What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God

A Brief Explanation To God, Evil, and Suffering – Does God Really Care?

Suffering, either as a result of personal or physical evil, only came into existence when we chose to rebel against God’s protection (Gen 3). Suffering is either deserved or undeserved, thus obviously not always retribution or correction by God according to one’s sins. Let’s not be like Job’s friends and offer unsolicited or erroneous advice to those in the midst of suffering. I have long suspected the best way to prepare for suffering, which is inevitable in the world we live in, is to understand God’s role in it so as to not feel abandoned.

The existence of evil does not prove there is no Deity, since we cannot prove there are no good, moral reasons for allowing evil. Doctors inflict pain for better health in the long-run. Once we accept that there is a Creator, we then must answer if God really cares and is unjust for allowing suffering. Job questioned God as to why He did not intervene sooner in in his undeserved suffering. God’s ways aren’t necessarily mysterious, or God would not have bothered to come in the flesh and communicated with words through Scriptures. To answer this question we need to consider where evil comes from that results in so much suffering, why God doesn’t intervene more in suffering, and what is God’s response to suffering.

Is God the Creator or Cause of Evil?

Evil is not something created but originates from the human heart. We have murderous thoughts but God doesn’t create or cause such desires. A Creator is not responsible for unintended choices of their Design. Many argue that God cannot be sovereign if anything happen outside His will. To suggest God foreordained evil ahead of time to accomplish His good purposes and declare His glory is morally indefensible. It suggests God grieves over His actions (Gen 6:6). It is nonsensical to suggest God hates evil but wills evil.

God knew the risks of freedom for the possibility of intimacy as do human parents.  The majority of suffering happens because of freedom. God did once destroy the world and start over but evil grew back. Parents still bring children into a world knowing they might not reciprocate their love and knowing their children could cause suffering or suffer at the hands of others. God hates that rebellion has brought senseless suffering but apparently there is no other path to true intimacy, as not even God can force genuine love, or God would have chosen it. God’s alternative was to not create or override freedom. To destroy freedom is to destroy the higher good that results from free, moral decisions.

If God Doesn’t Cause Suffering, Why Doesn’t God At Least Intervene More?

We understand deserved suffering. Provoke your children unnecessarily and don’t expect them to visit when older. What about undeserved or senseless suffering? God would still be questioned unless God stopped all abuse not some abuse, all natural disasters not some natural disasters. God chose to be vulnerable and uncontrolling than invulnerable and controlling. Human parents nor God are sadistic just because they don’t squash freedom to avoid suffering. I, unlike God, may try to spare my children of any suffering though their pain may evolve into help for them and others. At least God walks the walk as He did not interfere in his Son’s suffering.

We must consider the big picture. God allowing suffering, inevitable in a free world, can enable us to not fall in love with temporal existence and love what the world offers. I benefit much more from my prayers not being answered than being answered. Suffering brings to light our defects so to examine and overcome our weaknesses. No pain no gain is true both physically and emotionally. Is it possible our joy will be greater in the long-run with suffering than without suffering? Profound trust in God during pain and suffering can lead to wisdom about life in general. Also, suffering enables us to be more sensitive and serve others in similar situations. Miracles turned heads but Jesus’ suffering turned the hearts of billions of followers. Martin Luther King suffering moved the scales from the eyes of many how they tolerated bigotry. Suffering, inevitable in a free world, is necessary if you are going to be of much use to others.

What Is God’s Response To Suffering?

God doesn’t impose His will on us. God values freedom. God doesn’t annihilate people at the first sign of opposition. God values forgiveness. God’s ultimate response to evil and resulting suffering is the slow, necessary way of the Incarnation. The Cross was to change our attitude about God, not God’s attitude toward us. When rebellion against God lead to suffering, deserved or undeserved, God chose to lead as many people as possible of their own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings. Perhaps the only way to defeat evil in us, other than destruction, is for us to persevere and overcome evil. Jesus saved others by not saving Himself.

