RETHINKING THE IDEA OF GOD IN A NEOCLASSICAL WAY

I once witnessed an argument between two philosophy giants, men of faith but of different philosophical paradigms. Their topic of discussion was on God and how he does or does not relate with his creatures. Protagonist B made a statement that God needs us (his creatures) in our relationship with him and Protagonist A who is very classical in ideology, retorted that God is sufficient and absolutely perfect in himself. As such, he does not need us because need would imply a lack in God. It was then that I got more interested in the argument as I wanted to know why we worship God if he doesn’t need us. The representation of God as Absolutely Sufficient and thus independent of us creates a lot of problem for the believer. It is this and many more of such representations of God that have contributed to the near “decline of belief in God in the Western world”,1 the decline so welcomed and preached by Nietzche as the death of God. The problem of the decline is not caused by God himself, but by the erroneous representations man makes of that God. Thus, it will be our collective effort in this essay firmly established in the Philosophy of Religion, to try with Socratic courage a very difficult task, of rethinking or reconceptualizing the concept of God that accomodates our experiences of life and living.