Your god Does Not Exist

We don’t do this with any other relationship that we have. We never say, “My friend Bobby is 6’4″ and weighs 200 lbs, and he’s a freak-athlete basketball player” when Bobby is really 5’6″, 110 lbs, and can barely handle the weight of a basketball. It’s ridiculous to think that you can define someone else to be what you want them to be irrespective of who they really are.

You can’t say that the Michael Jordan you know is humble and cares about not offending others because the real Michael Jordan was the cockiest basketball player ever (although he did back it up) and he has had a post-basketball career filled with cocky moves such as his new look which boldly states, “I don’t care if the last guy wearing this mustache killed 6 million people. I get to wear it because I’m Michael Jordan and I do what I want!”

You cannot say that the Kevin Garnett you know is mild-mannered and stoic because the real Kevin Garnett is a chest-pounding, primal rage screaming, anger-exuding, every-minuscule-thing celebrating ball of emotion.

And, my final NBA example (come on, it’s NBA finals time)… you can’t say that your Sasha Vujacic is a universally loved figure on the basketball court because, well… check out some of these videos: Dragic v., Davis v., Cavaliers v., Melo v., Bynum v.

(Also, here’s a short knock on people believing soccer is more sport than theater.)

All that goes to say… you can’t define who someone else is irrespective of who they truly are. We define others by what they really are. Yet, the hypocrisy of many of our relationships with God is that we try to define who He is by what we want Him to be. “My god is a god of love.” “My god is a god is a god of wrath that will punish people for their individual sins with natural disasters and plagues.” “My god is…”

The thing is… we can’t define who God is by what we think He is or what we want Him to be. We have to go to God to know who God is. That should be obvious; that should be a given; yet that is so often overlooked, especially in the circles of people who profess to be Christians.

Your god does not exist because your god is a figment of your imagination.

So, what does God say about Himself? What do we know about Him from the revelation of Him and from our experience with Him?

“The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindess for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”–Exodus 34:6-7

So, is God a God of love and mercy? Yes. But, is God a God who is wrathful and just? Yup.

God is not exclusively a loving God… to the point that He won’t punish and to the point that He won’t damn. And God is not exclusively a just God to the point that He isn’t gracious and patient and loving.

So, when you want to define who God is… go to God and ask Him. Find out who He is in His holy Scriptures. Because the God, as He reveals Himself, is greater than what we could ever imagine or fathom.

Your god is a figment of your imagination. You cannot say… I don’t care what the truth about Tiger Woods is… my Tiger is kind and faithful. We do this with no one else except for God… and it’s an accepted practice.