Our demands for an all-powerful, invulnerable God comes at the expense of trusting God knows best how to run the universe and change as many lives as possible through their own volition. If God did stop all suffering, a free world wouldn’t necessarily be better off. It would prevent moral choices that lead to a greater good. Being rich leads to wanting to be richer, often at the expense of others. God tolerates evil that God could stop in hopes many will come back to God before self-destructing. God is no stranger to undeserved suffering. God’s Son was killed for claiming to be Deity, but the tomb was empty! Ultimately, we may not know all the reasons for why God allows evil to continue or be so random, but we know one reason is not because God doesn’t love us as evidenced by sending Jesus.

Questions

One may ask why God didn’t create a heaven-like state in the first place when creating Adam and Eve. Apparently, not even God can force people to freely choose what is best for them. Ridding of evil may be an individual process. What I cannot explain is if freedom is the highest good, how will there not be pain in Heaven. Where there is a will, won’t there always be pain even in Heaven?  I cannot explain why God chooses to intervene miraculously sometimes. I do know to intervene all the time is to make a mockery of freedom. Argue with God! Question God! He will never abandon you when you seek to understand and depend on Him. God promises good can come from our suffering and we have the hope of one day there not being suffering.

Isn’t The Bible And Human Reasoning Important In Understanding God?

It is important to read our Bibles if we are fortunate to have a copy. The Apostle Paul says that Scriptures are the inspired words of God (2 Tim 3:16-17). Some of Scriptures are God’s actual words (i.e. Ten Commandments). The challenge though is that interpretations are fallible. The Bible is not a single text with a single author. The Bible was written in foreign languages thousands of years ago. We must listen to our hearts as well to understand God, as we are made in God’s image. Even human parents understand they cannot ask children in their image to believe in anything that violates their own sense of justice

Human reasoning is critical in understanding God. The first chapter of Romans says we all sense that a Being greater than ourselves exist, and we have an internal moral compass that allows most to agree on right from wrong. We must consider if a biblical teaching seems plausible based on what a loving God would be like. For example we must reject traditional explanations of Hell if there is a defensible exegetical alternative. Such sadistic punishment serves no purpose and humans don’t even keep their enemies alive so we can keep torturing them. We must listen to our hearts!

God cannot ask us to believe in anything unworthy of human, rational belief as it would go against His nature. God and human morality are one in the same. Humans have a concept of perfect love because we are made in our Creator’s image. God’s love and perfect human love are one in the same. God’s desire for us and what we desire deep down for ourselves are inseparable. We can already know the truth about the Heart of God before reading Scriptures. God surely is not a reflection of our parents but the perfection of parents we always desired or wanted to be.

Selective Election where God elected certain individuals for eternal life, thus foreordaining millions of humans to eternal damnation without any choice, can’t be biblical. God’s love cannot be contrary to human understandings of rational love. Earthly parents would be accused of immorality if they showed similar favoritism toward their children. There is not a quota on God’s grace. Selective election by God is indefensible exegetically and according to human reasoning. God cannot ask His children to be impartial (James 2:1) and yet God show favoritism.

Human reasoning is not the enemy! God created such reasoning. Questions about God are solved on biblical and rational grounds as interpretations are imperfect. When our interpretations give reasons for pause, we must reconsider. Bad theology has consequences. St. Augustine and Calvin with their beliefs about Election implied God’s grace has a quota and His love is conditional. Our theology must not make it difficult for people to turn to God by misrepresenting God’s character. Let each person come to their understanding of God if they are seeking. What good is Christian love if we can’t consider one another’s opinion gracefully, so to work out our own convictions with as much consistency as possible. Imagine if our discussions about God were civil and lead to agreeing to disagree. Trust God to work in the heart of His individual children.

Why Isn’t Christianity Having More Of An Impact?

We followers are surely not influencing our culture as much as Jesus had in mind. Personally, friends know that God and I have a thing going on because in groups they always ask me to say grace. Yet, friends aren’t flocking to my doorstep begging to get to know my God better. Partly, that may have to do with my character flaws. I think some of it has to do with Christianity’s reputation. Followers can always do more service by loving others as they want to be loved. But, followers can’t even love other followers where people want to be part of such a gathering.

