Faith in a Fiction

One of the books I looked through during my two weeks away was a book by an “ex-evangelical preacher” entitled “Call of God“. It’s a small book on Kindle where this man expresses why he left Christianity and the church and shares a number of stories from others who have done so as well.

Most of the reasons given for leaving the faith were a combination of the person no longer finding the Christian faith as it was portrayed to them as tenable with modern versions of the origin story often combined with a story of pain where God didn’t protect themselves or someone they loved from a disaster.

Many voices in the book basically express the assertion that “friends don’t let friends believe”. It is irresponsible to suggest to people that there is a god out there that rescues good people from calamities. We’d all be better off ditching the divine fiction, taking our destinies into our own hands and making a better world through technology, education and politics.

Richard’s Story

One of the stories in the book is told by “Richard” who outlines his upbringing by a devout Pentecostal mother and an alcoholic father. The turning point in his journey towards unbelief was a nasty custody battle for his son which he claims to have lost because of the court’s bias in favor of mothers rather than fathers. Many Christians prayed for him, laid hands on him, assured him that “God was on his side” and things would turn out as he believed they should only to lose custody and be impoverished by the other aspects of the custody judgment. He tells of the abuse his son suffered at the hands of his ex-wife and lands the blame squarely on God. There cannot be a God if this is how is story is unfolding!

Here is his turning point:

The sting of betrayal that I felt was enough to get me to realize that this god nonsense was nothing more than fairy tales and snake oil salesmanship. What kind of god would put my little son through such horrors and abuse, not to mention the hell and financial rape that I had to endure? Once I dismissed the notion of any supernatural interventions, and took matters into my own charge, and did the research myself, sought out Fathers Rights Groups, learned Pro-Se techniques, etc., then things finally started to improve for me and my son. I eventually won custody when he turned 14, and things have improved since.

Preacher, Ex (2013-06-07). The Call of God (pp. 74-75). . Kindle Edition.

This rather evangelical conversion story is clear. Life was bad while I believed, once I shed that foolishness things have been wonderful.

His conclusion is as follows:

The most obnoxious part is that many of them are the most judgmental, condescending, unloving, closed minded, arrogant, self-righteous, and ignorant people on the face of the earth! Some are just outright dangerously stupid, and have caused serious problems and even death by delaying (or denying) proper medical treatment with prayers.

Fact is that more people have killed and died in the name of god than any other cause and it’s still going on today. It is NOT a benign psychosis, but a dangerous one that needs to get snuffed out. People who subscribe to these tenants have a “god is on our side” mentality; they fly planes into buildings, decapitate nonbelievers or those who insult their gods and prophets, send out suicide bombers, prevent research and development that could save lives, deny other people’s rights to live as they want.

Preacher, Ex (2013-06-07). The Call of God (pp. 76-78). . Kindle Edition.

Stalin? Mao? I digress.

Are Christians Really That Passive?

One of my reactions to this assertion is the question as to whether or not Christians are really that passive? With the exception of a few sects (Jehovah Witnesses, the Amish) I find that most Christians are about as energetic when it comes to trying to carve out a preferred life for themselves and their children as anyone else. They get jobs, send their kids to school, buy insurance, see the doctor when they are sick, get a lawyer when they need to, etc. on average pretty much like everyone else.

The difference of course is that they also, commonly apply a metaphysical narrative on top of the common proceedings here below. Christians will involve God in their daily situations through prayer often in pursuit of favorable outcomes. Some Christians might involve other spiritual forces like demons or Satan in their view of what’s going on around them. This additional layer, however, doesn’t seem to seriously retard common life as people live it.

Naturally Religious

What’s more, I regularly find people who are not particularly involved in “organized religion” (and many who are) as also understanding the mundane circumstances of their lives within much larger narratives.

It is fashionable today to talk about karma. People say “what goes around comes around”. People worry about offending “the guy upstairs” or and hope that “the universe” affords them a winning lottery ticket.

Many who work at elite levels of society commonly indulge in superstition, horoscopes or seek spiritual aid of one form or another. See what major league baseball players do when they hit a slump. Why did Nancy Reagan rely on her favorite astrologer? 

