What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God

What is One Main Way To Discern Who May Be Telling The Truth?

We can’t know for sure who is telling the truth when opinions exist on both sides of either religious or political debates. We have to make up our own mind. I admit I don’t always know who is telling the truth, so I am going to answer what trait pisses me off the most. By the way, if you think there is only one rational viewpoint on matters dividing us, please reconsider. I consider it irrational if one refuses to consider an opinion contrary to their own. In religion we have to decide whose view of God to believe – does God condemn gays or not. In politics we have to decide who to believe on matters such as immigration or climate change. Even in science, should we wear masks or not. Afterall, everyone who wore a mask ended up getting Covid. I wrote here several reasons how one might discern who may be more on the side of truth than others.

Question or doubt those that refuse investigation or debate 

One main reason to not trust one’s opinion when they refuse discussion or investigation. Dr. Fauci claimed rejecting him is rejecting science. But science is questioning science (i.e. some drugs approved initially are taken off the market). Religious leaders who claim their views are God’s Word and don’t invite debate – are they afraid to defend their views in public so individuals can decide for themselves and possibly disagree. Theologians who hide behind the Bible (“God said,”) are claiming to be holier than those than disagree with them. When voter fraud is claimed why refuse investigations unless hiding something? Politicians who don’t invite debate – don’t trust them further than you can throw them. Run from those who claim certainty and don’t try to defend their opinions. Why don’t they seek to defend the supposed truth to convince others?

Claiming certainty is a way to avoid investigation 

We must avoid claiming our truth is certain if not universal agreement. Who doesn’t think rape or incest is evil? Adultery isn’t only wrong in the eyes of the betrayer. Assume uncertainty if you have one rational friend who believes differently from you whether it’s about religion or politics. Couples who claim certainty when differences arise are headed toward divorce or a sucky relationship. God-followers and religious leaders seem hell-bent in telling people what they must believe about God according to their understanding and interpretation of the Bible. Politicians who refuse debate of their policies are no different. Religious or political leaders play God (Superior) in the lives of others by claiming to know the truth and we can’t decide for ourselves.

Censorship is a way to avoid investigation 

Free speech is necessary to allow the battle of ideas when certainty doesn’t exist. A preacher can’t claim God condemns gays because the Bible says so. Many of us don’t believe the Bible says any such thing. See here. Most of us believe except true racists that all humans are created equal, not that one’s skin color determines superiority. Yes, the KKK is allowed to state their hate speech on public platforms. I like my chances of winning that argument in the free market of ideas.  I enjoy racists being exposed for their ideas. The only free speech that should be censored is that which encourages others to commit violence toward others. You must peacefully protest without blocking the rights of others to go where they want. You can’t say “any Jew you see should be killed.”

We don’t always know what is truth, so it is important how we openly purse truth 

• If only religious leaders didn’t always claim their biblical interpretation is correct and at least acknowledge literature requires interpretation despite supposed divine intervention. What are religious leaders afraid of if they have the truth?
• If only we listened to everyone’s opinion civilly and sought to discern together what was the most loving action for the greatest good. It’s complicated!
• If only we closely guarded one’s freedom to choose when the possibility exist you could be wrong, rather than calling others heretics or conspiracists

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  

If God Changes His Mind, Should We Reconsider What We Think The Bible Guides?

This Post was inspired by a light reading of  The Widening Of God’s Mercy – Sexuality Within The Bible Story  God in the Bible condemns gays, but the father/son scholars don’t tackle the verses claimed to teach that God condemns gays. See here.   The Hays imply even if God supposedly does condemn gays and that is the correct interpretation – God can change his mind to feel differently after what is recorded in the Bible. So, even if you believe the Bible teaches God condemns gays, that may not be God’s attitude today toward gays. Many believe the Bible suggests the husband is the leader of the wife which I  doubt  but anyway, God may change his mind in many circumstances. Since the Bible is used as a rule book in many situations, let’s use the Bible to suggest God can change his mind.