First, an excuse and then I will suggest what may be one main reason we are not making the impact Jesus envisioned when on the earth. The truth is many don’t pursue a relationship with God because of spiritual apathy. The resurrection of Jesus can be defended based on reliable historical evidence, but amazingly not everyone cares to investigate further the implications of this miraculous event. Both earthly and spiritual matters are worthy of discussion but many don’t care to talk about spiritual matters, even if not being coerced to believe a certain way.

Enough excuses! There are many reasons us followers as a group are so unattractive but I am convinced there may be one main reason. I am not hopeful things will change but a man can dream. Most people desire to have close, intimate relationships with their family and friends. But, the truth is we Christians have nothing to offer. Jesus did not come to make hundreds of denominations. Jesus came to plant the church. Jesus didn’t teach hundreds of conflicting beliefs. Jesus had one set of beliefs. A church’s statement of core beliefs could read “whatever the Bible says.”

This leads us to the problem though. Non-followers witness how we fight about what the Bible teaches. Christians seldom agree to disagree. Interpretations are fallible but we insist on our views at the expense of relationships. The Bible was written in foreign languages thousands of years ago. The Bible is not a single text with a single author. What good is Christian love if we can’t consider one another’s opinion gracefully, so to work out our own convictions with as much consistency as possible. We act like couples headed to divorce because we think our way or the highway, despite the issue not being moral in nature. Jesus didn’t come to give us a set of core doctrines. We have made theology than love what Jesus was about.

We might be better off doing away with churches, so we can’t gather to come up with beliefs that scare off some followers much less those who are skeptical in the first place. Don’t churches really just swap followers? We get weary of our church so we go to another church because the music is louder or the preacher is less boring, etc. Jesus could probably survive without what we call church these days. In the NT the church wasn’t a building but bodies. I must admit though that when in a dark alley I am less scared when I know the folks are coming from church.

Christians are unattractive because of our views and lack of open-mindedness. Our theology must not make it difficult for people to turn to God by misrepresenting God’s character. Must we insist that the Bible teaches husbands have authority over their wives or that God prefers men over women as leaders? Is there really a difference between strains of other religions that proscribe gender roles if Christianity does the same thing, albeit with a different set of prohibitions? Our discussions must allow each person to come to their understanding of God if they are seeking. Trust God to work in the heart of His individual children. What if we did away with denominations and just called ourselves a gathering of God followers? What if our discussions about what God is really like were civil and lead to agreeing to disagree but then leaving hand in hand to love others like they want to be loved?

Why Is Grace Better Than The Law?

God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. God decided because of the continuous evil in the world that Jesus would be sent to earth to demonstrate God loved us more than we could ever imagine. God choosing Israel wasn’t favoritism as only one nation could be chosen by God for the Messiah to be born into. God intended through Abraham to bless all nations (Gen 12:3). It isn’t favoritism when all win.

God proclaimed an unconditional, love relationship with Israel before the Laws were given to Moses. Abraham had a faith relationship with God before the Mosaic Covenant times. God has never demanded obedience to any laws first before establishing a relationship. The Laws were given by God to simply guide Israel morally for their own good. Imagine living in a nation that abided by the Ten Commandments. Parents understand that a relationship based on unconditional love with rules in the best interest of the child is the pathway to intimacy and transformed lives.

Jesus detested the religious of His day who suggested that a relationship with God was based on adherence to a set of rules, thus confusing people about God’s unconditional love for them. The Jews perhaps preferred a supposed position of favoritism because they were first given the Laws. Some Jews maybe wanted to think of themselves as better than the Gentiles rather than believing a special relationship with God was open to all. We all know bigotry. The Pharisees certainly liked being the chosen because it kept them in a job and in power. We today may hold on to certain beliefs, not because they are in the best interest of all, but because they keep us employed.

• The Law only condemns, pointing out our shortcomings, for none can keep the Law perfectly. God’s grace can encourage, giving us peace that God love us despite our imperfections
• The Law cannot forgive, only deter us in the short-run because of the fear of punishment.   God’s grace forgives us, knowing there is life after failures
• The Law encourages only obligatory obedience and doing the bare minimum in order to pass. God encourages  matters of the heart than can lead to lifelong transformation
• The Law can lead us to false pride because of others’ failures or lesser works than our own. God invites us to accept the shortcoming of others and strive to be our best

God’s love and grace provides comfort to those whose failures afflict their consciences. God does not heap on more hate for constantly falling short. God gives up confidence to continue to pursue holiness despite our regrets. We can be comforted that every act of kindness no matter how small matters to God. God give us hope that it is never too late to start, as God’s accounting system is different thankfully (Mt 20). A priority on God’s unconditional love and grace does not do away with holiness but makes it possible. True intimacy with God inspires us toward life transformations.

