God created humankind in God's image.
In what ways are my images of God made in my image, rather than the other way around?
The reflection on this first reading makes a logical argument that since we cannot know God, truly know God, our image of God is based on our limited self concepts. For me, I want to be loving, non-judgmental, patient. God is bigger and better than my lame attempts at godliness, so God is better at loving, non-judgmental, patient. Given that these are traits that Jesus tries to teach us all of the time, I don’t think these concepts or precepts of God are necessarily problematic, even if they’re rooted in my constrained understanding of what God is.
For me, the danger comes when I excise parts of what God is, because it doesn’t fit with my constrained understanding. The God of judgment, and anger, of consequences and banishing Adam and Eve out of the Garden. I think it’s so dangerous to dwell on those attributes of God, because those attributes can create divisions, hatred, functional caste systems when we mere mortals try to follow those attributes of God.
I conveniently create an image of God, of what God loves (everything), about who God welcomes (everyone), about God’s patience (infinite). There is a theological challenge with this, with me deciding what God’s like because it’s aligned with what I think is important. And perhaps more important to me today, without that other side of God, the judgement and wrath, everyone gets a pass in my God view.
But what if there really is a modern-day version of being banished East of Eden by an angry God, or at least a God who wants to impose logical consequences for our behavior? How does that view of God sit in my neat and tidy, ever-patient, ever-kind God?
I will hold on to the belief that this image of a wrathful God is far more dangerous for people to conjure. We cannot, I believe, exercise that judgement and anger towards fellow children of God, without grave consequences. We’re too likely to get it wrong, and create hate, wars, fear. But how can my image of God be stretched to include those traits? What does it mean for me and my behavior? For the people in this life who are unremorsefully evil? How could I ever discern what goes through the hearts of people I’ve deemed as evil, whether they’re really unremorseful, or if there are things at play in their actions I will never know.
This morning I’m thinking about a God who banished Adam and Eve, who had the first born of Egypt killed, who had Abraham bind Isaac to sacrifice him. As opposed to just dismissing those attributes as inconsistent with my Carter-made-image of God, how do they truly reflect a God I cannot fathom?
I’m not sure I have the answer. But I’m sure that it does not mean that I should be judging, or banishing, or being impatient, just because we hear that God is. Maybe it has something to do with the sweetness of a parent’s love, after boundaries are tested and consequences are felt. Or maybe it is just a way to humble me into acknowledging that although I think I’ve got an image of God that’s true, most other people of faith probably do too, and those images are as fallible as mine.
The reflection on this first reading makes a logical argument that since we cannot know God, truly know God, our image of God is based on our limited self concepts. For me, I want to be loving, non-judgmental, patient. God is bigger and better than my lame attempts at godliness, so God is better at loving, non-judgmental, patient. Given that these are traits that Jesus tries to teach us all of the time, I don’t think these concepts or precepts of God are necessarily problematic, even if they’re rooted in my constrained understanding of what God is.
For me, the danger comes when I excise parts of what God is, because it doesn’t fit with my constrained understanding. The God of judgment, and anger, of consequences and banishing Adam and Eve out of the Garden. I think it’s so dangerous to dwell on those attributes of God, because those attributes can create divisions, hatred, functional caste systems when we mere mortals try to follow those attributes of God.
I conveniently create an image of God, of what God loves (everything), about who God welcomes (everyone), about God’s patience (infinite). There is a theological challenge with this, with me deciding what God’s like because it’s aligned with what I think is important. And perhaps more important to me today, without that other side of God, the judgement and wrath, everyone gets a pass in my God view.
But what if there really is a modern-day version of being banished East of Eden by an angry God, or at least a God who wants to impose logical consequences for our behavior? How does that view of God sit in my neat and tidy, ever-patient, ever-kind God?
I will hold on to the belief that this image of a wrathful God is far more dangerous for people to conjure. We cannot, I believe, exercise that judgement and anger towards fellow children of God, without grave consequences. We’re too likely to get it wrong, and create hate, wars, fear. But how can my image of God be stretched to include those traits? What does it mean for me and my behavior? For the people in this life who are unremorsefully evil? How could I ever discern what goes through the hearts of people I’ve deemed as evil, whether they’re really unremorseful, or if there are things at play in their actions I will never know.
This morning I’m thinking about a God who banished Adam and Eve, who had the first born of Egypt killed, who had Abraham bind Isaac to sacrifice him. As opposed to just dismissing those attributes as inconsistent with my Carter-made-image of God, how do they truly reflect a God I cannot fathom?
I’m not sure I have the answer. But I’m sure that it does not mean that I should be judging, or banishing, or being impatient, just because we hear that God is. Maybe it has something to do with the sweetness of a parent’s love, after boundaries are tested and consequences are felt. Or maybe it is just a way to humble me into acknowledging that although I think I’ve got an image of God that’s true, most other people of faith probably do too, and those images are as fallible as mine.
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