God changes their mind in biblical times, so how about now? 

• “And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.” [I Sam 15:35)
• “And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” (Gen 6:6-7)
• Many know the story of Moses getting God to compromise concerning sparing the disobedient. (Ex 32). When might God compromise with us today what we think the Bible claims in our situation? 

Even God’s laws given are updated and changed 

• “I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.” (Ezek 20:25)
• Ex 21:23-25 says “eye for eye” but Jesus updated (Matt 5:39)
• Jesus changed the law regarding the Sabbath (Mk 2:27)
• Exodus 20:24 allows sacrifice on any altar but that then changed to only one location (Deut 12:13-14). (p.55) 

I don’t wish to suggest the Bible should be used as a rule/guide book what to do in your situation since interpretations are infallible, but even in the same culture and times biblical laws were updated depending upon circumstances. What you think the Bible commands you to do, might God sit down and discuss? I know this Post can be used to justify anyone’s evil behavior, but if you think God changes his mind on sexual abuse, think again! 

How does the Bible guide us today?

I think Karl Barth is right: the theologian shouldn’t ask “What the apostles and prophets said, but what we must say on the basis of the apostles and prophets.” (p 4). This supports the idea that even in biblical times God changed his mind and updated laws. Even if you believe the Bible’s writers were never wrong what God thought and that God condemns gays, please consider what God may say today in your relationships with gays, your partner, etc. You may believe the Bible commands capital punishment, but is that what God think todays in your situation and what you claim about God to others? Using the Bible as a rule book is complicated.

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  

Does God Really Punish Or We Just Reap What We Sow?

Our view of God can depend on how we view God’s role in punishment after wrongdoing. Many portray God as angry and implying God may delight in punishment, yet such punishment seems arbitrary because in reality it seems God lets a lot of evil slide and maybe not your own. One’s motive to push God’s punishment may be to deter evil, but the truth is fear doesn’t lead to life transformations. So says many parents. One must assume God can control everything that happens in the world, if God is in control of punishment. Such a view makes a mockery of freedom. I have a hunch we often just reap what we sow. It is true some sow a lot of evil and reap very little!

Old Testament and punishment

The Flood is probably the grandparent of all stories about God actively punishes. Whether God actually killed most of the human race via a global flood is debatable. Keep in mind ancient literature predating Genesis wrote about local floods in their lands. It is not fabrication if biblical writers used a local flood to illustrate global human problems, as a common literary practice in Ancient Near East times. God isn’t nearly as active in punishing in the New Testament as in the Old Testament. One explanation is that OT writers believed, thus wrote, it was sacrilegious to not express God(s) as all powerful and controlling. This could account for such vast differences in the Old and New Testament accounts of God’s actions.

Biblical example that we simply reap what we sow 

Even the Bible suggests in certain passages sin had its own’s punishment/negative consequences, not that God is going around killing people or choosing when to punish or reward people “Therefore, God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts ….” (Rom 1:24). People sacrificed Jesus on the Cross and weren’t individually punished. The reward for many believing in Jesus was martyrdom.

God’s love is not arbitrary 

No one thinks a loving God plays favorites. If God does actively punish and carry out wrath, God is letting a whole lot of evil in the world slide. God doesn’t love those spared more than those supposedly punished. It is reasonable to believe that consequences for actions serve as punishment and some are more fortunate than others to not suffer for natural consequences of their actions. God isn’t in control of all punishments and looking to pour on at times. I have written here  that God can’t be all-powerful or controlling and be true to God’s nature. Even the Bible claims love does not insist on its own way. (I Cor 13:5) 

How does God view wrongdoing?

One way to understand God’s love is to compare to human love. We all sense what perfect parental love is, even if we did not always experience it. God surely treats rebellion how we think loving, perfect friends or parents of older children ought to respond to wrongdoing. We hate what sin is doing but we don’t seek to pile on. Loving parents try to not personalize their child’s actions. We warn and don’t interfere with consequences. We hope for change before it is too late. God’s love, mercy, and encouragement, not God’s need for punishment, leads to becoming the person we desire to be. God is always empowering and inspiring all to help others. We also don’t have to view an uncontrolling God as not caring and not punishing those who seem to get aways with evil, while supposedly not overlooking our own wrongdoing.