Has the fear of God or gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor conquered battles against self-centeredness or long-standing habitual sins for you? Serving a parent or boss out of respect than obligation empowers us to be our best. Fear-based relationships lead to temporary changes or trying to not get caught. Intimacy inspires. God is no different than human parents. Parents ultimately want their children to understand their unconditional love for them so they might follow their wisdom for their own good. Good deeds are appreciated by God, but our efforts will never be enough in our own mind. Discussing obedience before God’s unconditional love for us is a hopeless journey in achieving a relationship with God and being the kind of people we desire to be. Do we desire to trust God over ourselves? Obedience for our own good will naturally follow, though the journey is different for all.

Doesn’t Job Give Some Answers To Suffering?

Job doesn’t teach that God can’t be understood, but God is misunderstood sometimes. Job didn’t sin by questioning God; it was Job’s friends who were required to atone for their sins (42:7). God did challenge Job’s assumptions. Eventually Job understands that God is just despite Job’s undeserved suffering. Our demands for an all-powerful, invulnerable God as opposed to a vulnerable God can only come at the expense of freedom. There is no other path to true intimacy, as not even God can force genuine love, or God would have chosen it. God’s alternative was to not create or override freedom. Destroying freedom is to destroy the higher good that results from free, moral decisions.

God Does Not Cause All of Suffering

Job 2:10 hints of things to come in the story: “shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” This passage doesn’t declare God the cause of evil and sufferings that result though God allows trouble. God can’t create and guarantee life without death, violence, suffering, and struggle and yet there be free will necessary for genuine relationships. Freedom causes a complicated world for us and God. All sufferings are not some cosmic play between God and Satan, but readers are privy that Satan was the cause of evil in Job’s situation. God allowing Satan to test Job severely does not make God responsible for Satan’s actions. The Bible nowhere says God originates or causes our suffering unless for clear discipline reasons. Evil originates out of the hearts of men and women. God also doesn’t cause natural disasters, diseases, or accidents that lead to so much suffering. It is a complicated world of God and us.

Suffering is Not Evidence of Sin 

God rejected Job’s friends’ assumption that suffering is evidence of sin and God’s displeasure. Is cancer or lack of healing because of sin in one’s life? Please! Suffering doesn’t prove you have sinned or deserve to suffer. God in this story is very clear that Job “…is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (1:8). The suffering that Job experience is totally undeserved as is a great deal of suffering at the hands of evildoers. Bad things happen to good people in a broken world.

God Can Be Just And Caring Despite Suffering

God also rejected Job’s assumption that the wicked must be judged or the righteous rewarded immediately: “…Why should I not be impatient…Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days” (21:4, 24:1)? Job perhaps began to wonder if God was in control and cared by not intervening in his suffering sooner. God defended Himself to Job: “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself” (40:8)? God’s justice doesn’t means the righteous never suffer here on earth or the unjust don’t seemingly prosper. God apparently doesn’t react to suffering, inevitable in a free world, as we humans do.

Job Recognized God Knows How To Best Run A Free World       

Job says “my ears had heard of You but now my eyes have seen you” (42:5). God did not say Job sinned by trying to understand God. Job just needed to hear from God and reminding that God was the Magnificent Creator of all (Chapters 39-41). Job perhaps began to realize that he was ultimately challenging God’s wisdom on how to run the universe. God may know a thing or two about running a world that has chosen to rebel again their Creator. Instant justice does not allow room for mercy.

Can Job’s Suffering Provide Insights For Our Sufferings? 

God wants us to be comforted by Him in our sufferings by not making any false assumptions, and understand He suffers alongside of us. God wants us to understand our sufferings which are inevitable in a free world, though not caused by God, can serve a purpose in our life and the lives of others we influence. Are there rational reasons that God allows suffering and doesn’t intervene immediately?

