In Which I Disagree with Richard Rohr

I like Richard Rohr. He’s one of the good guys. And now he’s joined Twitter.

Well, it seems that one of this people has joined Twitter on his behalf and has been tweeting out proverbial aphorisms. He’s only tweeted 109 times (and he only follows 3 people).

Well, someone in my stream retweeted the following:

When I saw this, I tweeted that I disagreed, and @truelyleb asked me to blog about my disagreement. So here goes.

I get why “Richard” tweets this, and why “he” tweets things like, “Prayer is not about changing God, but being willing to let God change us.” A lot of people think this — a lot of people think that God doesn’t change.

But it’s just not true. God does change. And the incarnation of God in Jesus is Exhibit A of God changing God’s mind.

Look, for instance, at post after post on the #progGOD Challenge, “Why an Incarnation?” There you’ll read many progressive theobloggers musing on how God descended to humanity in order to show God’s solidarity with humanity. With that I totally agree.

But let me take it one step further: God came to earth in Jesus in order to experience what God had not previously experience — human loneliness, human joy, godforsakeness, and death. The incarnation of God in Jesus changed God. God achieved a new perspective. And, as a result, God’s “mind” did indeed change about humanity.

This is why the dual event of incarnation-crucifixion is the most hopeful event in cosmic history.

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PS: It’s also why I want to be called an “Incarnational Christian.”

PPS: You can contribute to the new #progGOD Challenge: Why a Crucifixion?