Any program to make people less religious even from an atheist perspective seems to run against evolutionary wisdom. Religion must provide an adaptive advantage for those who employ it.

The Strangeness of “God’s Favor”

In our reading through the book of Genesis we have arrived at one of the best put together chapters in the story, the story of Joseph and Potipher’s wife.

When last we saw Joseph he was being sold off to slave traders by his own brothers who were offended by their father’s favoritism of Joseph and Joseph’s attitude and dreams of superiority. Something happens between his sale to the slave traders and his arrival in Egypt, Joseph becomes an exemplary man. He leaves Canaan a foolish boy, and we find him in Egypt as an uber competent manager who’s “hand” is successful at whatever he tries. The book of Genesis isn’t coy about Joseph’s success, it is attributed to God’s favor. God is blessing Joseph and God is blessing anyone who employs Joseph, even as a slave.

This business about God’s favor is both common and strange. It is the focus of the discussion of the book of Job. Ought we to discern the favor of God based on favorable or catastrophic circumstances? The answer given in the book of Job is a resounding “NO”. God keeps his own council and making snap judgments about God’s attitude towards someone based on how well things seem to be going in their life is foolish and subject to God’s own judgment. In this story, however, the author readily and centrally employs the favor of God as the central piece of God’s hidden work to rescue the world. Is this fair?

What Kind of Favor?

Joseph’s brand of “success” too is rather strange. According to our filters a successful career as a slave isn’t much of a career at all. The ancients would likely see Joseph’s situation with considerably more nuance than we employ in this story but the text never lets us forget that despite the power he will wield he will always remain a slave.

The story of Joseph’s entanglement with Potipher’s wife is an elegantly told tale of power and fidelity. Joseph is represented as the epitome of a loyal slave willing to appeal to a higher moral order in denying himself. Joseph would have felt very much at home with the Apostle Paul’s admonition of “slaves serve your earthly masters as you would Christ.”

Potipher’s wife, however, is portrayed as someone who uses her power with naked disregard for anything else besides what she wants. She has no higher moral standard. Her contempt for her husband is evident in that she finds a way to blame him even for the ruse she concocts to punish Joseph for holding to his ideals.

While God’s favor seems to bless the household of his slave master’s God’s favor seems unavailable to protect Joseph from a capricious misuse of power which might have seemed inviting to Joseph. Wouldn’t it have been pleasurable to lie with Mrs. Potipher? Might there not have been in the future an avenue perhaps through which the two of them might conspire to unseat Potipher and allow Joseph to become the true master of Potipher’s realm? A scorned Mrs. Potipher indeed seems to outdo hell’s fury.

If God’s favor can engineer the prosperity of Potipher’s estate can’t it find a way to manage his wife?

Our Mixed Message On Virtue

Potipher’s wife (standing in for imperial power) can find no good reason not to enjoy the sexual fruit of her beautiful young slave. What reasons does Joseph have not to enjoy the sexual pleasure and potential alliance offered by his powerful mistress?

If Joseph would somehow be given access to a contemporary counselor to advise him on the actions he would take, what advice would we give him?

1. Get out of slavery as soon as possible if you can.
2. Find ways to undermine your oppressors
3. If you are thoroughly trapped find ways to take whatever retribution or pleasure is available to you to make your life as tolerable as possible.
4. Use Potipher’s wife for your own pleasure and potential advantage.

However, if we were to rewrite the story and noble Joseph spurned the advances of the predatory spouse of Potipher, was caught and sentenced to death instead of prison, we might at the same time praise him for virtue and re-interpret his refusal to sleep with her as his noble and defiant resistance to an unjust institution and circumstance.

While those advocating leaving Christianity rightly call Christians on many ways in which we try to “have it both ways” our own contemporary stands seem equally convenient.

An Irrational Embrace of a Seemingly Inconsistent Divine Benefactor

Do we appreciate Joseph’s virtue? Some of us may, some of may not. There may be some who say “use Mrs. Potipher just like she’s trying to use you!”