• Most understand deserved suffering. Cheat on your partner and all hell can break loss. God never says all of suffering is deserved so shut-up! Job’s suffering was clearly not deserved. Suffering obviously is not always retribution or correction from God. God allows suffering but does not will suffering in the same way.
• Suffering enables us to not fall in love with temporal existence and love what the world offers. We are more likely to look to God, who desires our everlasting happiness, during adversity than prosperity. I am better off when my prayers are not answered. Suffering brings to light our defects so to examine and overcome our weaknesses. No pain no gain is true both physically and emotionally. Profound trust in God during suffering can lead to wisdom about life in general.
• Our suffering can empower us to better serve others. Did Martin Luther King have to suffer to move the scales from the eyes of many how they tolerated bigotry? Personal tragedies or undeserved insults can make us more sensitive to others in similar situations. Miracles turned heads but Jesus’ suffering turned the hearts of billions of followers. Suffering, inevitable in a free world, is necessary if you are going to be of much use to others.
• God could annihilate people at the first sign of evil, but don’t we give our wayward children chances to change no matter the harmed caused to themselves or others? God is merciful and patient in trying to change lives. Our demands for an all-powerful, invulnerable God comes at the expense of trusting God know best how to run the universe and change as many lives as possible through their own volition.
• Job gave up trying to control God, accepting God knew better how to run the universe. Satan had a point. True love in any relationship is determined when you suffer and yet still love. But Satan’s evil brought the exact opposite intended. Ultimately, we may not know all the reasons for why God allows evil to continue or be so random, as Job, but we know one reason is not because God doesn’t love us as evidenced by suffering Himself through Jesus.

Why Does God Allow Us To Experience Pain?

I may do everything in my power to spare my children of pain. They may not study enough and fail, but I prevent certain, appropriate consequences. I rather my children not suffer injustice at the hands of others though their experience may make them more sensitive to the injustices of others. I can’t tolerate the pain that I am in because they are in pain. Some parents refuse to let their children experience consequences from drug use or bullying others despite lack of remorse.

God apparently is not the same kind of parent that I am.  God’s pain surely is greater than ours. He has more children. Only God know how good it really was in the beginning before pain entered the world. God could stop all pain. I suppose the pain involved when a child is wayward and allowing them to suffer consequences in hopes of seeing the need to change is more manageable. But, what about the pain involved when your child is treated unfairly. Jesus was crucified for telling the truth and God didn’t intervene.

God, like human parents, desires children who relate to Him in love than obey Him out of fear. Love without the freedom to hate is neither authentic nor desirable. God took the same risk we do when having children. No amount of good resulting from evil justifies the evil actions of others, but was God’s risk in allowing freedom necessary to obtain the highest good in relationships? It is not heresy to suggest even God cannot create and guarantee life without death, violence, suffering, and struggle and yet there be genuine free will. When evil was chosen suffering became a part of God’s story to lead us of our own volition to a paradise appropriate for free beings.

The truth is suffering, whether deserved or undeserved, can enable us to not fall in love with temporal existence and love what the world offers. I benefit more from my prayers not answered than being answered. Also, undeserved suffering enables us to relate to and help others in similar circumstances. Are we influenced more by how people handle miracles or trust God in difficult circumstances? Jesus’ miracles simply left people wanting more miracles and shortcuts to character-building. Jesus’ suffering changed billions of lives. Jesus’ life and death was God’s attempt to preserve our freedom, oppose our rebellion, and persuade us to be unselfish lovers.

God challenged Job’s assumption that the wicked are judged or the righteous rewarded immediately: “…Why should I not be impatient…Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days” (21:4, 24:1)? God didn’t declare He is perfect and we aren’t perfect, so we always deserve suffering. Freedom makes for a complicated world. Perhaps God allowing suffering allows the most people to change for their own good without giving up on them. God is patient and merciful in hopes we will change.

