What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God

Did A Miracle Save Trump?

It has been claimed that God protected Trump by a miracle from being killed on July 13^th. Franklin Graham, perhaps the most well-known Christian leader, claimed that God saved President Trump from being killed. Proclamations such as these raises many questions about God’s character in the minds of many.

Why doesn’t God intervene more often?

Why did God supposedly intervene in saving Trump but not Corey Comperatore. Mr. Comperatore was the gentleman who shielded his family from being shot and was killed at the July 13 rally. Miracle proclamations only lead to implying God didn’t care to save his life for some unknown/mysterious reason. It implies God only cares to spare certain people from being murdered or raped but not others.

What possibly leads to thinking God’s love is arbitrary?

Many Bible-folks assume God is all-powerful, which demands an answer to why God displays Their power or not. Why God acts arbitrarily isn’t easy to answer if God is truly loving, unless you always blame unanswered prayer due to one’s sins. Often, it is proclaimed God’s ways are higher than ours and God is working it all out for good. Tell that to a woman raped! It may also be suggested that we sinners have no right to question a Holy God, or that any good is more than we deserve since God’s standard is perfection and we all fall short as sinners. Some relationship!

God can’t be all-powerful

It is natural to think that an all-powerful God can control suffering if able to create, be in all places at one time, resurrect Jesus from the dead, etc. But, logically how can God be all-powerful and humans have some freedom/power? Suffering (prayer unanswered) may be because God cannot intervene single-handedly. Controlling love is an oxymoron. God can’t physically interfere in evil or suffering without human help. See here.

Miracles

Lots of prayers asking for healing are obviously not answered. Is God’s love infrequent or arbitrary? Do miracles not happen because some people are less sinful or beg better at the feet of an arbitrary God? I believe a better explanation for healings is that various biological and environmental factors are involved such as cells and organs.  If God doesn’t deny human freedom, it may not be a stretch to say God has to account for natural freedom as well. Perhaps miracles can happen when God’s love aligns with countless factors known and not known. God cannot intervene singlehandedly, but a loving God is dying to intervene whenever circumstances will allow. 

How does God intervene? 

God intervenes through people. Securities measures could have been better at Trump’s rally to lessen the chance of a horrible crime. God could have intervened if the assassin didn’t choose to believe that he was somehow doing the world a favor by supposedly taking an evil man out who has been compared to Hitler. All politicians should stick to attacking their opponent’s policies. It was by chance that Trump turned his head to look at a chart that allowed the bullet to pierce his ear than skull. God is in the influence business with people doing the right thing.

Click on FOLLOW button on this page to enter email address to be notified of future Posts. No other unrelated emails will be sent. Go to About/Using This Site tab at top of page or Menu on phones to help navigate this Site. I also blog at http://donewithreligion.com If you wish to discuss anything I have written, you can email me at medwar2@gmail.com  

Is Sodom and Gomorrah Really About God Condemning Gays? What Is The Real Story?

This story in the Bible is often used to condemn gay relationships. I believe this passage along with other “clobber” passages (see here) are wrongly used to claim God condemns gay relationships. Whether one believe this story is historically accurate, the moral of this passage is used to defend that God destroyed this city because of one’s sexual orientation. Please see for insights below Josh Scott book Context Chapter 6 

Lack of hospitality is the moral of the story

It may be foreign to our way of life, but cultural expectations during these times were to greet and care for strangers who may come to your city/door. See Josh Scott for more details. So, Lot extends his hospitality to strangers visiting in Genesis 19. Then, people of Sodom surround his home and insist his visitors be sent out for their own sexual pleasures.

It’s crazy to read though maybe not for a patriarchal society that Lot offered his daughter instead to be raped, but this story is more than about sex. It appears even after this horrific offer by Lot, the crowd outside felt judged by Lot not accepting their invitation to prey on strangers (19:9). I guess the only good news in this story is that these possible divine visitors (19:15) offered protection for Lot and family to leave before the city was destroyed by God.

Further evidence Sodom and Gomorrah about lack of hospitality or love in general

In other OT passages the writers emphasized the lack of hospitality, not being gay, as the moral concern regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. The prophet Isaiah in Chapter 1 condemns the Judah people by calling them “rulers of Sodom.” (1:10) They are then called out for their lack of justice for the oppressed not sexual sins (1:16-17). Isaiah didn’t understand Sodom and Gomorrah as a condemnation against homosexuality. Other passages agree the sin in Sodom and Gomorrah was about the lack of love toward the oppressed (Amos 4, Ezekiel 16). Even Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, when referring to Sodom and Gomorrah, speaks of lack of hospitality as the sin. (10:9-15).

Besides, visitors came to rape not have a relationship

This story is about hostility and hate toward outsiders. Do we really think only gay men showed up to Lot’s doorstep to pry on male guests or did straight men suddenly become gay? And then Lot offers these supposed gay men his daughters for sex.  Didn’t Lot know they were gay? This story obviously is not about consensual sex – straight or gay. This story is also not about a desire to be in a monogamous same-sex relationship.

