Design your own God

I saw an ad this week that trumpeted "Design your own house." That is an idea that appeals to many people. This is the age of made-to-order and "have it your way." It is no surprise that many take the same approach to spirituality. Today it is popular to design your own God according to what you think he should be.

There is a problem with that. Does my wanting God to be a certain way make him that? If one person wants God--I'll use a meaningless example to make the point--to hate green beans and another wants God to love green beans, can God be both?

Have you ever had someone assume something about you that was not true? Maybe he assumed that you had a certain belief that you did not: for example, that you did not respect a certain ethnic group. Suppose you argued that, no, you fully respect that ethnic group, that you are not prejudiced. If he kept insisting that you were prejudiced, that does not mean you are. His assumptions about you do not make them true.

Likewise, the hundreds of differing beliefs that people have about God, and the fact that people dearly want them to be true, do not make them true. God is who he is. God is the authority on God. We cannot design God. We have to deal with God as he is. We have to face reality, like it or not.

In my next blog I'll continue on this theme by looking at what the majority of Americans believe about God. Then, we'll talk about how we can avoid the error of designing our own God.