What does Joseph do in the story? He continues to deny himself, do the virtuous thing and he gets punished for it. This is no simple morality play that says “when you do the right thing you will be rewarded.” Joseph does what is the moral thing to do by most standards (not sleeping with a married woman) and he takes the fall. God does not rescue him from Potipher’s wife. Justice was not done. God was silent.

Even when God seems to withhold justice in the story, Joseph’s capacity for virtue is excelling. He isn’t embittered by the bad turn of events in the house of Potipher. He turns around and by virtue of his honesty and capacity to serve his slave masters is once again exalted to a position of relative responsibility and power. This metaphysical overlay while apparently impractical or irrational seems to work for him in a way that seems almost universally valued by those around him.

Based on Joseph and the observations of many including atheist Ira Glass in this interview that belief in a deity doesn’t necessarily make people more selfish but in fact can make them irrationally self-less and afford them a capacity to serve and be faithful to others against their own personal interests.

Morality Plays Abound

Isn’t there also an implicit morality play in unbelieving Richard’s story? Isn’t the moral force of his story that embracing ignorant fairy tales disables reasonable people from taking control of their lives and securing for themselves the wellbeing we all hunger for?

Richard’s is a nice story too, but it seems just as untrue as the morality tale of Joseph.

How many people “take control of their lives” only to have some powerful human force or seemingly random mishap consign them to a suffering and dismal future? What does “taking control of your lives” mean when you have no power or access to comfort or rescue from what is assaulting you? “Taking control of your life” is the most innate impulse we have practiced by every toddler and exalted by most teenagers.

Maybe Richard eventually won his custody battle but how long will things stay rosy for him? Will he dare enter into another romantic relationship? Will that one be grand? Will he continue to find his relationship with his son to be so satisfying, or will his son make decisions that will annoy and bother Richard?

My most famous line is of course “the age of decay” and I will tell you that if you live long enough in this world everything you have will be taken from you and you will suffer. In case you fear my assertion is sectarian “The Buddha” basically made the same observation.

Loss is about as sure a thing as this planet has to offer. Probably the only thing more common than religion is using the power and means available to us to try to secure for ourselves happiness and meaning but the more proven track is that all of this comes to a frustrating end one way or another given enough time.

Is there an “ought” without God? 

One of the most freeing elements of unbelief is the removal from the “ought” to believe. This removal however also eliminates the “ought” NOT to believe. If there is no metaphysical obligation or debt to some divine owner or deity then there is no obligation to not make up any imagined deity that we might fancy.

English Novelist and public atheist Somerset Maugham in his memoir “The Summing Up” made this observation:

If one puts aside the existence of God and the survival after life as too doubtful… one has to make up one’s mind as to the use of life. If death ends all, if I have neither to hope for good nor to fear evil, I must ask myself what I am here for, and how in these circumstances I must conduct myself. Now the answer is plain, but so unpalatable that most will not face it. There is no meaning for life, and [thus] life has no meaning. 

Happy Endings Are Unfair

Someone might rightly protest my employment of the Joseph story in this argument. Many of us who have read the story know it has a happy ending justifying Joseph’s denying himself the use of Potipher’s wife for pleasure or ambition. It’s easy to say Joseph did the right thing when we know he will be exalted and become the second most powerful man in Egypt. The story is too convenient.

How might the story be different if in fact Joseph suffered injustice and was killed? What if Potipher’s wife wished Joseph dead and got Potipher to go along with it?

Perhaps the story is unreal and Joseph should have slept with her and followed our advice that if escape from slavery is impractical to simply carve out for himself whatever pleasures his unfortunate lot in the universe afforded him.

The obvious jump here is of course to the story of Jesus. Jesus is widely applauded as a moral figure who changed the course of human history in somehow convincing us that justice involves regard for the weak and the disadvantaged. Many today who don’t believe that Jesus was anything more than a man would embrace the idea that power should be used to lift up the lowly, to be kind and good to the weak and to protect the powerless. You don’t need to believe in Jesus to have some idea that what Potipher’s wife intended for Joseph was unjust because of the imbalance of power between them.

