The scourge of the demiurge

How do we teach our children about God?

After nearly a year, I finally finished reading David Bentley Hart’s “The Experience of God”

This book covers a lot.  Much of it academic and over my head.  However, one thing stuck out as most important to me and how I teach my children about God.

Some background on why this is important to me:  One of the big factors leading to my divorce was strong religious disagreement.  I won’t pretend to be able to speak for her and her beliefs. But, it shouldn’t be a shock that this left our children torn between two different worldviews.

It’s been a struggle for me at times, especially recently.  In the heat of an argument one of my children mocked my belief in a “magical man in the sky”.

Kids learn early what buttons to push and what hurts.  (I love them regardless)

My personal injuries aside.  Her statement says a lot about the image that’s developed about God.  The idea that God is simply an explanation of why nature is structured the way it is, a wizard crafting reality, is common both inside and outside the church.

Think about the debate between Intelligent Design and Evolution.  Intelligent Design teaches that some intelligent entity crafted matter to form life as we know it today. This is known philosophically as a demiurge.  To oversimplify, evolutionary theory points out that no such demiurge was necessary.

But here’s the truth, and where this book comes in, the god whose existence is up for debate in these conversations is not God as known by traditional theistic religions.

God has been understood for centuries as the source from which we live and move and have our being.  He is the uncaused cause of existence from which existence itself springs forth.  Not simply the craftsman contained within existence, who decided how a butterfly should look.

This God is transcendent.  He is not contained within existence nor separate from it. Existence rather, is contained within Him in some sense.  Furthermore, God as traditionally understood sustains all creation.  He makes it continue to exist.  In this way He is present throughout creation.

The modern world is obsessed with being able to explain things. To be measurable and fully knowable. 

A person invested in intelligent design might look at a leaf and call the beauty of its symmetry proof there is a creator.  Another person might find a perfectly logical alternative explanation.  But, as David Bentley Hart puts it: “It is as if a dispute over Tolstoy’s existence were to be prosecuted by various factions trying to find him the characters of Anna Karenina.”  Or as mewithoutYou says “who ever heard of a singer criticized by a song?”

The transcendent God cannot be found looking for evidence of Him in creation the same way we look for evidence of physical phenomenon, like gravity.

I’m convinced we need to acknowledge the mystery when we talk about God with our children.  We can never fully understand or articulate this God (His ways are higher than our ways).  As St. Augustine said “If it is understood, it is not God”.

Very young children seem to understand the beautiful mystery of creation intuitively. Everything is to be marveled at and explored with awe. I believe this is why Jesus tells his disciples to become like children. To have awe and humility.

If we choose to teach our children the small god, the one we can explain and comprehend fully, it won’t be hard for them to discard it as a fairy tale.  A story among many about a god worshiped a long time ago. 

But if we want to be a part of helping our children know God, we must not attempt to dumb Him down.  Instead let’s become more like them to marvel at the unknowable together.