Robert Wright, authorISBN: 0316734918
Little, Brown and Company, publisher
As a Christian, should I walk into a bookstore and see the bestselling book titled, The Evolution of God, my interest would mostly be tweeked enough so that I would read what is on the dustjacket endflaps. Right from the start, however, I would have at least a pre-notion as to whether I would consider the book's information authoritative, since God does not evolve. God is, was, and always will be the same.
I am not surprised that a cursory browse of the web immediately brings up descriptive terms such as "brilliant," and though perhaps my reaction to Deborah Solomon's New York Times interview should be the same, it isn't. What escapes me is how someone who works for the Times (and perhaps I am assuming too much), who should have some degree of logical thought, can ask such questions as to whether Mr. Wright has "insight into President Obama's life."
There is nothing for me to comment upon about the complete content of The Evolution of God because I haven't read it and most likely won't. What I can comment upon is the interview on Bill Moyer's Journal that I watched. I believe that the questions, answers, and comments gave a fairly clear picture upon which this book is based.
There is something very sad about Robert Wright. Mr. Wright for all intents and purposes was raised in a home where facts were presented in a black-and-white fashion. Right and wrong. This is the way it is because we say so. Our thoughts will be your thoughts and there will be no wiggling left or right. At a young age he accepted Jesus as his savior through an altar call. Then, it seems, the age of thinking came along and the author discovered that he disagreed with what he had been taught.
Well, okay, there are very few youth who do not get to the point of thinking on their own. I recall a conversation with my own mother when she told me I had to think and do as she did. My response telling her that I wouldn't is still clear in my mind. As time went on and the consequences of going my own way included a definite level of rejection, it was clear that there was no going back in some respects, but not in respect to God. God hadn't changed. Because I was now thinking on my own, the relationship between God and me actually grew.
Many youth and young adults go through a period of time where they re-think the belief systems that they have been taught. What is sad about Robert Wright and the comments he made related to his book show him to be a little lost boy who still hasn't found the way back home--because he is still relating to the world from the perspective of the age he was at when the light went on that he had ownership of his brain. The fact is, he is lost. I pray he will realize that there are alternatives to a black an white God who brings only reminders of a judgment day or no God at all.
Though the rejections that come with change can be painful, in the end there is one who offers something far better, and that is the loving one, true God. God loves and that love doesn't change. God doesn't change. Though I disagree with Mr. Wright, and recognize his extreme effort in manufacturing this misguided philosophy, my wish for him is that he will have peace always in his thoughts as can only be received from the Heavenly Father.
babamarusia is Mary Katherine May, who with husband Richard owns the Christian music and books webstore, www.QualityMusicandBooks.com.
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