God Forgot To Move to St. Petersburg

It was discussed or question in class, whether or not “God Lives In St. Petersburg” was a religious critique. And one or two people seemed to find that it was not. All viewpoints and interpretations are construed by the sensitive subject of one’s religion or lack thereof, but how much? When I reread the first paragraph in class, I was not sure how it could be interpreted differently. The first sentence should indicate the author’s meaning when he says, “GOD, IN TIME, takes everything from everyone” (17). This is simple enough in that it blatantly labels god a hypocrite. Why would god take everything from everyone? Does he need something? Sure, it could insinuate everyone’s death, but to use the word ‘take’ is not a description fit for praising god. If I were to write a pro-religious critique, similar to “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” my first sentence would not be this. Following this, Brissell makes several more notable critiques of God and his meaning. But, the most revealing part of the paragraph is attached to the claim that god destroys his most devout, when he notes Timothy reasoning for the hardships he knows, “Timothy reconciled God’s need to destroy with God’s opulent love by deciding that, when He destroys you, it was done out of the truest love, the deepest, most divine respect. God could not allow perfection . . .” (17). The authors claim here highlights the obvious contradiction in religion’s excuse for the horrible pain and atrocities that are a natural part of human nature and its history. If Timothy didn’t struggle so much with his misunderstanding for human suffering and his own, he could pass them off as “God’s great plan,” or “That god works in mysterious ways.” But since Timothy himself struggles how his own desires fit into “god’s opulent love,” he begins to lose faith under the weight of its hypocrisy. Plus, when a man of god has sex with a boy and a fourteen year old girl, the red flags should go up. One could argue he was used as an example, but he never redeems himself or has that moment of clarity, as we see in “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.” He only waits for god to unveil his great plan, but instead, it begins to rain.