a bit skeptical, but once again, I was entirely surprised. Unfortunately giving a short sort of summary of the entire talk, I won't do it justice, but I will try.

The focus of the talk was about how people throughout history tend to deal with pleasing uncontrollable forces around them (weather, life, death,...). I think most religions would fall into some sort of category of this sort. Having rituals aimed for some purpose such as forgiveness, self edification or the like. And also from the beginning of the Hebrew people in the bible, this is how God has been contrasting with this image. People innately feel this kind of guilt or shame that drives them to have to do something. Religion really pulls that guilt out internally in people. I think that's why when people come to church they instantly feel judged without any sort of reasonable reason to. Yes of course some churches may be on the uber judgemental side, but that problem is magnified by our internal thought process. But from the beginning, God has been saying that He works differently from that. People had always done sacrifices in order to please whatever forces they were unable to control, but even in the Levitical code the sacrifices were intended for celebration. Psalm 50 says, "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it," and in Hebrews 10:11 says, "again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins." (yes it looks like those verses are pulled out of nowhere, but I think you will see their context fits fine in speaking of these things) The interesting thing about this is that we cannot sacrifice anything in that way to God in order for sins to be forgiven. That begs the question of why did God want the Isrealites to do the sacrifices if they didn't really do anything. The other question is why does God ask Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I think that is because Abraham would expect a god to ask something like that during the time. In the modern day, the whole thing sounds preposterous, but within the context of the time, it's easier to understand why Abraham did not complain. And God did show that he was different when Abraham was right on the edge of sacrificing his own son--I think He really did want Abraham to comprehend well who He was. So the thing is that God is different, his kingdom works differently than the way people expect. He doesn't fit into the box that people try to put him in regards to religion. We cannot sacrifice anything to make a difference. The concept of a God sacrificing himself to be connected with people is kind of mindblowing in terms of comparision with impersonal gods. Repentence isn't doing anything other than living more how we should based on the understanding that we have come to of God's mercy in our lives.

hopefully that makes sense.