One of my favorite books on postmodern theology is ‘God and Religion in the Postmodern World’ by David Ray Griffin. I should really reread it again and see how it would resonate with me now, but it was the first theology book that helped me the nature of constructive theology in a postmodern context. If you are smart enough to be coming to the Emergent Conversation with Moltmann in a few weeks you can explore this with Philip Clayton and I in our breakout session, ‘Constructive Wine in Deconstructive Wineskins: Finding the Living Spirit in ‘the Death of God.” Any way, Griffin discusses the nature of God’s impartial love and its implications…..
The doctrine of God’s impartial love does not imply that God is not unhappy with much that is going on in the world and does not prefer the actions of some people to those of others. It does not mean that God supports the aims of all indifferently. What this doctrine of God’s impartial love implies is that God’s unhappiness with some people’s lives does not involve hate. It implies that we cannot translate our hatred into divine hatred and thereby justify and reinforce it. It implies that, when we find ourselves fighting against other people, we are fighting against people whom God loves as much as us. It implies that we cannot justify and reinforce our own indifference to some people’s welfare by assuming divine indifference. In brief, it implies that there can be no divine sanction for the typical bipolar, imperialistic viewpoint, which divides the world into the favored saints and the hated enemy, with the rest of the world being a matter of indifference except insofar as it figures into the bipolar battle (p 144).
I personnaly think that Griffin is right based on just what you have given us. God loves every person regardless of their actions and we are God’s children. In my earthly immediate family, and wordly family, there are those who I do not like their actions and I cannot agree with their theology or lack of. However, because we are “family” I continue to love them and show them my love by my actions towards them. When appropriate and when I think those family members are open to our conversation I try to let them know of what we disagree on and try to engage them in positive conversation. I do not think we should be indifferent to anyone. I may not carry on a lengthy conversations with everyone I meet but offering them hospitality by my greeting, etc. should at least let them know that they are of value to me. There are so many things that divide us now and we must keep our vision of how things could be if our actions were changed. How we treat others is based on our conception of God and our vision for the future with God being our partner and co-worker in God’s Kin-dom.
Impartial love is great but does that mean god loves glen beck?