{"id":327,"date":"2008-06-08T05:27:28","date_gmt":"2008-06-08T05:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/06\/what-god-wants-part-1.html"},"modified":"2008-06-08T05:27:28","modified_gmt":"2008-06-08T05:27:28","slug":"what-god-wants-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/conversationswithgod\/2008\/06\/what-god-wants-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"What God Wants – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very few people will be able to believe what\u2019s going to appear in this blog in the weeks ahead. At least, at first. That may make it one of the most unbelievable series of blogs of all time.
\nIn this space in the weeks ahead will be found the answer to the most important question in human history. What does God want?
\nFor many people that answer will be startling.
\nEven for those who aren\u2019t completely surprised, the answer will be dramatically different. It will not even come close to the ideas that people usually hear about God.
\nOver the next half year of Sundays, from June until Christmas, I am going to be posting here excerpts from the book What God Wants<\/em>, and commenting upon them. I invite you to comment upon them as well, in the space provided below. Then, I will comment on your comments. And you can comment on mine. It is time, I think, that we had a wide-ranging and in-depth discussion of this important topic. It is time for all of humanity to have this discussion. Because humanity’s beliefs about God, and about what God wants, are driving the engine of the human experience.
\nYou don’t believe me? Read the latest edition of The New Yorker<\/em>. There is an absolutely fascinating look at the theology behind the most radical, extremist Islamic terrorist movement in our world in that magazine. I will be referring to it, too, in my explorations here. And we’ll look at other religions of the world, and how they have affected and impacted our way of living on this planet. I hope you’ll find this to be an enriching and enlivening Sunday series of blogs.
\nWe’ll begin by noting something that I believe should be obvious to all of us: Humanity\u2019s ideas about God produce humanity\u2019s ideas about life and about people. Dramatically different ideas about God will produce dramatically different ideas about life and about people. If the world could use anything right now, that\u2019s it.
\nWe stand today on the brink of a global cultural war. The opening volleys have already been exchanged. The really major clashes, the unthinkable FutureWorld battles, may be yet to come.
\nGiven the direction in which humanity appears to be moving, it may seem as though this larger conflict is inevitable. It isn\u2019t. There\u2019s something very powerful that can stop it: dramatically different ideas about God and dramatically different ideas about life and about people.
\nSuch ideas, if accepted and adopted, will produce dramatically different ways of living and being. Values will change. Priorities will change. Power structures and power-holders will change.
\nSome of those power holders do not want any of this to happen.
\nThat may make what you are going to read here on Sundays between now and Christmas not only one of the most unbelievable series of blogs of all time, but also one of the most dangerous.
\nHow long has it been since you\u2019ve read something truly dangerousk?
\nYou\u2019ll be in and out of Sunday blogs in very little time. Just a few short paragraphs each week. So what’s being presented here will not only be dangerous, it\u2019ll be fast.
\nFast and dangerous. That\u2019s often a fascinating combination. Maybe even a little exciting. Danger and excitement are two sides of the same coin. Which of the two you experience depends on whether you\u2019re racing toward something or away from it.
\nWhich way are you racing with regard to change? Do you want things to remain pretty much the same, or do you want things to be different?
\nIf you want things to stay the way they are, you could find this blog’s viewpoints dangerous. If you can\u2019t wait for things to change, you could find them exciting. Which do you want?
\n\u201cWell,\u201d you might say, \u201cthat depends on what we\u2019re talking about here. Are we talking about my life? My job? My marriage? My relationship? My health? Or are we talking about my country? The world at large? The international political scene? The global challenges being faced by humanity?\u201d
\nSo let me help you with that. We\u2019re talking about all of it. Every bit of it. Not one thing or the other, but all of it. Because the information that will appear in this series of blogs over the next 20+ Sundays could change all of it.
\nSee you here next week, when we’ll begin in earnest to consider What God Wants. Oh, and in the meantime, see if you can pick up a copy of the June 2nd edition of The New Yorker<\/em> magazine. Or simply link to:
\nhttp:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/reporting\/2008\/06\/02\/080602fa_fact_wright\/?yrail
\nThis is an extraordinarily in-depth piece by reporter at large Lawrence Wright about radical Islamists…and about the role that people’s thoughts around “what God wants” plays in the creation of the world’s experience of itself. You must not miss this article if you want to seriously consider the question of What God Wants as it applies to our daily life on earth.
\nAnd we will continue our consideration of all this here next week…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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