So what DO we believe?

Orthodox Priest Kills Nun In Crucifixion/Exorcism

The reaction of most people here in the states to this terrible occurance is, understandably, one of horror and disgust: Crucifying a mentally ill woman, a novice nun at that, is regarded as an act of incredible cruelty, an act only possible because of a perverted, backward, and ignorant mentality.

But it seems that at least some Romanians aren't so sure that the priest's actions are those of a deluded psychopath. The priest noted that the woman had been delivered by God. Death, according to this priest, is not the worst thing that can happen to someone. Possession by demonic forces, to the pre-modern mind, is far worse than death. Death, liberation into the arms of God, is a blessing, not to be despised, but honored.

This, of course, leaves us religious moderns in a quandry. We are rightly compelled to condemn the cruelty of this murder of a nun, but are we not being hypocrites when we dismiss the priest and his cloistered accomplices as primitive barbarians? We can despise the physical cruelty inflicted on the nun, but we can't abide the depth of trust that this priest had in God's power over life and death. We can believe in a convenient, rational God, but we can't believe that this God (or his followers) might have different priorities than our own.

The question that emerges, then, is what kind of God do we believe in? "God" throughout most cultures, throughout most of history, does not resemble the pragmatic, reasonable God of the modern West. Why is it, then, that we have declared our God to be the "correct" version? Why do we Western moderns have reason to believe that the God we believe in is, in fact, God?