20Something 4-5-06 Who is God, really?
Maybe you grew up thinking God was an old white man with long, flowing hair and an equally long, flowing robe. As you have matured, has that image held up? Maybe you have always pictured God as a vengeful God who breathes fire upon those who don’t obey “his” commands. There are probably as many ideas about God as there are Christians in the world. So this is the question: How is your experience with God different from your idea of God?
Describe the image of God that you had when you were growing up. What did God look like?
What does God look like in your mind now? How is this image the same? How is it different?
Genesis 1:27 says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” The Bible tells us a few specific things about God’s image, but we humans tend to add our own embellishments as well. What other things does the Bible tell us about God?
Jesus is the closest thing we have to God in human form, and we have probably softened his image over the years as well. There were no digital cameras during Jesus’ day, so the pictures of Jesus that we have today are artists’ renderings according to each artist’s perception, and those renderings have probably been reproduced as many times as the Bible has been re-translated. Does your perception of Jesus match up with today’s standard print?
Describe how God might act, according to your perception of God growing up. Is God vengeful and punishing? Loving and merciful? A combination of both? Name some of God’s other qualities according to your early perception.
Based upon your experience with God as you have matured, how has your perception changed? In what ways is it the same?
As we mature in our relationship with God and gain more Christian experience, our perceptions of other Christians become affected as well. Those of us who come from conservative traditions might think the best Christians are those who go to church every Sunday, have their shirts buttoned all the way to the top and the bumper stickers on their cars, and who live the most sheltered life possible, away from the evil mainstream. Experience sometimes changes those views.
Do you have any images of what a “perfect” Christian might look like? Is there any such thing?
As gay Christians, we might be inclined to think other Christians will automatically reject us once we come out, and that can keep us in the gay Christian closet. Or at the very least it might limit our interactions with these Christians and have a negative impact in that way.
As a gay Christian, how is your experience with other Christians different from what you expected? How has it been the same?
Regarding all of the images that you have in mind (about God, God’s actions, and other Christians), how does God continue to challenge you?
It’s unrealistic to think that we have a complete image of God, or that God has revealed all that we are supposed to know. There will always be more to discover. But in the meantime, God gives us an unlimited amount of grace and mercy to fill in the gaps left by our lack of understanding.
John 1:1-17 says: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Grace and truth will continue to come through Jesus Christ. If your perceptions have changed as you have matured in your faith, think how much more they might change as you continue on in your relationship with God. As we seek truth and understanding, God continues to give it to us through study, prayer, and through one another.
Thank God for wisdom; old, new, and for the growth in between.
Describe the image of God that you had when you were growing up. What did God look like?
What does God look like in your mind now? How is this image the same? How is it different?
Genesis 1:27 says: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” The Bible tells us a few specific things about God’s image, but we humans tend to add our own embellishments as well. What other things does the Bible tell us about God?
Jesus is the closest thing we have to God in human form, and we have probably softened his image over the years as well. There were no digital cameras during Jesus’ day, so the pictures of Jesus that we have today are artists’ renderings according to each artist’s perception, and those renderings have probably been reproduced as many times as the Bible has been re-translated. Does your perception of Jesus match up with today’s standard print?
Describe how God might act, according to your perception of God growing up. Is God vengeful and punishing? Loving and merciful? A combination of both? Name some of God’s other qualities according to your early perception.
Based upon your experience with God as you have matured, how has your perception changed? In what ways is it the same?
As we mature in our relationship with God and gain more Christian experience, our perceptions of other Christians become affected as well. Those of us who come from conservative traditions might think the best Christians are those who go to church every Sunday, have their shirts buttoned all the way to the top and the bumper stickers on their cars, and who live the most sheltered life possible, away from the evil mainstream. Experience sometimes changes those views.
Do you have any images of what a “perfect” Christian might look like? Is there any such thing?
As gay Christians, we might be inclined to think other Christians will automatically reject us once we come out, and that can keep us in the gay Christian closet. Or at the very least it might limit our interactions with these Christians and have a negative impact in that way.
As a gay Christian, how is your experience with other Christians different from what you expected? How has it been the same?
Regarding all of the images that you have in mind (about God, God’s actions, and other Christians), how does God continue to challenge you?
It’s unrealistic to think that we have a complete image of God, or that God has revealed all that we are supposed to know. There will always be more to discover. But in the meantime, God gives us an unlimited amount of grace and mercy to fill in the gaps left by our lack of understanding.
John 1:1-17 says: “From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
Grace and truth will continue to come through Jesus Christ. If your perceptions have changed as you have matured in your faith, think how much more they might change as you continue on in your relationship with God. As we seek truth and understanding, God continues to give it to us through study, prayer, and through one another.
Thank God for wisdom; old, new, and for the growth in between.
posted by Jen Austin at 5:28 AM
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