Christianity for People Who Aren't Christians, Part 1预览

“If God Exists, What Is He Like?”

More consequence for thought and action flow from the question “Does God exist?” than almost any other question you can raise. The only question that can match its significance is built on it: “If God exists, what is he like?” The Christian answer might surprise you.

Now, there’s a lot the Christian faith holds about the Person of God: God is Spirit, not flesh and blood; God is personal, not an impersonal energy force; God is living, not a dead totem; God is infinite in terms of space, time, knowledge, and power; God is constant, not in a state of flux. 

For many people, the real question is not about the Person of God, but his nature. Is this God moral? Does he have integrity? Is he loving? Many aren’t so sure. In fact, most people who reject the idea of God don’t reject the possibility of his existence—they reject what they think they know about him. Particularly, what they think they know about him from the Bible. 

The reason for this is simple. Sometimes it can seem like the God of the Bible acts in ways we would never dream of acting ourselves. This makes it hard to believe that God—or what we think we know about that God—is right. Many people feel the God of the Bible is angry, mean, capricious, and a bit too quick to send people to hell. They don’t even like the idea of a God who would create a hell, much less send people there. 

And if he’s supposed to be so good and loving, then why is there so much suffering in the world and why has it gone on for so long? Why doesn’t God step in and stop it? To a lot of people, it seems like we need a better God than the one that we have—or at least a better God than the God of the Bible. 

George Buttrick, former chaplain at Harvard, recalled how students would come into his office and say, “I don’t believe in God.” Buttrick would then reply, “Sit down and tell me what kind of God you don’t believe in. I probably don’t believe in that God either.” Christianity presents a picture of God that is both unique and compelling, but it may be a picture that is very different from the one you’ve drawn, even if you think you’ve been drawing the Christian one.

What kind of God do you believe in? What is the biggest influence that shapes your understanding of God?