Saturday, September 26, 2015

God

It is inaccurate to call God the Supreme Being because God is not a being at all, and that we really don't understand what we mean when we say that he is "good," "wise," or "intelligent." People of faith like those ulama' or bishop will admit in theory that God is utterly transcendent, but they seem sometimes to assume that they know exactly who "he" is and what he thinks, loves, and expects. We tend to tame and domesticate God's "otherness." We regularly ask God to bless our nation, protect our yang dipertuan, cure our sickness, or give us a fine day to go pancing. We even keep reminding God that he has created the world and that we are just a bunch of miserable sinners, as though this may have slipped his mind. Politicians like those in PAS quote God to justify their policies, government's body too like JAKIM uses him to keep order in our society, and terrorists commit atrocities in his name. We beg God to support "our" side in an election or even war, even though our opponents are, presumably, also God's children and the object of his love and care.

AA