The concept of God, or any god, is one that has definite boundaries. There aremany questions that arise concerning the nature of God, or even whether or notthere really is one. The most common god in today’s society is “God”,the “Supreme Being” worshipped by Muslims as “Allah,” byJews as “Yahweh,” and by popular Christianity simply as”God.
” Generally, He is thought to be in the image of humans, and inmost cases of worshipping this particular deity, He is omnipotent, omniscient,and omnipresent. These beliefs, although they may be canon, are not the beliefsof every person that follows this god. There are many different ways to see andworship Him whom we will refer to simply as “God. ” There are variedpoints of view on God expressed in Gloria Naylor’s Mama Day, the book of Exodusin the Hebrew Bible, and St. Augustine’s Confessions.
Through these works, onemay see several viewpoints on the same deity, prompting the question, “Whois God?” There is no definite answer to this query. Instead, as we willsee, there are many definitions and assumptions that describe God, giving us acomplicated and sometimes contradicting view of God. In Mama Day, a noveldetailing the lives of a closely-knit family on the island of Willow Springs, wecan see God through the eyes of Mama Day, one of the main characters. Mama Day,whose real name is Miranda, views God as a passive deity. She does not feel thatGod intervenes with humans as punishment or rewards humans for things that theydo. This conviction is clear in the story when a hurricane is coming andMiranda’s sister, Abigail, feels that she has done something to make God send ahurricane.
To this Miranda responds, Abigail, stop your foolishness. All God gotin mind is to send you a hurricane? It ain’t got nothing to do with us, we justbystanders on this earth. Sometimes I think we was only a second thought-and apoor second thought at that (228). Even though Miranda and Abigail are sistersand were probably raised similarly, they view God in two very different ways. While Miranda’s philosophy on God’s lack of intervention holds strong, she doesbelieve God to be all-powerful.
This is evident when she states, “The pastwas gone, just as gone as it could be. And only God could change thefuture” (138). Although Miranda does not think that what people are doingon Earth will affect what God does, she does believe that in the end God willhold each person accountable for what he or she has done. This can be seen onthe Island of Willow Springs where Miranda’s thoughts are, “That’ll be herdefense at Judgement: Lord, I called out three times. ” Miranda thinks thisafter she knocks on Ruby’s house three times before setting her house up to getstruck by lightning.
This is a prime example of her theology. By preparing thehouse for lightning, she is controlling where the lightning goes, a feat thatsome people, such as her sister, would attribute to God. Had Augustine, theauthor of Confessions, been there he would have likely believed that God causedthe lightening. Augustine, in contrast to Miranda, believed that God had apurpose in mind for everything that happens on Earth. This is apparent whenAugustine proclaims, “It was, then by your guidance that I was persuaded togo to Rome and teach there the subjects which I taught at Carthage” (BookV, Chapter 8). Augustine goes on to state his belief that God has sent him toRome to convert him to Christianity.
This is indicative of Augustine’s beliefthat everything that happens on Earth is God’s will. This is directlycontradictory to Miranda’s view that is that God does not intervene with peoplewhile they are still on Earth. Augustine also depicts God as being merciful. This is clear when he refers to God as “God of mercy” (Book V, Chapter9) and again when he proclaims, “God, let me acknowledge your mercy fromthe deepest depths of my soul” (Book VII, Chapter 6). Augustine sees God ashaving a purpose for everyone on Earth and as being merciful to all. He evenstates, And yet Lord, even if you had willed that I should not survive mychildhood, I should have owed you gratitude, because you are our God, thesupreme Good, the Creator and Ruler of the universe (I 20).
Augustine views Godas the “supreme Good,” the god that is merciful to all and helpshumanity while they are still on Earth. The picture we get of God from theHebrew Bible is much different from Augustine’s depiction of God. While Exodusstill portrays God as intervening in the Hebrews’ lives there are questions thatmay be asked about God’s mercy. In Exodus 7-12:42, God sends a set of plagues tothe land of Egypt where the Hebrews, His people, are being held as slaves. Augustine would agree that this is one of His generous acts, as He is usingthese plagues to free His people. Augustine, however, may not acknowledge thesuffering of the Egyptians.
The plagues were directed towards these Egyptiansand their pharaoh in an attempt to free the Hebrews. The tenth and most wellknown of these plagues was the killing of the firstborn of Egypt-the plague thathas given us the holiday of the Passover. God’s omnipotence is definitely shownwhen the firstborn children of Egypt fall, but those of the faithful Israelitesdo not. Exodus 12:27 reads, “It is the passover sacrifice to the Lord, forhe passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down theEgyptians but spared or houses.
” It is true that the Israelites have beenglorified by this action of God, but what of the Egyptians? In this, a factor ofGod’s personality has been shown that does not quite match that of Augustine. God is vengeful and jealous. He resorts to killing the firstborn of Egypt, someof them innocent and just, simply to help free His people. One may ask thequestion, was it necessary? If God can move mountains and have the compassionand mercy that St. Augustine has given Him, was there not a better way ofgetting the Israelites out of Egypt? Terence E. Fretheim, author of ExodusInterpretation points out that, “even with the joy associated with newfoundfreedom, Israel, like its God, voices no pleasure in the deaths of thesepersons” (Fretheim 140).
This is true according to Exodus 12:29-36. neitherthe Israelites nor their God rejoice at the deaths of the Egyptians. It is alsopointed out that, “it is appropriate to speak of judgment, and Pharaoh’sgenocidal decision to kill all Hebrew baby boys” (Fretheim 140). Whenviewing the Passover with this perspective, it is hard to see God as anythingbut just to some extent when, in fact, God is “taking an eye for aneye. ” In reading the previous selections from Fretheim one can see that theauthor’s view of God is that He is just and does only what is called for in theway of punishment.
Umberto Caussuto, author of A Commentary on the Book ofExodus, does not try to explain why God killed the firstborn of every Egyptianhousehold. In refraining from such an analysis, one may infer that Caussutobelieves that God is great enough not to be questioned on the matter of what hedoes. Caussuto seems more concerned with the idea of Pharaoh being completelyhumble. “and Pharaoh rose up in the night-the proud king is forced to risefrom his bed at night (an unroyal procedure)” (Caussuto 145).
Caussuto goeson to say that the pharaoh spoke “tersely and jerkily, in words [in theHebrew} of one or two syllables only” (145). Caussuto therefore views Godas being so sophisticated in his thoughts and actions that He is unquestionable. In these two interpretations of Exodus, and my own in the previous paragraph, ithas been shown that as few as three people reading the same piece of literatureinterpret the literature very differently, especially when the literature dealswith theology. If all of these opinions of Gods’ actions and purposes aredifferent, then it is no wonder that God himself is viewed differently by manypeople. I view God as being incomprehensible to anyone, no matter what his orher IQ or knowledge of anything is.
I believe God is omnipotent and omniscient. While I cannot imagine God doing anything wrong, I often find myself questioningGod. I agree more with Miranda than I do with Augustine in that people get whatthey deserve on Judgement Day-not on Earth. If I believed as Augustine does Iwould have to come up with the reason God has for allowing pedophile. I believethat while God could stop anything that happens on Earth he chooses not tobecause He wants to see what will happen naturally.
Augustine Confessions. BibliographyR. S. Pine-Coffin, New York: Penguin Classics, 1967.
Cassuto, U. , A Commentaryon the Book of Exodus. Translated by Israel Abrahams, Jerusalem: The MagnesPress, 1967. Fretheim, Terence, Interpretation Exodus. Lousiville: John KnoxPress, 1992.
Naylor, Gloria. Mama Day. New York: Vintage Contemporaries, 1993.
