ReclaimJesus.net

In the past couple of blogs, we have been asking ourselves what kind of a God would God want us to believe in? Metaphorically, of course. Today, we narrow down our question to a Christian God. If there is a Christian God, what kind of God would God want us to believe in?

Would God want us to believe in a God who discriminates against non-Christians. A God of Exclusivity who says “Yeah” to those who embrace the orthodox message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and a God who says “Nay” to those who don’t? Would such a God want us to believe that we have our God, and the Jews have theirs, the Muslims, theirs, and somebody is right and everybody else is wrong?

Or would a Christian God be a God of Inclusivity, a God who says “Yeah” to all humanity a la the story of Jesus? And if there is a Christian God and that Christian God is a God of “Yeah, to All Humanity,” what kind of a “Yeah” would our Christian God want us to believe in? Certainly, not a “Yeah” of Wrath and Judgment – that would be a Yeah to some and a Nay to others. But just as certainly not a Yeah of Cheap Grace. In other words, not a Quid-Pro-Quo “Yeah” involving a reward in the hereafter for “doing nice” in the here and now.

Which brings us back to where we began. If there is a Christian God – remember we started out with a blank slate, assuming nothing at all – what kind of a God would that God want us to believe in?

But before we go there, let’s remind ourselves to ask ourselves this fascinating question. Would such a God want us to believe in God at all? Given the alternatives about God, which alternative would God choose? Or would God care at all whether we believed in God or not? What if we believed in the wrong type of God – and we did nice out of a fear of judgment, trying our best to win the ultimate prize in the unknown future? What if we believed in the wrong type of God – a God of Cheap Grace – and we did some nice and some not-so-nice, all the while confident that in the unknown future, our God of Grace and Mercy and Forgiveness and Love would “do nice” for us?

Then, too, there is this question. What if we didn’t believe in God at all and didn’t do nice? What about all those who only do nice out of a fear of God or out of a love for some transcendent God of Judgment or Love? What would happen to civilized order then? This question we’ll save for another day.

In fact, that’s enough for now. More next time. In the meantime, go out into the world and flex your “Imago Dei.”

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