FROM THE MANUSCRIPT
In the author’s words
The moment a human being thinks they have completely captured God in a word, doctrine, gender, title, or religious system, they have already reduced the Infinite into an idol. And many people do not worship God. They worship the name they inherited for God. They worship the image they were handed. They worship the emotional atmosphere of their childhood church. They worship the fear that was attached to the name. They worship the certainty their family gave them. They worship the version of God that made them feel chosen, right, safe, superior, and protected from mystery. Then they turn around and ask others to convert to it. But convert to what? Your name for God? Your image of God? Your doctrine about God? Your cultural ownership of God? Your fear of every other name? Your inherited certainty? Do not ask me to bow before the word you use for God while refusing to admit that God is greater than your word. That is not reverence. That is possession. The Name and the Mystery A name is powerful because it gives the mind something to hold.
The God They Inherited, manuscript p. 465. Transcribed from the supplied manuscript; line breaks normalized.
The definition above is an editorial summary of this chapter, not a separately named theory or a claim of scientific proof.