God Has No Right Arm

Astrophysicists recently took a photo of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. But that is a paradoxical way to describe it. No one can photograph a black hole because it’s a void where space-time rules cease to apply. The picture actually shows super-heated material around the black hole, with the void at the center. To identify the black hole, you take a picture of whatever isn’t in the void.

The idea that God is simple is like that photo. It is one of the most difficult truths for us to understand. It takes us into the alternate reality of God’s being, which we can only discuss using negative terms. Simplicity is the principle that God has no parts. He is not a composite being. If it were possible to take a photo of God, it would not look like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel in space, but more like the black hole. We could photograph everything around God, things made of parts, but God himself would not appear.

ChristianityMatthew RaleyJuly 21, 2022doctrine, Matthew Raley, God, theism, theology

Remembering Shayna Bergey

On Sunday afternoon, November 28, 2021, my son Dylan and his girlfriend Shayna ordered an engagement ring. He never got to propose. Two days later, Shayna was in a car accident that left her unresponsive. She died on December 4, and the Bergey and Raley families went with Dylan to pick up the ring the next day.

personalMatthew RaleyDecember 14, 2021Matthew Raley, Shayna Bergey, Eulogy

Pet God: How Christians Become Idolators

Pets are servile. They depend on their owners for food and shelter. They submit to domestication. Pets exist for their masters.

True, some pets imagine that they are the masters. Our cat TJ considers himself king of the townhouse. He appears in the kitchen and is fed. He sprawls across the stairs with regal disregard for human traffic. He offers himself for affection. Then he withdraws the offer. But all this behavior is a calculated bluff. He is totally dependent on us.

evangelicalsMatthew RaleyOctober 5, 2021Matthew Raley, theology, God, grace

Music: Bach's "I Believe"

musicMatthew RaleySeptember 27, 2021js bach, Matthew Raley, credo, music, mass

Isolated Christians and the Bible

The Bible is the reason I went into ministry. It is the reason I stay. But for many Christians today, the Bible is not the basis of faith.

Many Christians believe that Jesus Christ can be known, loved, and followed apart from the Bible. They believe in a disconnected Jesus—disconnected from his language, culture, and teaching. For example, many Christians would question my opening sentence.

ChristianityMatthew RaleySeptember 25, 2021Matthew Raley, Bible, isolation, Christianity, Christians, community

How the Mennonite Church USA Abandoned Its People

churches, ChristianityMatthew RaleySeptember 14, 2021Matthew Raley, Mennonite, churches, theology, doctrine

Essay: What Scientists Should Learn from Theologians

Scientists used to have mystical powers in our society. If you wore a white lab coat, you had mastered the world through experiments, theorems, and machines. You were among the experts who shot people into space safely, invented new surgeries, and defeated polio. If you said that cigarettes cause cancer, none but evil corporations questioned you.

Mystery is the turbo charge propelling this kind of authority . . .

societyMatthew RaleyAugust 19, 2021Matthew Raley, society, authority, culture, theology, science