(Tom Sehmel)
Let Us Create God in Our Image
You've heard them uttered in conversations before. Statements like "I don't think a loving God would do that," or "I don't think that's a sin." "I think God this..." or "I think God that..." Perhaps you've made comments like this yourself. Everyone is an expert on who God is. 
Think about these questions
- Where do you get your information about God?
- What is God like? What are his opinions one topics you feel are important?
- What is it about Christianity that has been made up over the years?
Christianity specifically, and religion in general, has been accused of being made up by people to explain the world, or to control others. Ancient man create gods to explain the rising of the sun, movement of the stars, and crop failure. Or someone created some mumbo jumbo to get other people's money, and have them do things they might not otherwise do, or just to get a modern tax break. Some use God to persecute others, while others give away all they have waiting for His return. God might help us buy a car, pass a test, or have that cute girl in math class say yes to a date. God is responsible for everything good, or everything bad, or is complete rubbish.
Many people who never step into a church proclaim to be experts on what Christianity is and what it teaches. People often reject Christianity for reasons that would make Christians reject it themselves if they found it to be true. Sometimes people reject God because of the evil done in His name throughout history. Or people go to church each week but instead of finding God, they create their own. Perhaps they worship a god that is nationalistic. Perhaps they worship a god that protects the environment. Perhaps they worship a god that let's them live their life the way they did before going to church.
Who created who? Did we create God, or did God create us? Do we decide God who He is, what His views are, and how to act? Making God in our image is rejecting God just as must as not believing in Him altogether. Are we trying to learn God's will, or are we using God to live out our own will?
If there is a God, perhaps we should spend more time finding out who He is. One way to discover that is through the Bible, written before today's political or social polarity, but still very applicable.
Check these out
| "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." -- Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV) |
| "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to recocile to himself all things, whether things on earch or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." -- Colossians 1:15-18 (NIV) |