Don't you just love this word? For those not in the know, this phrase or wording originates from the story of Samuel in the Bible who heard the audible voice of God and thought it was his master calling at first and then once realizing it was God, offered himself into the service of the Lord to be whatever God wanted him to be. His calling, to be a prophet of the Lord. Now, no one these days (at least no one I have ever known) is claiming to hear the audible voice of God these days. No instead they say they "feel led" to do something. Or they use a series of confirmation biases to prove they are making a good decision. Maybe someone they know has a dream that could maybe, kind of be interpreted to support this thing that someone wants to do. A pastor will pray over them and say something convoluted like, "The Lord is telling me that you are trying to make a big decision. The answer is yes." Then these people, using this information set forth to do something that, in most cases, is something they really wanted to do. I've heard people say they were called to adopt. Of course, despite this calling it doesn't always mean things work out and then the Christian spins it to say that God told them to do it to teach them a lesson. An example of this would be a friend who said she was called to adopt teenagers, particularly the ones no one wanted. All three of her teenage placements disrupted and didn't lead to adoption. In the end they ended up with three very young boys. They are much better parents to these little ones then they ever were to the big kids. But what happened to that calling? Well, lessons were learned so that must have been what God wanted. Sometimes the calling just doesn't make sense for other reasons. Like my friend Joy who felt called to be a missionary. She is now a tutor for missionary kids who apparently can't attend the local school because terrorist like kidnapping little white kids. She has no teaching degree, but sure, she's qualified to teach your children because who cares about schooling as long as God called her. She has been in the Middle East for almost a decade now. Although she has certainly taught a lot of white missionary kids over the past decade, she has not bothered to learn the local language in all of that time, lives a very private life surrounded by only the other missionaries, and is never sure if she will be able to raise enough money to remain in the country the next year. Nevermind that the country she is in, prosthelytizing is illegal. Not that she can prosthelitize...she doesn't speak the language. What's the point in going to another country to be a missionary if you keep yourself separate from the people and don't learn the language? What are you doing with your life? I've written before about how my mom often felt God calling her to do things, but they were often, conveniently things that she wanted to do. "Dear God, should I do this thing, even though it will put a hardship on my family?" Oh, I had a dream where I was doing that thing...God must be telling me to do it. At one point I felt like God called me to go to Northern Ireland for a short-term missions trip. The Assemblies of God had a variety of short-term trips they offered each summer. Maybe a dozen or so. I was instantly attracted to North Ireland, a country with a good deal of violence and mystique. Maybe I should go there, I thought. A few weeks later we had a traveling youth team come to the church for a revival of sorts. One of the guys was from North Ireland. I took this as a sign and signed up for the trip the next week. Was it a sign? Probably not. Just a coincidence that the dude was from a country that I really wanted to go to. My biggest issue with this phrase though is that it is often used to justify bad decisions. Look, I know as well as anyone that sometimes we make decisions that we think will be good and they don't always work out. It is important for our development as people to analyze the situation and see what you could learn from it. God told me to do it so even if things are going to shit, it can't be wrong. I worry for my missionary friend. I worry that she will one day return to the US with no retirement and a lifetime of regrets. I mean, the chances of her ever meeting a man and having children at this point are dismally slim and although this makes her deeply sad, she isn't willing to give up this "calling" in order to better her life. (to be clear, this is what she says she wants. I don't care in the slightest weather someone has children or is married.) Also, she would make a wonderful school teacher at something like a Montessori or Waldorf school and I hate to see her talents wasted. But she doesn't regret this life, right? Wrong. I've heard her regrets, her fears. She knows that this is not the best decision for her to be a happy person, but she can't let go of this calling because that would mean that either God was wrong or she was wrong in what she thought God said. And let's not forget some of the super shitty people out there that say a god told them to do really shitty things. Like Abraham who believed God told him to murder his son. Or the 9/11 terrorists who believed a god wanted them to wage war against America in his name. Or a woman who beat her son to death because she believed God told her he was possessed by demons. Christians will tell you that they weren't hearing the real voice of God, that those people were clearly insane. But the truth is, the difference is that you are just the kind of person who, if you had those thoughts, you wouldn't act on them. Because you aren't a shitty human being.
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AuthorThis is a personal, but secret, blog archiving my deconversion from a Christian to a non-believer. Archives
December 2020
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