Jesus, however, despite the high moral value of his teaching is killed.

If we were to advice Jesus might we suggest he take the edge off his teachings (and especially the “son of God” and “son of man” stuff if you believe he said such things) in order to have a more pleasurable life and a hopefully a more peaceful and reasonable death?

A Role Model For the Neighbors

It seems easier to believe that Joseph’s morality (we might doubt his existence of course if we’re being thoroughly skeptical) afforded him high status and eventually power and comfort in Egypt than to imagine Jesus was rewarded for his behavior by being raised from the dead by God with an incorruptible body that was ascended and currently rules over the world from heaven, which is of course what historical Christian faith asserts.

Potipher’s wife is of course the most reasonable character in the story even if we detest her morals but if there is no God what reason should she employ for not using her hot young slave for sexual enjoyment beyond pride of morality? Would she rather use him sexually or brag to her neighbors about her restraint?

Her choice in the story was clear. Her position was obviously secure enough and she easily was able to dispatch uncooperative Joseph while getting in a dig at her husband without jeopardizing her hold on comfort and power. We might make her our hero even if we hope we are never in a position to be abused by one like her.

We want the world full of Josephs but we don’t want to be one. We want the world full of Jesuses but we don’t want to be one.

An Invitation to Resurrection

When I read the story of unmet expectations from former Christians I understand how their expectations were raised. Many were taught things from the story of Joseph like “if you are honest and moral God will reward you and give you what you want out of life.” When they are loyal to the church and to Jesus, and honest and moral and God doesn’t turn circumstances their way they rightly protest that God has broken the deal.

I’m sorry for what they were taught and for my part I would say that this line of argument is best called “moralism” or “common religion” or “karma” but I don’t find it so much in Jesus.

The story of Joseph is a proto-invitation to the story of Jesus but yet incomplete. I don’t find Jesus suggesting that turning your cheek will get you anything more in this age than hit twice. Jesus seems enormously consistent when he says that living the life he lived will get you the death he got. That’s truth in advertising. He does suggest, however, that following him in his life and in his death leads to your own resurrection and is the path to the redemption of the world.

The Joseph story is of course a story of how God saves the world through his promises to bless Abraham’s decedents. As we saw above it’s not hard to see how Joseph’s choices, like the one to be faithful to Potipher rather than sleeping with the Mrs. will bless the world. Again, we all want our neighbors, our employees and our children to be like Joseph. In Jesus the two stories are connected.

Pascal

In the end we are left with something like Pascal’s wager. If there is no God we are free to believe in a fictitious one or at least to hope our neighbors do and it makes them faithful, honest, loyal and trustworthy.

I’m not sure Mrs. Potipher’s rationality that permitted her to see above Joseph’s myth based honesty afforded her much joy. On the whole see seems not only miserable to be around but probably bitter and miserable to be.

Jesus invites you to be the perfect neighbor and to be the kind of person any of us would want as a boss, someone who would use their power self-sacrificially for the service of all. He promises that to do so with full belief that it would fill you, as it did his disciples, with joy and hope and determination that in the end all that they generously do for their neighbors will be more than compensated for. The Apostle Paul, or example, though beaten and in stocks on the floor of a Philippian prison couldn’t keep himself from singing out of joy. That’s not the normal kind of crazy I meet on the street, but I sure won’t mind some of it myself.

We might parrot this message to our neighbors in hope that they believe it and that their believing it would bless us with better workers and citizens but to do so with the duplicity that it is all a sham for our own power and comfort feels self-defeating. If religion really is a sham to make the workers passive and happy in their misery while they serve their overlords and I am enlightened enough to see it as a sham, well let the sham proliferate! But what does that make me and how might I live with myself as that person?

The best options seems to be to believe it all myself and to enjoy its fruits even as we suffer what all of humanity has always suffered from its beginning. It seems reasonable to take a chance on Jesus rather than reasonable Mrs. Potipher’s sure thing. If Jesus is right, and he rose from the dead, and everything he told us was true, then I can in fact live in a world with others like Joseph, and become one myself in the hopes that Jesus will save the world and we will enjoy him forever.