Religious people speak of God when human knowledge (often out of mental laziness) has reached its limits or when human power fails. Actually, it is always the deus ex machina that they trot out, either as the apparent solution to unsolvable problems or as strength in human failure, and thus always in th exploitation of human weakness and human limits. This necessariy holds only until human beings, by their own strength, push the limits a little farther and God as deus ex machina becomes superfluous, The talk of human limits has in general become questionable to me.... It always seems to me that we are only anxious to save room for God. I would like to speak of God not at the limit but in the middle, not in weakness but in strength, not in death and guilt but in life and human goodness. At the limits it seems better to me to remain silent and leave the unsolvable unsolved.
from "i want to live these days with you" (daily devotions by Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Nov 7th)
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