By Spencer-rae
Today we find ourselves in a culture of individualism. Magazines, television and the internet teach us how to groom ourselves, what we should want and how we should behave. We idiotise ourselves in front of our televisions and computers, wasting our lives on excessive viewing, uploading and downloading. We are self appointed gods, believing that we deserve anything we can get ours hands on; from money, to sex, to fame.
And when life becomes too boring or painful, we just get drunk and later use our drunken state as an excuse for our conduct. Science is the game we play, there is no other game. We are to believe only that which can be proved through rational empiricism and logical deduction. God is a social construct that makes us feel better about ourselves and broken lives. God is the object of our humour. God is a dinner table joke. At least until our lives fall apart and we start to pray. We pray and negotiate and beg and plead and suddenly it's perfectly logical that there is a God out there.
I was struck by a song by Regina Spektor recently. The song is called 'Laughing with'. Some of the lyrics are as follows:
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor
No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet
No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken
No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha
It's not my place, nor my mission to pin Regina to a definitive faith or worldview. But what I will say is that I believe her to be a teller of stories through song, and that in this particular story-song she has presented us with a narrative that speaks about a human trend we are more than familiar with. It's about the tendency for us to pray in times of trial and difficulty and our tendency to mock God when things are going well. It's easy to lose our faith when times are easy. It's just as easy to mock God in the times it seems we do not need him. But when our worlds fall, even the most skeptical among us may find himself on the floor pleading and crying out for God's help. Suddenly the 'flawed' logic of the Christian becomes plausible and the 'loony', the sanest man in town.
Here's some food for thought. I googled this song to find out some stuff about it. I ended up on an Atheist community site. There is a board where people post their thoughts about things like Regina's song. According to the site rules, it doesn't matter what you believe (or don't believe), as long as you show respect to the other people that are commenting. Most of the people are atheists, but they are expected to be tolerant for the sake of harmony. It's basically a community of people that share a similar set of beliefs (or non-beliefs). Natural enough, right? Community is just one of those things all of us do. Community is the norm. Interestingly enough, community remains one of the most consistent characteristics of our postmodern times, despite all the technology that allows us to live relatively independently. Ironically, we live in a culture where individualism is praised. So we try be individual in community. Most stuff has been done before and nothing is really new, but we can always consume. So we consume and define ourselves by our dress codes, interests and hobbies. Then we get together with people that share similar ideas about life, and go straight back to the community thing. We create and recreate community and then, almost as if by following a perfect sequence of events, we become defined by our religion or worldview. Truth is, none of us are all that different. In fact, despite all the science stuff we hear every day, most of us still believe in God or a 'higher power' and devote our lives to him/it. Those of us that don't, make a god out of our careers, lifestyles or philosophies. Now I am by no means saying that all beliefs are true; but what I am saying is that in a world where we are spoon-fed scientific explanations for almost everything, perhaps there is something to be said for the fact that so many still devote their entire lives to some or other transcendent being.
So these two things have always been, and still remain: The desire within us for a personal relationship with each other (community), and the desire within us for a personal relationship with God. In the Christian faith, both of these are are perfectly reconciled: the personal community of God within himself (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the personal community of ‘God with us’ through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son, and the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He gives us who believe, direct access to the father and our shared church community.
Never have I seen or heard of anyone who in sickness, starvation, cold, poverty, anxiety, fear, disappointment or hurt, crying out for help or compassion from a philosophy, lifestyle, scientific explanation or principle. If they had, I doubt they would have received a satisfying answer. Even the skeptic is more likely to be angry at ‘The God’ (or a god) he claims not to believe in. And where does his right to be angry come from? Science? Was it also science that produced in him this notion of 'fairness' he believes himself entitled to? For the rest of us, let us consistently choose to put our faith in God and acknowledge our relationship with him and each other when we pray 'Our (community) Father (personal relationship)...'
No one laughs at God in a hospital
No one laughs at God in a war
No one’s laughing at God
When they’re starving or freezing or so very poor
No one laughs at God
When the doctor calls after some routine tests
No one’s laughing at God
When it’s gotten real late
And their kid’s not back from the party yet
No one laughs at God
When their airplane start to uncontrollably shake
No one’s laughing at God
When they see the one they love, hand in hand with someone else
And they hope that they’re mistaken
No one laughs at God
When the cops knock on their door
And they say we got some bad news, sir
No one’s laughing at God
When there’s a famine or fire or flood
But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha
It's not my place, nor my mission to pin Regina to a definitive faith or worldview. But what I will say is that I believe her to be a teller of stories through song, and that in this particular story-song she has presented us with a narrative that speaks about a human trend we are more than familiar with. It's about the tendency for us to pray in times of trial and difficulty and our tendency to mock God when things are going well. It's easy to lose our faith when times are easy. It's just as easy to mock God in the times it seems we do not need him. But when our worlds fall, even the most skeptical among us may find himself on the floor pleading and crying out for God's help. Suddenly the 'flawed' logic of the Christian becomes plausible and the 'loony', the sanest man in town.
Here's some food for thought. I googled this song to find out some stuff about it. I ended up on an Atheist community site. There is a board where people post their thoughts about things like Regina's song. According to the site rules, it doesn't matter what you believe (or don't believe), as long as you show respect to the other people that are commenting. Most of the people are atheists, but they are expected to be tolerant for the sake of harmony. It's basically a community of people that share a similar set of beliefs (or non-beliefs). Natural enough, right? Community is just one of those things all of us do. Community is the norm. Interestingly enough, community remains one of the most consistent characteristics of our postmodern times, despite all the technology that allows us to live relatively independently. Ironically, we live in a culture where individualism is praised. So we try be individual in community. Most stuff has been done before and nothing is really new, but we can always consume. So we consume and define ourselves by our dress codes, interests and hobbies. Then we get together with people that share similar ideas about life, and go straight back to the community thing. We create and recreate community and then, almost as if by following a perfect sequence of events, we become defined by our religion or worldview. Truth is, none of us are all that different. In fact, despite all the science stuff we hear every day, most of us still believe in God or a 'higher power' and devote our lives to him/it. Those of us that don't, make a god out of our careers, lifestyles or philosophies. Now I am by no means saying that all beliefs are true; but what I am saying is that in a world where we are spoon-fed scientific explanations for almost everything, perhaps there is something to be said for the fact that so many still devote their entire lives to some or other transcendent being.
So these two things have always been, and still remain: The desire within us for a personal relationship with each other (community), and the desire within us for a personal relationship with God. In the Christian faith, both of these are are perfectly reconciled: the personal community of God within himself (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and the personal community of ‘God with us’ through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son, and the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. He gives us who believe, direct access to the father and our shared church community.
Never have I seen or heard of anyone who in sickness, starvation, cold, poverty, anxiety, fear, disappointment or hurt, crying out for help or compassion from a philosophy, lifestyle, scientific explanation or principle. If they had, I doubt they would have received a satisfying answer. Even the skeptic is more likely to be angry at ‘The God’ (or a god) he claims not to believe in. And where does his right to be angry come from? Science? Was it also science that produced in him this notion of 'fairness' he believes himself entitled to? For the rest of us, let us consistently choose to put our faith in God and acknowledge our relationship with him and each other when we pray 'Our (community) Father (personal relationship)...'
