Formulas

"Formulas presuppose God is more a computer or a circus monkey than an intelligent Being." -- Donald Miller, "Searching for God Knows What"

It seems like when I get into a conversation about God, if I'm trying to answer somebody's questions about God, quite often I'll throw in some kind of formulaic pat answer. It doesn't seem to matter whether I'm talking with a Christian or not, and it doesn't seem to matter that formulaic answers tend to bug me; I still give formulaic answers. (Maybe the people who give me pat answers don't mean to either.) I know that my finite mind will never fully comprehend an infinite God, but I think I could do better than I do. Maybe sometimes the formulaic answer is the best answer I have so far. Other times, I think I know an answer that's better than a formula, but it's hard to express. Sometimes what's in my heart seems to transcend any formulaic answer, and that's hard for me to express.

So if I give you a formulaic answer to something, please know that it's probably not intentional. Tell me that my answer seemed formulaic, then wait a week, and by then, maybe I'll come up with a slightly better response (not necessarily an answer) to your question.

By the way, I found that quote at the start in the free, downloadable first chapter of "Searching for God Knows What," which you can read here. It's an interesting and funny read, but so far, that's the only part of the book I've read, since I don't have the actual book.