Stupid Christianity

Have you ever called God stupid? 

Perhaps, even just the thought of it is sacrilegious and abhorrent. The act of saying to God he is a nincompoop is revolting even for those who are lukewarm Christians at best. 

But I have read someone say that God is stupid. And he happens to be a Jesuit priest.

I first read Pumbrera by Fr. Jun Jesena in his book Yayee. It showed a glimpse of his experience as an inmate where he relates about a mother and her pumbrera and her convicted son.

One day, the mother brought food (placed inside a pumbrera) to her son, Menandro. But since Menandro didn't like the food, he threw the pumbrera to the ground and slapped her.

Fr. Jun was shocked but what was more shocking was what the mother did after a week. She came back, this time, with better food. Menandro, upon seeing that the fare was better, proceeded to eat without thanking her.

Fr. Jun goes on to liken the story to God's love. Despite the many rejections, the many proverbial slaps that the Lord receives from us, He is still stupid enough to love us back.

Early this year, I happened to talk to Alex about her special friend, a Muslim, who ranted about how stupid Christianity is. From what I can remember, he had ranted something about Christmas and how absurd it would be that God would be coming from a woman's womb (sexist?). 

I can't recall the rest but it goes to show that Christianity does harbor beliefs which defy logic or even common sense: the Trinity, the Mother of God, the Incarnation of God, the necessary sacrifice at Calvary. It is confounding that a Supreme Being would choose to be a man and yet that is what we believe.

We're stupid enough to believe that God came down to be with us, that he had to be nailed to a cross to win our salvation, that he had to be the antithesis of what God is in order for us to recognize him as such. Truly, our naivety knows no bounds but, in this affirmation, we recognize the wisdom of the God who was stupid enough to save us from ourselves.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27)