I can’t always explain how any good comes from horrific evils by the hands of dictators. I do know God’s constant interference makes a mockery out of freedom. I can better comprehend God’s ways on smaller evils, but we would never be totally satisfied until all pain and suffering ceased. I will have to trust God regarding the bigger evils that overwhelm.  I do know God is in a great deal of pain when He doesn’t interfere though He could. I do know God is always working to bring good from intended evil. I do know that sufferings, which are inevitable in a free world, change more lives than miracles.

When Are The Bible And Theology Dangerous?

Interpretations are fallible. When you think you know your interpretation is correct, you don’t. The Bible is written in foreign languages thousands of years ago. The Bible is not a single text with a single author. The Bible rarely addresses theological issues in a systematic way. We must show humility. What good is Christian love if we can’t share and consider one another’s opinion gracefully, so to work out our own convictions with as much consistency as possible.

When two debatable interpretations in Scriptures exist, we best err on the side of grace and mercy to avoid misleading anyone in what God is truly like. God is love. God’s wrath is simply another aspect of God’s love for one’s good. Biblical interpretations must be plausible based on what a loving God should be like. To portray God as a Hellish, sadistic torturer, since there is a defensible exegetical alternative, is questionable. Humans don’t even keep their enemies alive on purpose so we can keep burning them.

Human reasoning is not the enemy. The reason we have internal moral absolutes, which most beings can agree on at a fundamental level, is because we all are made in God’s image. We share God’s nature, so God cannot ask us to believe in anything unworthy of human, rational belief as it would go against His nature. God’s love and perfect human love are one in the same. God is the perfection of the human parents we have always desired. We best err on the side of interpretation that portrays God as the most relational and rational to the human mind.

We may think interpretations must strike the “fear of God” in others to control behaviors in an attempt to produce godliness. A survey of the times “fear of God” is used in the Bible suggests fearing God was synonymous with fearing evil. Those who deny their horrible evil acts should be warned. You are likely not a candidate for a “fear of God” warning if you are reading this.  We often are not invited to understand how much God loves us so a true friendship can develop. Has gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor conquered battles against self-centeredness or long-standing habitual sins in your life? Fear does not lead to intimacy in relationships which can transform us more into the kind of person we truly want to be.

Have Christians made a mess of the Christian religion by some of their views or lack of open-mindedness?  Beliefs have consequences. Believing one human race is inferior to another human race leads to racism. We all are one human race if you believe the Bible, since we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. Bad theology has consequences. Our theology must not make it difficult for people to turn to God by misrepresenting God’s character. Let each person come to their understanding of God if they are seeking. Understand our dogmatic theology can make it difficult for others to turn to God. Trust God to work in the heart of His individual children.

Does A Legalistic View Of The Cross Undermine God’s Unconditional Love?

A legalistic view of the Cross suggests God was more concerned with our guilt and restoring His honor than desiring a personal relationship. Did God really need to be appeased by human sacrifice as the other Old Testament gods? The focus on blood being spilled for God’s sake is culturally and relationally irrelevant.

A legalistic view of the Cross undermines the beauty of God’s unconditional love. The Cross was not necessary as if God couldn’t love us until death accounted for our sins. Even human parents don’t stop loving their children because they sin. The Cross was meant to change our view of God, not God’s view of us.  The Cross reconciles us to God, not God to us (2 Cor 5:19). The Cross is about changing human attitudes and not God’s attitude. We must avoid any suggestion that the purpose of the Cross is so that God could better accept or love us.

No single biblical passage indicates that we must interpret the Cross in legalistic terms as if God needed to be appeased or satisfied before He could fully love us. I Tim 2:5-6 says: “For there is one God and one mediator between God and human beings, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all people…” The passage does not explicitly say the ransom was just to appease God. The ransom can easily be understood as necessary much more for us. Jesus’ death wasn’t legally necessary from God’s perspective. The Bible says God delights more in a broken and contrite heart than sacrifice (Ps 51:16-17).

Other passages can be interpreted to suggest Jesus died to influence and prove His love for us. Some will die for a good man. Who dies for good much less evil people? God desires to save us from ourselves and the path of destruction we are headed toward. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” (Jn 3:17).  If the Cross is a one-act of appeasement, why does Jesus exhort to take up the Cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23)? The Cross is not just something Jesus did to appease God. Christ, by following the path of the Cross to love and influence others toward God, is someone we can all follow in His footsteps.

