Posted by
Jason Drexler on Monday, June 18, 2007 5:59:18 PM
Johann Hari, in an online review of god is not Great, gives high praise to the newest book from militant atheist Christopher Hitchens. In defining his approach to the subject matter – one that Hari characterizes as “primarily historical, tracing the major religions back to their origins and showing how they were plainly fabricated by divinely-uninspired mammals” – Hari quotes from a portion of the book in which Hitchens asks why the Virgin Mary is surprised by everything her son does, stating that she seemingly has no memory of being told by angels that her son is, after all, God.
I understand where Hitchens is coming from here. Looking at Mary’s situation logically, Hitchens is basically saying (with all the incredulity required by any good militant atheist), “Woman, your son is God; how can you be surprised at anything he does?” His argument here makes fine sense … until I compare it with my own experience.
Having been a Christian for many years now, I’ve long known that God has the power to do anything, and the willingness to help me out in any and all situations. Logically, therefore, I should never be surprised by anything that God does in my life.
And yet I sometimes am. Why is that? Do I still have doubts about His power, His love for me, or His willingness to help me? Perhaps I do. Yet I think that there’s something else to it, as well.
As a human, I’m limited, finite. My experience has shown me that I cannot solve my every problem or provide for my every need, and neither can any other person, because they too are limited and finite. Everything about my human experience says that I am always going to be thrown up against some sort of roadblock. That I am always going to meet with difficulty along my road through life. That nothing worth having is going to come easily. That I will fail many times in the trying, and also be disappointed by others a good deal.
God, on the other hand, is unlimited and infinite. He can do anything, and He can do it anytime, anywhere, and in whatever way seems best to Him. I know this. So when, for the millionth time, He provides for me what no one else can provide, or does for me what no one else can do, I simply accept His help with every possible bit of gratitude and without even the slightest hint of wonder or surprise … right?
Wrong. Even though I know God and understand that He can do anything, His nature is different than that of man’s, different than what I experience daily as a human, and His mode of operation is entirely different than what I’m used to as a human being – so even though I’ve seen Him act in His unique, supernatural way many times, it still often gives me a jolt, because it goes against what I experience every moment of every day as a limited human surrounded by other equally-limited humans, living in a limited world. Not only may I be told in advance of the amazing talents of porpoises and yet still be amazed and surprised when I see them in person for the first time, but the human trainer of those porpoises may see them perform in person every day for a decade and yet be surprised anew every so often at what they are capable of. And a creature that lives most of its life in a dark cave, venturing outside into the light only once in a blue moon, will yet receive a shock every time he does see the light, even though he knows of its existence and has seen it before.
Christopher Hitchens appears to be severely stunted not only in his knowledge and understanding of God, but also in his understanding of human nature. He fails to see that we can be continually surprised by something that we are already familiar with (how many times were basketball fans surprised by a Michael Jordan game-winner despite the fact that he’d done it a dozen times before?), and that this periodic surprise turns out to be (in one way at least) a good thing, increasing our gratitude and reinforcing within us a sense of wonder and awe that we were meant to live with – and without which we would wither and die, as seems to be happening with Hitchens and Hari.