There is certainly enough scientific evidence to conclude that our world is evolving but the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Christianity has not. Since the unfolding of our conscious sense of evolution due to science, it has become almost impossible for many to conceive or worship a “God” or “supreme Being” who is functionally and totally believable. The God of our ancestors can be understood as the cause of the “Big Bang” ( creation) which produced or generated the universe but a theistic God seems impotent because modern life is supported by a vast, interconnected network of scientific disciplines that explore, explain, and manage the world around us. Therefore, the name “God”, used by the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity to refer to a transcendent Creator of our world, has lost its meaning and significance for most people in the 21st century.

In the last century, philosopher Martin Heidegger is reported to have said that if God exists, he is known by his absence. Here in America, “the absence of God” became known by many in the twentieth century as the“God is Dead” utterance which signaled the decline of traditional Christian authority and the rise of secularism, nihilism, and human-centric values. It spurred radical theology that challenged divine transcendence, leading to increased focus on subjective meaning, cultural pluralism, and, paradoxically, a rise in modern spiritualism.

Today, however, rather than being absent or dead, according to many believers, God is woefully misunderstood and mocked. For example, Christian biblical Fundamentalists or literalists still believe that “God” created the universe in five days and controls the natural and supernatural events of the world. This “God” is seen as a strict and fearful judge of human creatures and even believed to be a heavily politicized figure who is on their side. And some Christians even see “God” as a “Happy Someone” who wants humans to be rich and comfortable, or as a” Fearful Someone” who is about to end the world in fire and brimstone due to its immorality and secularization. Admittedly, there are still many Christians who believe there is much to mock about these distortions of who “God” is. Could this be the reason that “God” has become meaningless in everyday society?

Nonetheless, there are still those who envision “God” as Someone “Up There” or “Out There” whom they expect to “come down” and fix our problems. After all, we Americans claim to be “one nation under God” and sing “God bless America” or “in God is our trust” in the full version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. Even the phrase “In God we Trust” is engraved on our currency despite the admonition from Jesus that we can’t serve God and Mammon. Even President Theodore Roosevelt, 1907, ordered the removal of “In God We Trust” from new $10 and $20 gold coins, arguing its placement on currency was “irreverent” and “close to sacrilege”. Then Congress responded with a 1908 law mandating the motto’s return to all coins that previously carried it. ( I guess we CAN serve both God and Mammon in the Western world!)

Despite all the conflict centered around the role of the Creator God, many see this theistic God as a father who is absent most of the time but then comes home from work and fixes the problems the family faced while he was away. Such believers are joining a chorus of those who lament, “If God is all powerful, why doesn’t he prevent sickness and wars?” “Why does he let children suffer?” Such questions sadly lead to much pain, doubt, anger, and confusion among many believers and offer evidence that God doesn’t exist for non-believers.

However, according to sincere believers, distortions and questions like these arise from a poor understanding of the God of faith as presented by their religions of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. These religions share a foundation of strict monotheism, while worshiping one God as the Creator, sustainer, and judge of the universe. All three view God as omnipotent, merciful, and transcendent, yet involved in human history and in the personal development of each human being yet they differ on the nature of this oneness: Judaism emphasizes absolute unity (Yahweh/Elohim), Christianity holds to a Triune nature (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), and Islam insists on absolute, indivisible unity (Allah). All of these beliefs come to be known through the revelations found in the inspired sacred scriptures and writings of each religion

Let’s not forget that differing definitions of God, divine mandates, and theological, fundamentalist interpretations have historically fueled conflicts which often arise when religions possess absolute, exclusionary definitions of God, denying salvation to others. Wars have been fought over which version of God is correct and what that God expects of humanity. Religious differences are even used as a tool to motivate soldiers or legitimize political goals.So, the question on the minds of many believers like me, is whether or not the rapid current and ongoing evolution of world cultures which are growing closer together through the “world wide web” of communications and travel necessitates a new and common understanding about the transcendent Being we call, God. who created the universe and what such a God expects of humanity which seems on the brink of self annihilation by the hands of nuclear, biological, chemical, or cyber weapons.

A Personal Perspective

   More fully, the true God is Living, Conscious, Eternal, Infinite Overflowing Love.  “Living Love” can be a substitute for the word, “God,” because the distortion of the name has become an obstacle to our experience of the true God.   

“Love is the most powerful and still most unknown energy in the world.“Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

   Living Love is the Creative process of the universe and of the world and us in and through the universe’s evolution, which Living Love set in motion and watches lovingly as a parent, from within the evolving world.  Our own experience of our creativity is an image of Living Love’s creativity and presence within us.  

   Living Love is Healing and Spiritual Well-Being.  In and through Jesus Christ, the world is rescued from sin.  Living Love, alive within us and all the societies of the world, gives us the graced discernment, responsibility, creative ingenuity, and power to work to heal others’ physical, mental and spiritual anxieties and illnesses.  Our experience of wanting to reach out and help others and bring justice and peace to others and the world is our experience of Living Love within us and the world.

   Living Love is World Transforming and Evolving.  Living Love within us and the world is calling us from the future.  From within us, our families and nations, corporations, governments, schools and universities, science and technology labs, professional offices, our trades and service industries, etc., Living Love is attracting and “pulling” us into the future, to build an ever new world of luminously humanizing justice, peace and progress, as we move the world’s inter-connected and inter-related evolution forward toward it’s one blessed goal of Wholeness in love/Love.  Our inner sense of attraction and call into our future growth and fulfillment is our experience of the presence of Living Love within us and the world.

  Living Love is also alive within criminals, war makers and terrorists, calling and empowering them to come out of their darkness into the light of a true, loving, luminously human life.  Their response to the call to peace, humanity and compassion is the sign of the truth of their God. 

   Rather than “coming down” to fix our problems, (intervention) Living Love is showing us great respect, giving us the discernment, energy, talents, freedom and responsibility to build our lives, society and world in ever growing peace and justice. (collaboration)

It is up to us, Living Love’s graced and empowered image and likeness.  As spiritual adults, would we really want to be spoon fed like helpless children?  It is in recognizing our call, opportunities, talents and responsibilities toward ourselves, others and the world, and in carrying out our call in strength, justice, humility, peace and love, that we experience Living Love within ourselves and today’s world–and tomorrow’s.                      

   The extent to which we distort and/or reject our experience of Living Love’s call and empowerment to live lives of life-giving, energizing, healing, peaceful and just, world-transforming  love, that we distort who Living Love is, and then possibly even blame Living Love or deny Living Love’s very existence.  In the process, we dehumanize ourselves.  (Our religions and denominations should take note not to distort our true faith and dehumanize us in any way.)

  We must heed the words of Paul to the Colossians: “The Son (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  Colossians 1:15-18

All of creation is evolving toward fulfillment in Christ the Alpha and the Omega- our beginning and our end.  “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” Rev 1:8

“Everything in the universe ultimately proceeds towards Christ-Omega; since the whole of cosmogenesis is ultimately through geogenesis, biogenesis, noogenesis to Christogenesis.” Teilhard De Chardin The Phenomenon of Man

by Anthony Massimini and Ernie Sherretta