God would surely condemn nonconsensual sexual relationships, but why would God condemn any relationships based on mutual love and respect. It doesn’t make moral sense why God would condemn gays when they can no more chose who they love than straights can. Ask your gay friends! Why would anyone choose to be gay based on the condemnation and bigotry they face? Please be careful picking a Bible story or passage to definitively speak for God.

Click on FOLLOW button on this page to enter email address to be notified of future Posts. No other unrelated emails will be sent. Go to About/Using This Site tab at top of page or Menu on phones to help navigate this Site. I also blog at http://donewithreligion.com If you wish to discuss anything I have written, you can email me at medwar2@gmail.com  

How Do You Have A Relationship With An Invisible God?

Those of us that grew up in the institutional church were often advised to have a daily quiet time reading the Bible, and have a prayer list to follow, to maintain a close relationship with God. That works for many. Many of us though don’t get a lot out of reading the Bible. Ritual praying rather than spontaneous prayers seems less relational. I will suggest some alternatives at the end after addressing some challenges of a relationship with One you can’t see or hear.

How can we know what a relationship with an invisible God is like? 

If there is a Creator, it is plausible they instilled in their creations a way to know them. An invisible, good, perfect God could reveal themselves through perfect human love. God is like a perfect human parent! God or parents don’t ask for worship or respect for egotistical reasons, but so we might become more like them. A relationship with God, if perfect, is surely better than any amazing human relationship we wished we had.

Our views of God matter

Our mental views of God shape our attitudes toward God. My view of God inspires me to pursue perfection in my relationships without being paralyzed by guilt when failing. I have the “want to” to be perfect. I believe that motivation comes from God! I am convinced God only wishes for all to consider the possibility of a loving God who desires to help you in your journey of becoming the person deep down you want to become. You wouldn’t being reading this blog if you weren’t such a person.

Many may not pursue a closer relationship with a God they are inclined to believe in because of what they have heard from others what God is like. Don’t believe everything you hear! God only seeks to love you like you wish you were always able to love others. We all know how we wish our parents had loved us. This is the God you can believe in to live a purposeful, meaningful live.

• If we think God is hard to please and pissed off about sin rather than what sin is doing to us, we may judge others just as harshly rather than showing patience and mercy.
• If God supposedly condemns gays, we will condemn gays out of devotion to God.
• If God can prevent evil and doesn’t, isn’t that like a parent who arbitrarily decides to watch their child being sexually abused or not? Maybe God can’t love perfectly by controlling freedom. God can only stop evil with the help of others or not create freedom!

God can influence despite being invisible 

Personally, the biggest reason for being a God-follower is the inspiration and encouragement I sense in striving to be a better human being. If God is real, they should be able to make their case with each individual. Influences in our life don’t have to be audible or certain. My parents aren’t alive, but I am still influenced by them in my decisions. I sense God’s encouragement to continually strive to make the best decisions I know at the time in a free world. Pursuit of a godly life is never in vain!

Why is God so hidden? 

God may not speak to us demonstratively out of love. Just because earthly parents sometime know and advise what is best for their older child, such advice doesn’t always work out. In fact, overzealousness can lead to feeling controlled, thus rejecting what is best for one’s own good. God’s awing or overwhelming presence may only lead to fearful obligations to obey. The road traveled of learning, reflecting, and not being pressured may best lead to lasting convictions and more meaningful relationships.

Habits to stay connected with God

Individuals must find habits that personally help in feeling like they have a relationship with God. I can share what works for me. As mentioned, it is important to constantly challenge our views of God. We have to constantly analyze views of God that may set us up for failures to obtain a connection. I find reading the Bible by itself challenging. I find reading books that discuss the Bible and its possible teachings lead to self-talk in what God is really like. Writing is an outlet for me. It is a habit that keeps me thinking about God in my life. For others it may be walks in nature or listening to sermons online. Just find a way to keep thinking about God in your life. Those quiet conversations allow God’s influence in how we treat others.

I am convinced one has nothing to lose by giving God the benefit of the doubt. Besides, that puts the onus on God to influence you that they are real. The God I know seeks to influence to do all the good we can, in all the places we can, at all the times we can, to all the people we can, as long as we can. Such a plan leads to true individual and worldly happiness in the long-run. God through their influence has made me a better man, husband, father, and friend or at least better than if on my own. I have experienced God’s encouragement to continually strive to be better.

Click on FOLLOW button on this page to enter email address to be notified of future Posts. No other unrelated emails will be sent. Go to About/Using This Site tab at top of page or Menu on phones to help navigate this Site. I also blog at http://donewithreligion.com If you wish to discuss anything I have written, you can email me at medwar2@gmail.com