God is a Verb

I have always struggled with the efficacy of a traditional way of looking at life. With respect to Relgion, I have some doubts about the literal truth of the claims of traditional Christianity. [Take a deep breath. Now, be honest to yourself. Do you have some doubts, too?] What I sometimes find impossible to believe is that there is a "Being" out there called "God" with the same thoughts and feelings of humans, someone who is always aware of the affairs of persons and the world. God is not a "noun." He's probably closer to a "verb." To me, God cannot be described as a subject. God is a Force or Process within the universe. [Okay, time to take another deep breath and see if could even begin to wrap your mind around this notion.] The midieval Jewish philosopher, Mainonides, when forced to take a long hard look at his own literal conceptions of God, had to admit that God could not be a subject, but more like a verb. Rejecting literal supernaturalism, he devised a theory of negative attributes to describe and discuss God. I suppose my conception of God is not as radical with the past as might first be expected or feared. A question that has troubled me is: If God is the force behind everything and controls all events, why do the innocent suffer? Rabbi Harold Kushner has a surprising discussion of this in his best seller, "When Bad Things Happen to Good People." If that's not a spring board nothing is. Post your thoughts and feelings. Let the dialogue begin. JKH