Do we really think:

• God was so mad that He needed to be appeased by human sacrifice like the other OT gods
• God needed Jesus to die to change His attitude toward us
• God was more concerned with the guilt of our sins than the restoration of the relationship
• God had to be appeased and His honor restored before God could love us
• God couldn’t forgive us until God’s Son died

Is it more likely Jesus died to:

• Demonstrate to us the destructiveness of sin and forgiveness is never without a cost
• Convince us God would do anything to gain moral authority and credibility
• Prove to us God loves us more than we can ever imagine
• Enable us to know God sees us as Christ as our sins are nailed to the Cross
• Empower us to be comfortable with God despite our guilty feelings
• Persuade us to follow in Jesus’ footsteps to trust in God than our own wisdom

How Do We Discuss God With Others?

I grew up feeling guilty because I wasn’t discussing God with more people. It didn’t matter that people didn’t really want to talk about God. It was my job to make them want to talk! That attitude was relationally irrational if I wanted others to consider whether living with God is better than living without God. I don’t have enough faith to believe I evolved by change. Now, I don’t make judgments about why people don’t want to talk about spiritual issues. I am free to simple love people as I wish to be loved without a hidden agenda. We will know when one wishes or needs to discuss God, just as we know when they wish to discuss other subjects.

The idea that we must get people to talk about something they don’t wish suggests true love is controlling. If God was controlling He wouldn’t respect freedom. We know what it feels like for friends to push their agenda and passions on us, supposedly for our own good, when we didn’t invite such discussions. Spirituality can be a touchy subject for many. God can work in one’s life without our pushiness. Do we really think God is not going to welcome those eventually who had never heard of God or had experiences that have driven them away from God?

“Mike, if you don’t talk to someone now they may go to Hell!” It is important to know such a place does not exist, so you don’t approach relationships as if you need to sell fire insurance. It turns out Hell is not a translation but a substitution for certain Hebrew and Greek words. Hell was an invention over the centuries to scare people into submission and obedience. When Jesus supposedly spoke on Hell, He used the Greek word Gehenna.  Gehenna is a proper noun and was the name of a real valley nearby Jerusalem that had a history Jesus’ audience understood. Hell is no more a translation of Gehenna than Atlanta is for Chicago.  The Bible never speaks of God being a hellish, sadistic torturer. Are we concerned that intimacy with our Creator is not attractive enough and people must be scared into a relationship?

Jesus didn’t use Hell to threaten others into heaven because no such place existed. Jesus never had people bow their head and pray a certain prayer to get in heaven. The thief on the cross just asked to be remembered. Jesus said “you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23). When the Pharisees wanted to stone a woman for adultery, Jesus got the crowd to look in the mirror and told the woman “go now, and leave your life of sin” (John 8). C’mon! Didn’t Jesus have a better evangelical spiel in case He never saw the woman again? Jesus wasn’t saying if you sin again, “you are out.” Jesus seemed to think Heaven begin now if you want to have a relationship with God and follow His wisdom.  It is a slap in God’s “unconditional love” face to suggest Jesus’ agenda with people was anything other than loving people as they deep down desire to be loved.

How do we tell others about God if we are full of passion to do so? It is obvious when people want to talk about God. Live a life where they understand you are capable of such discussions. Love others because it is the right thing to do and how Jesus did things. Of course Jesus wanted others to consider how life can go so much better with God. Most people know this intuitively, but they still have a right to be open when they are ready. Jesus wasn’t pushy. Jesus only got pissed at those who acted religious and weren’t. We have a right to act judgmental when peoples’ immorality is hurting others.

I don’t carry around a weight of guilt. I love to talk to others about and admit that I try to interject God into conversations subtle. Honestly, few take my bait but God doesn’t force Himself on others so why should I. I suspect people kind of know I am a Jesus freak. It isn’t because I am such a great lover of people always. I know how to sin with the best of them, but I think I know how to repent well thanks to God’s unconditionally love. I think people know I try harder than most to speak the truth in love and try to not talk behind their back.

