March 20, 2011
Four Gods
- Genesis 12:1-9
- Dr. Teri Thomas
God spoke to Abram. God said- pack up your life and go to a new place. I will make you someone special in the world. God gave Abram directions along the way. Go here. Do this.
Don't do that. Have a baby even if you and your wife are way too old. Obey me and I will reward you.
Abram believed in a God who intervened in his life. A God of promise and of punishment.
A God to be obeyed and maybe even feared.
In our Gospel reading this morning Jesus tells Nicodemus of a God who loves the world. A God who loves the world so much he gives his only son. God does not condemn the world, Jesus said. God chooses to save the world.
Jesus spoke of a God who intervened in human history. A God of love and sacrifice. A God who promises salvation and life eternal.
Last Monday Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara told reporters, "I think (the earthquake and tsunami) is tembatsu (divine punishment), although I feel sorry for disaster victims."
"Japanese politics is tainted with egoism and populism; we need to use tsunami to wipe out egoism, which has rusted onto the mentality of the Japanese over a long period of time."
He spoke of a God who caused bad things to happen as a way of disciplining human beings.
My guess is that you have at least heard the discussion, if not participated in it yourself-
Why did God cause the earthquake?
Why did God not stop the Tsunami?
Why does God let cruel dictators kill innocent people?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why do good things happen to bad people?
The answer to those questions depends on the kind of God you believe in.
In "America's Four Gods: What We Say About God & What That Says About Us,"
Baylor University scholars Paul Froese and Christopher Bader conducted a sociological study on how Americans understand God. Americans almost universally view God as a loving parent. We all desire to emulate God's love in our own way with the exception of a radical few.
Ninety-five percent of Americans believe in God. But they have vastly different conceptions of the divine and the role God plays in their daily lives. The authors found that most of us hold onto one of four images of God.
The Authoritative God:
Believers in an Authoritative God have a strong conviction that God judges human behavior and sometimes acts on that judgment. This judgment may be leveled on a large canvas via natural disasters or on a more personal scale through illness or misfortune.
They still see God as a loving Being but they believe that the bad and good things that happen to us as people and as a nation are likely of God's making.
Hymn #278- Our God to Whom We Turn
The Benevolent God:
Believers in a Benevolent God see God's handiwork everywhere. But they are less likely to think that God judges and punishes human behavior. Instead, the Benevolent God is mainly a force of positive influence in the world and is less willing to condemn individuals. Believers in this God feel that whether sinners or saints, we are all are free to call on the Benevolent God to answer our prayers in times of need.
Someone with a Benevolent image of God is unlikely to see God's hand in the earthquake or tsunami or a personal tragedy. Rather, evidence of God's presence is found in stories of amazing coincidences or apparent miracles that saved people in the midst of suffering or disaster.
Hymn #261- God of Compassion
The Critical God:
Believers in a Critical God imagine a God that is judgmental of humans, but rarely acts on Earth, perhaps reserving final judgment for the afterlife.
Ethnic minorities, the poor, and the exploited often believe in a Critical God. Perhaps because those in need may not see the blessings of God in the here and now, they take comfort in the idea that God's displeasure will be felt in another life.
Soloists- God Weeps (#2048 in The Faith We Sing)
The Distant God:
Believers in a Distant God view God as a cosmic force that set the laws of nature in motion and, as such, the Distant God does not really "do" things in the world or hold clear opinions about our activities or world events. When describing God, they are likely to reference objects in the natural world, like a beautiful day, a mountaintop, or a rainbow rather than a human-like figure. These believers feel that images of God in human terms are simply inadequate and represent naïve or ignorant attempts to know the unknowable. Distant God is not something that responds to our personal wants and desires. The calming effects of meditation, contemplation and the beauty of nature are ways in which believers in a Distant God tap the positive force guiding the universe.
Hymn #263- Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
The way we understand God is tied to our sense of morality, our view of science, our understanding of economic justice, our concept of evil and how we think we should respond to it. Our four God's have the ability to divide us on moral, cultural, political and religious issues.
But ultimately there is one attribute of God that we all share- love.
A loving God fosters respect
and charity
and unity.
"A perfectly harmonious existence is clearly a dream
but at least it is a dream
common to all our Gods." (159)
Amen.
This sermon is based on the book America's Four Gods: What We Say About God & What That Says About Us by Paul Froese & Christopher Bader. Oxford Press, 2010.