A Danger To God

Dear Cecil,

Remember the guy we used to call "Danger" in theology school? I saw him the other day and he was still "pushing God" as we used the term back in the old days. Our friend Danger had a truly goofy and comedic mind when it came to God. The theology professors loathed the guy. Professor Stanton would become so agitated with Danger, the Professor would yell, "You, sir, are a danger to God." Danger had ideas about God no one has ever had or ideas no one has ever had the courage to express, especially in seminary. I used to believe Danger was put on the earth to bring about some kind of church revolution. Danger was always pushing our conceptions of God out to beyond the edge of reality. When Danger was in one of his more "Dangerous" moods, Danger once said our reality or our thinking about reality was not big enough to contain God.

For example, Danger was convinced God was going to make pigs fly so we could saddle up and fly away right before Armageddon. According to Danger, God was going to make pigs flyable in order to make righteous people laugh so much they forget about the last days. I have this image (I got from Danger) of all the righteous going to heaven flying on the backs of pigs. Saddle up!! Sort of gives a new meaning to the old hymn "I'll Fly Away."

Danger would ask, "If men who ride around on the back of horses are called cowboys, what do we call men who ride around on the backs of pigs?"

Danger used to push the idea of God giving people in heaven new missions on earth. Here is how Danger expressed his idea of new missions from God. According to Danger's way of thinking, Re-incarnation does not exist, but God could walk around in heaven soliciting people in heaven to re-enlist...with a person in heaven re-enlisting knowing in advance what the re-enlistee's mission was going to be on earth. I once asked Danger about this idea and Danger asked me "If you were in heaven, what would you do if God came to you and showed you the consequences of a second run through of your life? What would you do if God showed you how you could call new souls to be saved by coming back through life again?" I am still in a quandary about this scenario but I think I would re-enlist. If I could call one soul for Christ to save, when that soul had not or would not be called without me going back through life again, I would always choose to go back around again. In Danger's scenario, you get to keep all your wisdom, knowledge and learning from your previous go-around.

One of my hilarious and favorite scenarios from Danger was the reverse human-dog reality. In this new reality, dogs are the superior race of beings and possess a greater intelligence than humans. In this reality, humans have the intelligence of dogs. In the reverse human-dog reality, dogs talk and humans bark. In addition, dogs are the masters, humans go fetch.

Danger could not stop there with his reverse human-dog reality. Danger also invented the all dog heaven. No, it was not a heaven reserved for dogs which Danger also visualized. This heaven was the original heaven but where all the people became dogs at some point. God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit remained as they were or are, but all the people who went to heaven inherited dog bodies. Danger would say he put a whole new spin on the phrase "It’s a dog's life." People used to think Danger was nuts until they were around him for awhile. Then it was obvious until you got to thinking God may have a sense of humor.

I also liked Danger's do-it-yourself-fixit idea of heaven. Danger liked to talk about how God can custom tailor heaven. For some people, a custom built heaven will be a place where nothing works right. For them, heaven is a place where everything needs fixing. For those people so inclined who love to fix things, God would provide all the tools to fix anything. I think I can handle this kind of heaven if this kind of heaven is sort of an addition to God's regular heaven.

Most people think of God as a deeply serious person. Danger liked to think of God as more of a Three Stooges kind of guy. Sort of like God could be Moe, Larry, and Curly all at the same time. When our theology professors would turn different shades of red, purple, and green with rage over some of Danger's ideas, Danger would accuse the professors of trying to limit ideas of God's potentialities because God does not have potentialities. Potentialities imply there is a limitation. With God, there are no limitations. God can do the impossible. Danger thought of heaven as a place of laughter and hilarity as well as a place of peace and love.

I didn't ask Danger what he was doing when I saw Danger in the recent past. I heard Danger ran a homeless program. As goofy as Danger seemed to be, Danger had immense faith. When Danger would get in his serious moods, you see how Danger loved the Lord in ways few of us could ever understand. As I have gotten older, I can see how having a sense of humor about God and expecting God to have a sense of humor about us, can really magnify God's place in our life. I love the idea of a laughing God.

If you and your wife ever get down this way, give me a call. I retired recently and it would be great to see you.

In Christ's Love,

Wilson

This message was fiction and appeared in November, 2009, in the Virtual Church web site at http://www.shepherdscare.net