Miles Is God
For some people, God is a lot like Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991). I’m not saying Miles thought he was God. I am saying that some people know what a creative genius he was and that’s where they stop.
Jazz fans all over the world admire Davis for his lifetime of achievement. He was always seeking new boundaries to cross, always coming up with something beautiful, even in unaccustomed settings.
God, as many people conceive Him, is like that. He is said to have created the whole world and all its glories in less than a week.
Nobody talks about the less lovely things we know about Miles Davis. Everyone glosses over the unsavory business about being a pimp and a drug addict.
Something similar happens with the negative aspects of God. Theologians write long, complicated tomes describing the attributes of God without including His blood lust. How many people did he destroy in how many horrible ways? There was the gratuitous slaying of Lot’s wife by turning her into a pillar of salt. God smote Onan for the simple peccadillo of masturbation. Even Job is said to have continued to worship God in spite of losing his whole family. These little incidents don’t include the several armies devastated for the sake of some other armies. When it comes to the destruction of the whole world by a flood, excuses get made and we are warned that it could have been worse and probably will be the next time. Ain’t that rainbow pretty.
God is great. Consider how the lilies grow … not even Solomon in all his glory was adorned like one of these. “Kind of Blue” is the biggest selling jazz album of all time.