04- Our Image of God
"Who are you, God? And who am I?" --St. Francis of Assisi
Who do you believe God is?
For many folks, their image of God is a bearded, white-haired old man sitting on a throne in the clouds, dispensing grace to those who please him and wrath to those who offend him. Other people think of God as an absentee father, someone who started the family and then abandoned them to their fate. Still others think of God as a cosmic vending machine – feed him money and receive special favors.
Our image or concept of who we think God is defines not only God, but ourselves. However we believe God is, we consciously or subconsciously strive to become the same way. If we see God as a judge who rewards some and punishes others, we will adopt that same behavior. American founding father Thomas Paine famously wrote this line: “Belief in a cruel god makes a cruel man.”
One theory on this topic is that we generally form our first concept of who God is by how our human father treated us. If we have a heavy-handed authoritarian father who thrives on meting out punishment, then we believe in a similar type of God. If we grew up without a father figure, we would likely subscribe to the “clock-maker” concept of God. That is, one who created the universe and bailed on it. And if you grew up having to earn your father’s attention and love, you would likely believe in the “transactional” God. If you do this, God will do that. A pray-to-play scheme, if you will.
So… With all these options, and a hundred more I haven’t mentioned, how do we answer this question? This is important! Our concept of God is the very foundation of who we strive to be. If there is anything we better be sure we get right, this is it! Not because we’ll go to hell if we get it wrong, but because of the hell we will create for ourselves if we get it wrong.
If we look in the Bible, we will find scriptures proclaiming God as every one of the aforementioned deity types. So what gives? Is God schizophrenic? Does he have multiple personalities? I don’t think so. The writers of the Bible wrote what they believed to be true. Whether that was actually true or not is up to the reader to decide.
For myself, my concept of God comes down to one simple verse: God is Love. For me, “God is Love” is the litmus test by which I judge all other scriptures. Would a loving God do this? What about that? No? Then I don’t believe it. I don’t CARE whether it’s in the Bible. If it portrays God as a murderer, a liar, or a tyrant, I simply do not believe it. This is MY yardstick for “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Your mileage may vary.
Who do YOU say that God is?