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The mere mention of "God" in this title will cause some people to completely dismiss anything I'm about to say. Others will see the word "God" next to the word "redefinition" and immediately become skeptical of what is coming. 

This is because we all have a definition of God and it isn't something any of us want to change. Ever wonder why? As much as 50% of my audience would not subscribe to any belief in God, but this doesn't mean they are without a definition. Thus we must redefine common themes if we are ever to unlearn and then relearn. For most people, progress is impossible without redefinition.

When it comes to God, we all have a set of categories that give us the definition we possess. For some, religious or educational institutions have provided those categories. For others, it has been life experiences or brushes with the transcendent that have forged your definition. When ever I am getting to know someone, I am always keenly interested in how each person categorizes the topic of God. If I'm talking about God with an atheist, I always want to know about the God in which they don't believe. It is usually a description of some cosmic kill joy on a cloud not unlike something we'd watch on "Family Guy."  I share their disbelief in this category, but I am not an atheist.

If you are waiting for me to give you a new definition, then I'm afraid you will be disappointed. I have learned that the moment we define God and put strict categories around him/her, then we haven't defined God, we have only created doctrine and religion is following close behind. Theology is not God, it is the study of God.  Theology is not bad, it is helpful so far as it goes. But it only goes so far. All religions try their best to give us a working definition, and to the degree that we accept those definitions then to the same degree we also act in religious ways, trying to appease or please the present definition. But you and I both know there is always more to the story.

Perhaps the best that I can do for my very diverse audience is encourage you to relax your definitions in an attempt to get you into an experience rather than a belief system. You see the scientific minded in my community have a strange certainty that no God exists, while my more conservative communities have an equally strong certainty that a very particular God exists (they are atheists in regards to all other definitions but theirs). In both camps, certainty has more influence in their lives than God, because in both camps, God is lumped into their "knowledge" category rather than the experience category. It needs be in both.

If both the atheist and the religious can relax their definitions, both will automatically widen and grow the categories into which they can obtain proximity to the undefinable.  This means that our eyes will open to possibility, beauty, meaning, purpose, design & function, rather than JUST THEOLOGY.  In each of these categories, we all experience countless touch-points with undefinable, unexplainable, unmeasurable, yet very real things.

For example:

 Everyday, all people enter spiritual space. Consciousness is not equal to the brain, but is a function of it's integrated parts. You cannot surgically remove a consciousness and put it on a petri dish. We are all a beautiful harmonization of spirit and body, of non-physical and physical, following the premiere archetype that the Apostle John calls word and flesh (John 1:1-7).

We must be very careful never to diminish someone else's experience with the transcendent. I know it's hard for Atheists to let go of certainty, just as it is for the fundamentalist. These are both examples of the same religious mindset. If there is a God, he/she will never be found contained neatly in either system. If we ever put God in a box, we can be certain we don't have God. God is not a thing, but the source or thing behind all things. 

We need only start where we are today. In that sacred place in your mind, deep in your sense of being, ask (in the light of that sober, humble moment) for permission to exchange certainty for a wider view. If you are afraid of what could happen, if you are afraid of losing status, salvation, friends, or something else, you have already settled for religious mind (atheist or otherwise). You have grossly under-appraised reality.

Have a great week.

k