Projecting an image of God

Let me ask you this question:

What kind of God do you worship?

The God of the Bible?

Or the God of your own making?

It can be called "projectionism".

It is projecting upon God a view of His character and His being that are more like us as human beings than we would like to think.

It is where we can only view God from the place of some major influence in our lives.  Like a mean Father, or a teacher whom you could never please, or a friend who runs out on you during a time of need, that kind of God is a God who is always there to put us down, pointing at us with a finger of disgust.

Blaise Pascal once wrote, "God made man in his own image and man returned the compliment."

Brennan Manning writes, "The mechanism of projection is a process of unwittingly ascribing to God our own attitudes and feelings as an unconscious defense of our own inadequacy or guilt."

Now, I am not a psychologist nor I am I the son of a psychologist, but I do know this:  As children, our view of God can be strongly influenced by the way we have been parented.

From his or her parents, a child learns of a God who strongly disproves of disobedience - for example - hitting a sibling or telling lies.

Then the child goes to school and finds that his teachers share those same concerns, furthering their project upon God of these attitudes.

And finally, when the child goes to church, he finds out that God is obsessed with what he can't do - rather than in what he can do (in most churches).

James Burtchaell writes, "After he (they) emerges from his youth altogether he discovers - sometimes with resentment - that God has been used as a sanction for all those who were responsible for his discipline.  When he used to cavort a bit mischievously at home, his mother might reach the end of her patience and persuasiveness and threaten, "When your daddy comes home, he'll take care of you."  But if Mommy and Daddy are both at their wits' end, there is always the eternal spanking to which they can do allude.  God is thus unwittingly associated with fear."

So what is the result of this type of God?  Self-hatred.  Unhealthy guilt.  Perfectionism upon ourselves and others in the church.  Legalism.  Bondage.  A lack of joy.

My God is a God of forgiveness and love and restoration.  My God is a God who is always there, ready to put his arms around me and encourage me on.

While he is a holy God (I put that in there as almost a disclaimer for those of us who are rightly concerned about holiness), at the end of the day, God is far more loving and forgiving than we give him credit for.

God is more than ready and willing to forgive you than you are to forgive yourself.

So don't project your view of God from your mom or your Uncle Billy who were mean, or a dad whom you could never please.

Let God be God - and let Him have control of your life.

Just a thought for a Thursday.