Years ago no one was asking me to say prayers in non-religious group settings. Now, people look to me as if I am expected to pray. Maybe they sense God and I hang together. Maybe they know I went to seminary a year and mistakenly think that qualifies me. But, my prayers are fun and open because God in my life is fun and open. I am not praying with an agenda: you better believe or else. I just love talking about God anyway I can because He is worth consideration. It is like asking me to play tennis. Anytime, anywhere! I don’t have to get them to believe.

The good news is that we do not have to try to force God on others. We can stop feeling guilty. The truth is God is patient and waits for an invitation.  Jesus at the well didn’t give the woman a canned evangelistic speech and berate her about her sin. He simply said “Then, neither do I condemn you….Go now and leave your life of sin” (Jn 8:11).  God only pulled out the whooping stick with religious people pushing their brand of God on others. God is ready to talk when we are ready. Sometimes, I will interject God’s name briefly in a conversation because I think about God all the time, but I don’t go any further than one wants.  The only pressure I feel is to love people as I wish to be loved. If they leads to conversations about God, so be it.

Does God Want Us To Love Or Fear God?

A theology based on the fear of God can be an obstacle to moral progress and other unwanted consequences. We discuss and defend God’s justice more than His love. Really though justice is simply an aspect of God’s love. God’s love was center stage in Scriptures (I John 4:8). A survey of the times “fear of God” is used in the Bible suggests fearing God was synonymous with fearing evil. Those who deny their horrible evil acts should be warned. The Bible never says “believe or go to Hell” as if that would lead one to a relationship with God anyway.

It turns out Hell is not a translation but a substitution for certain Hebrew and Greek words. Hell was an invention over the centuries to scare people into submission and obedience. The Hebrew word Sheol in the OT is often translated as “Hell.” Sheol was simply a region or place of darkness occupied by the dead regardless of beliefs. Job desired to go there to escape his tremendous suffering (10:21 -22). The Greek word Gehenna in the NT is wrongly translated as Hell. Gehenna is a proper noun and was the name of a real, literal, valley nearby Jerusalem that had a history. Hell is no more a translation of Gehenna than Atlanta is for Chicago.

The Bible never speaks of eternal punishment or torment to deter or punish behaviors. Laws were given to warn and punish wrongdoing. What gives us the right to heap on more from God? Are we concerned that intimacy with our Creator is not attractive enough? Jesus detested the religious of His day who suggested a relationship with God was adherence to a bunch of rules. Telling children and adults that they are going to burn forever if they don’t stop sinning can riddle them with fear. Such talk doesn’t lead to intimacy with one’s Creator and creates a false image of God. Jesus never threatened Hell to lead one to a relationship with God.

Fear in relationships may deter in the short-run but doesn’t lead to lifelong transformations. The fear of punishment doesn’t prevent one from finding ways to hide their actions. Obligatory obedience doesn’t lead to reflections how to better ourselves, only to reach certain “good” standards. Do we truly love our partner if we are successful 85% of the time? Focusing on our goodness doesn’t produce genuine love toward others and can lead to a false pride. We may be tempted to puff ourselves up over others and minimize others’ works because they have a checkered past or their works are not as great or numerous as ours. Has gloomy uncertainty as to God’s favor conquered battles against self-centeredness or long standing habitual sins for you?

We often are not invited to know God and understand how much He loves us so a true friendship can develop.  God’s love, not His fear, is what can transform us into the kind of person we truly want to be. time. Understanding God’s unconditional love can inspire as does such parental love.  God is the eternal optimist. It is never too late to start in God’s eyes. God’s accounting system is different than ours (Mt 20). God is always waiting with open, loving arms for those who desire to be loved and encouraged. God’s love and His mercy is our necessary nourishment. We can start each day feeling accepted rather than rejected. The beauty of the relationship is loving God is loving yourself and others to the fullest.

We understand in human relationships it is far better to be motivated by love than fear. Serving a boss out of respect than obligation empowers to be our best. It always inspires to follow because we want to than have to. Relationships based on fear can lead to temporary changes but not lifelong transformations. Intimacy which can inspire is never obtained. Parents ultimately want their children to understand their unconditional love for them so they might follow their wisdom for their own good. God is no different as a Parent.