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  

If God Is Real Why Then Is God So Hidden?

had a tumor removed from my brain 4/27/25. Please excuse misspellings/mistypes. Not sure brain all there.

Many believe in a God or the possibility that God exist. There are understandable reasons often cited as to why people doubt there is a God/Divine Being. Atheists and believer agree – the only God worth believing in must be perfectly loving. If such a God exist, why doesn’t God intervene more with so much evil exist in the world? I have suggested an all-loving God and all-controlling God is an oxymoron. See here. Another reason many may doubt God exist is that a loving God surely is personable, why then doesn’t God reveal themselves more rather than be hidden? What loving parent does that if desiring to be known?

Is it reasonable God stays hidden but 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 one 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 than having to trust. The road traveled of learning, reflecting, and not being pressured may best lead to lasting convictions and more meaningful relationships. God supposedly came in person but Jesus’ miracles didn’t obtain the results some may suggest if God would stop hiding. God may not speak to us demonstratively out of love.

Freedom is absolutely necessary for authentic relationships

God’s constant interference and presence could prevent a superior world from emerging. Moral knowledge isn’t hidden. Universal moral outrage over murder, lying, stealing, etc. and an inborn desire to treat others like we want to be treated hints of a Creator’s influence through our moral intuitions. Non-moral decisions are open. True freedom can’t exist if God somehow knows the future and can tell us if our marriage will end in divorce or our job eliminated. See here.  A Creator may not reveal themselves for humane reasons we haven’t thought of. The Bible was more direct communication, but it has been used to force beliefs on others despite subject to interpretation. Uncertainty, not certainly about God, protects against imposing beliefs on others which is not God’s nature. Different opinions communicated respectively can stand together as we continually evaluate the most loving approach.

An unreasonable reason God is hidden……BUTMost who encourage believing in God suggests the Bible teaches one’s destiny in the afterlife is determined by what they believe while here on earth a brief time. The first chapter of Romans is often used to suggest all who don’t believe in God are suppressing what they know to be true. But it seems the biblical writer assumed his audience believed in God but ignored God to justify their evil ways…. “many knew God…they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (Rm. 1:21, 29). The writer’s audience simply sought to justify evil ways. Those who believe aren’t necessarily needing a crutch and those that don’t believe aren’t always wicked and unaware of their feelings. Many want to believe in a God but doubt because God is so hidden. How can a loving God possible hold such people accountable for unbelief? But I doubt God does.

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn 14:6). Did Jesus really mean God only saves those who accept Jesus? Keep in mind the majority of people born into this world have never heard of Jesus or had a Bible. This verse could easily be interpreted to mean Jesus’ way of life is the best path toward God. The path to God is through love. (See God After Deconstruction, Oord/Fuller Chapter 9).  Selfishness has no excuse. We Christians need to be less condemning and more open to God’s love and message to people of all religions. A loving God wouldn’t only let Christians into heaven when the majority of people born into this world died without knowledge of Jesus the Christ. Besides, one’s religion or rebellion against a certain religion is often based on the family born into whether it is Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. A loving God can’t be a God of chance. No human or spiritual parent brings children into the world requiring their eternal destination is based on circumstances out of one’s control.

I have a hunch God especially loves skeptics!

Most agree an unloving or tyrannical God isn’t worth believe in. A parent obviously loves a child who finds it easier than their others children to accept them and their ways. But we don’t unlove our skeptical children. A greater pain may be when our children ignore us. Spiritual or human parents don’t desire forced love, which isn’t genuine, but hope for consideration and to prove the possibility of a better relationship. 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 have great parents or at least wish our parents had better loved us in certain ways. This is the God you can believe in to set out to live a purposeful, meaningful live.

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