One does not
kneel down on the dark sands of the world preparing for death for the sake of a
mother goddess who turns out to be nothing more than creation including
ourselves. The recent martyrs of the Middle East and elsewhere breathed the
beautiful name of Jesus before laying down their lives. And in fact, one does
not go about living a life that is rimmed by joy without holding onto the one
for whom and by whom creation was spoken into being. (Col. 1:15-20)
Recently, on
Facebook, because a progressive pastor who is a friend, ‘liked’
a link entitled, “When
you’re sick of Father God,” it appeared on my timeline. It was originally
linked to by the “Girl God,”
but that is another posting. My concern is, Tarrin McDonald aka Tarrin Nicole,
who has walked away from Christianity because of her unbiblical views of God.
And she was helped on the way by reading the book The Dance of the Dissident
Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd.
Kidd is also a person who once claimed Christianity but has since turned away
to embrace the goddess.
McDonald wrongly, calling herself a Christian, focused her faith on the
idea of gender in terms of the human male. She writes:
“I had taken male and
masculinity to be the highest good, forsaking everything beautiful and feminine
within myself, my culture, and my religion. I didn't realize I had been
crippling myself my whole life by buying into male domination.”
But McDonald, in her revolt, reverses her error. She makes the feminine
the highest good. And because this includes a rejection of the biblical
God, everything gets tossed.
For McDonald, the goddess is equated with the self and the self is
considered good without need of redemption. McDonald writes, “I wanted to
reclaim my inherent feminine divinity.” This reclaiming involves unremitting self-analysis,
and she has actually become what she calls a ‘soul coach’ for other women.
There is a grave misunderstanding here. God is not a gendered God in
the same way we think about gender. But God names himself and he calls himself
Father to Israel in a particular way and the Father of the begotten Son in a special
and unique way. He is also Father to the poor, the oppressed, the needy, and
Father to his own children by adoption, that is, the Church. And God’s
fatherhood is something unique to him—we are not the model—but he is.
Toward the ending of her essay, McDonald affirms one of Kidd’s blatant quotes,
writing that she loves Kidd’s conclusion:
“The ultimate authority of my life is not the Bible; it is not confined
between the covers of a book. It is not something written by men and frozen in
time. It is not from a source outside myself. My ultimate authority is the
divine voice in my own soul. Period.” (Bold McDonald’s)
One, as I stated at the beginning, does not lay down their life for the
sake of a goddess who can be equated with their own desires and the pursuit of
self-fulfillment. The ultimate authority for the Christian is the Lord of the
church, Jesus Christ, and the written word of God, the Bible. The sustaining of
our joy and peace occurs as we abide in the Lord, feeding on his word, living
in obedience and trusting him to forgive and transform us into blessed and holy
creatures.
Therefore
I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of
worship. And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that
which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2)
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