#squid talks

I just think this carries more implications with the themes so far of being accepted by God being a sort of “club” that you’re either in or outside of. From the beginning, Barth has voiced his disillusionment with God being all-powerful while still allowing terrible things to happen to His people. Tanrak knows terrible things have happened to him, but all he has is this idea that he must carry these burdens for some greater purpose to serve God and be rewarded for it someday. To resist temptation and desires of the flesh. But all he has right here and right now (before he ever gets to heaven) is his flesh, and all his God has ever given him is suffering and these big confusing feelings that he’s supposed to ignore in order to be a good person.

“Maybe my God isn’t as kind as yours.”

Tanrak is realizing that his God is the same as everyone else’s, is the same as Barth’s. By saying “I’m not one of God’s loved children either,” he’s surrendering the insistence that the God he knows is different. He’s surrendering to the idea that maybe he’s exactly the same as Barth. And Tanrak opens the door to the ‘confessional booth’ and chooses to finally let him in.

Maybe your God has left you behind. But that’s okay, because He left me behind too. We aren’t alone, because we share this experience.