Rather than worshiping the God of the Bible as He has revealed himself, they have fashioned for themselves a God comprised of their own fears, their own insecurities, and their own ignorance.
Instead of a God of scandalous grace, we see a god of conditions.
Yet conditional love is not biblical love.
Biblical love is a sacrificial love, a love that sees a perfect God redeeming horribly imperfect and undeserving people.
The scandalous God of the bible shocks; for He associates with the unclean, the impure, the broken, in order to bring beauty out of pain.
The god of religion worshipped by so many requires action that measures up. Rather than relying on the Holy Spirit, this god of deeds only accepts worship when the worshiper manages to keep his own life in check. This god accepts nothing less than our perfection, yet somehow misses the fact that Jesus' perfection has been applied to us.
What misery there is in a life that constantly seeks approval through actions.
I feel that the god we think we know is a projection of the relationships we have with our own earthly fathers, mothers, and authority figures.
Where a person has been abandoned by his father, he has issues trusting in Yahweh.
Where a person has been abused, he believes that suffering in life is punishment from a harsh god.
Where a person has been withheld grace, he desperately tries to serve God out of the fear of hell.
Following Christ out of fear of hell is not liberation. I can't even call it Christianity.
Because the Christian God does not scare his children into loving Him.
No.
He quietly embraces his children.
There is no doubt because there is love.
This God does not need eloquent theology or complicated treatises to explain His love. He simply LOVES.
By action, by the cross, by grace, by mercy, by patience, by pursuing us.
Why would we want to follow any god other than this?
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