Firing God

I read a story of a person who was searching for God.  This person had an image of God that was of this oppressive, cosmic sadist who got his jollies out of torturing human beings, who was going to crush him into the ground if he stepped out of line, and who never wanted him to ever have fun or enjoy himself because feeling good was sinful.

Another man spoke to him privately.  "Is this the person you think of when you think of God?"  The seeker  nodded.  "Then you need to fire your god," said the old-timer.  "The God I know loves me, cares about my well-being, likes it when I laugh, and loves nothing better than spending time with me!"  To which the seeker said, "Well if I fire my god, what will I do?  he's the only one I know."

"That's okay," the old-timer said.  "You can use mine until you find one of your own."

Sounds sacrilegious doesn't it....  I thought so when I first read it.

And that got me to thinking - perhaps it's not.  Anything that takes our eyes off the God of the universe is, according to the canon of scripture, an idol. 

Have we made an idol of the rules-based, hell-fire-and-brimstone God? 

Ever since God created us in His image, we seem to be creating Him in ours.  If our experience of the first authority figures in our lives is one of abuse of authority, rigidity, coldness, and/or punishment, then naturally our internal picture of God might very well be that.  It's the picture that for centuries has been touted by the church - in order to keep its members in line.

But anyone in an intimate relationship with God will tell you that He's not like that.  He's more like the God that the old-timer described.  And turning our backs on the rigid sadistic old codger who scares the daylights out of us, isn't losing our faith ... it's coming to faith.

Little wonder that with so may examples of the stereotypical fellow who shoves his fingers into our faces and tells us we're going to Hay-ull if we're not perfect (why is it that it's not just hell, it's Hay-ull) ... people stay away from God in droves.  We know we're not perfect. 

God does too. 

One of the most compelling statements ever stated in the last hundred years in the church is this one forgotten sentence, "God has no grandchildren."  It's usually used to tell people that just because you grew up in the church, it doesn't make you a Christian any more than hanging out in a garage makes you a jeep. 

But there's more to it than that.  It also means that every person has to discover who God is and enter into a relationship with Him, for him/herself.  God invites such curiosity.  Honest questions are welcome.  It's okay to have doubts; doubts are just honest questions about things you don't know anything about because you've never experienced it. 

God is all about people experiencing Him.

If Jesus were as negative and nasty as some people are, people we've seen on TV who say they represent Him, I really don't think that the disciples would have felt like they had to shoo the children away from Him.  (Looks like the disciples didn't "get" Him either, by the way.)

So maybe we need to take a good look at that approachable type of deity, and ask God to show us what He's really like.  He will do that if we ask Him honestly with as few prejudices as possible. His goal is to be found by us... to enter into relationship, friendship with us.  And He'll work around our preconceived notions and hangups, putting them to rest as He walks through that journey of discovery right beside us.

What have we got to lose.... by casting down our old notions of who God is and asking Him to reveal Himself to us?