Our Views of God

Yesterday, I preached from Nehemiah 9:5-15.  I was amazed at how clearly this prayer by Nehemiah described who God is.  However, we have confused and mixed up images of God.  These come from how we were raised, what we were taught, from our culture and a multitude of other places.  Reading Nehemiah's prayer, I was challenged to evaluate how I view God.  Do I (and the answer is yes) have views of God that are not sound biblically?

You can see the full sermon notes posted yesterday and the video will post to HMBC Media on YouTube soon. Here are some views of God that people shared with me via email or social media:

Opening: How many of you remember game shows that included prizes behind numbered doors?  Here is a brief clip from “Let’s Make A Deal”. As we begin today, I will share different views of God that we might find behind numbered doors representing many viewpoints.

How do you view God?

1.      “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God”-God is up in heaven mad and waiting to punish us.

2.      Genie God-you just ask God for what you want. No relationship just for the purpose of getting things.

3.      Distant God-God created the world and got things started.  Now it is up to us as humans to save the world. God is not personal or interested in relationships just to be respected and worshipped. Also known as the “Watch God”-God made it, wound it up and now it runs on its own.

4.      Santa Claus God-He is making a list and checking it twice.  Trying to find who is naughty and nice.  Or could be called Karma God (you get what you deserve) Our status with God is determined by our behavior and righteousness. He gives gifts to the good, punishes the bad.

5.      God Bless the USA God-America is now God’s chosen nation and we better repent of our sins or God will turn his back on us and pour out his wrath on our country.

6.      Mirror God-Anything we don’t like in Scripture about God, we ignore and God starts to look a lot like us (loving what we love and hating what we hate). We become the authority in our lives rather than God.

7.      All roads lead to heaven God-all of the different religions or cults higher power is the same god (Buddha, Allah, many gods)

8.      Others? Dog sitter god (He has us on a leash), Police God (partoling our lives, make sure we obey the rules), President God (holds your political views), Denominational God (view of God that looks just like your denomination, no room for other denomination perspectives), etc.

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