Welcome to this Camino Blog. If you are new it might be best to start with the introduction. Otherwise, carry on.
Location: Roncesvalles. Staying in a monestry with a large alburgue (pilgrim dorm) for 180 people.
Distance: 17km – 25km total
Weather: fine, snow on ground, cold cold
Terrain: steep road and path, over a pass
Physical Condition: All good, early days.
Other: Who would have thought that we would walk in snow! Small miracle, found a set of gloves in my raincoat that I left there by accident. Much more comfy than socks which I was using.
SB 2 – God and the story are way bigger than you
If you think there can be a God, what is that God like? This SB is to challenge the attitude that although you think that God can exist you interact with that God under your terms. Alas, “God is God not man”. This is not a marriage of equals. In the Christian context we are dealing with an entity that creates everything. This is magnificence and power beyond what we can imagine. Even Moses was blinded by seeing only the back of God.
I also think that we have to live with the idea that we are not the center of the universe. There is a bigger story going on in which we play a part, but only a minor part.
You may also have noted that at this point nothing has been said about the character of God. In our Christian context we leap to the “God is nice” paradigm very quickly. But what if God is not nice? Tough luck, God is still God and depending on it’s nature you might not have any choice about anything. We of course hope that we are dealing with a benevolent entity, but we have no say if that will actually be the case.
God is God, not man
Snow on the pass
Rough against rough 
Hi Justin,
God is nice is certainly arrived at very quickly in Christianity , as in Genesis CH 1. The story in Genesis 1 is very similar to the stories of Egypt, Assyria and Babylonia with two remarkable exceptions, one of which is the assumption that God is good. The assumption comes from this God creating good stuff 7 times. Compare that with the Babylonian story where Tiamat the female dragon God mates with ?Atus the freshwater male dragon. They produce many vicious dragon children who kill their Dad. She then kills her children. Then Marduk, child of another God kills Tiamat, chops her up and throws the bits around. Her rib cage holds the water up in the skies. Her guts are ripped up and thrown to the skies to form the stars. So, violence and brutality in particular to women.
I know which story gives us most hope.
Go well,
Dad
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