I think it was Richard Feynman who said something like “Physics isn’t reality. It is our model of reality. This model is very useful.”
So, when we look at the universe, we ‘see’ gravity. Gravity fits into a model of the universe called Newtonian Physics. It is useful because we can use it to predict (if we are a very smart black lady in the US working for NASA in the 1960s) how a rocket will fly on its way to the moon.
Is “God” a useful model?
Theism seems to want the universe to be personal and have agency. So, the God model is applied to the universe. But this creates a problem. If God is personal and has agency, then surely we must be able to access that. So, the model is modified to include a channel by which we can access God.
But, someone says, that’s the model. It’s useful, but it isn’t God.
They say,
“If you keep saying that your model is God, you are a blasphemer. The consequence of blaspheming is that you think by having your model, you have the last word on God and truly *know* God. That’s not possible. You must acknowledge you only have a model. If you keep thinking you know God, you will eventually act like that and believe you have the same authority over others that gravity has over bodies.”
Some say,
“The universe is not personal and has no agency. It’s not blasphemy, it’s just not true.”
But then they face a conundrum. My model of the universe is a model. As Feynman points out, one day it will break. So, no matter how I try, my model is always something to do with me and my perceptive capabilities. So, in this way, the universe is always personal.
But wait, there’s more.
When I sit, like Newton, and watch the apple fall, I wonder how it ‘knew’ to fall as it did. You can say “Gravity” but this is a model which describes attraction between bodies. But why did it not, when it set out, decide to take the ‘scenic route’ towards the other body? How did it ‘realise’ that the straight line was the best pathway? Somehow, all bodies seem to know in advance ‘where’ they are supposed to be or end up. And, did they take the ‘scenic route’ but we didn’t realise? Was our model telling us that it would inevitably end up here, so, clearly it took pathway X? And what happens if it’s the frame that changed and not the object? Perhaps it was stationery and the frame changed to make me believe it is now ‘closer’ to the other object.
So, the universe doesn’t seem to be void of agency. There appears to be some kind of agency and some choose to model this as God.
Now, by the time Jesus comes along, God is pretty much wrapped up as a model. This is how to make your behaviour God friendly. This is how to communicate at God. Here’s a hierarchy of holiness which we can use to control you. Please give me money and you’ll be a better person, because giving is good. Anyone who doesn’t accept my model will go to hell.
Jesus is not really having any of it. He says, “Your model is crap. It’s such an impersonal model. It totally sucks as a way of expressing love, happiness, desire, compassionate …” and he spends a lifetime enumerating how crap the model is.
He eventually settles on a new model. It’s basically – “If you want to understand the universe and its personality and agency, just turn to the person next to you. Explore their foibles, their beauty, their chaos, their order.”
Of course, those invested in the previous model claim blasphemy. You are asserting what??? That God resides in people? That God is in us all? Yeah, says Jesus. That’s the sum of it. Stop modifying your previous model to tidy it up. Try this one. Want to access God? Love your neighbour. Done.
Later, those who took no notice of Jesus when he said, “Your model is fucked” continue to try to nuance the model. They realise that there is a universe which punishes you when you are stupid. They call that the Father part of the model. They realise there’s a part of the universe which is intangible and exists between us all, so they label that Holy Spirit and then they realise that they are going to have to keep the model personal and human, so they label that bit Son.
Of course, maintaining the model takes a lot of work. Fortunately, some people just agree with Jesus that the God model is profoundly broken.
When Jesus says, “My God. My God. Why hast thou forsaken me?” he is speaking rhetorically. This is the last chance for model ‘God as my friend.’ God doesn’t turn up. Jesus is killed. He rests the case for a radically new model based in the fellow human. Now, everybody knows that the previous model is unreliable. That help doesn’t come from the one who makes ‘heaven’ and ‘earth’.
This is the real Easter story.