God’s Image and the gods we Imagine

I think we invent our own Gods. I say this partly because we all worship something, be it a person, a material thing, a spiritual being or an ideal of how we think life should be. The Book of Genesis says that God made man and woman in God’s image. But could it also be possible that throughout the ages these same men and women have created our own images of God? We see this happen in both the Bible and in world history. And I do it too. Most people who believe in God come up with metaphors to explain how we understand God. But it gets tricky when we start to literalize these metaphors and create worldviews out of them. To paraphrase a point made by author Karen Armstrong, this gets dangerous because we make images of God where God likes who or what we like and hates who or what we hate. If we can throw God’s name on it, then we can justify almost anything we want to do…whether it be God’s will or not.

We also see this happen with Jesus. For nearly 2,000 years many of us have created images of Jesus that fit within our personal agendas. Can’t you imagine what the toy aisles at department stores would look like if they carried the following action-figures? Collect them all. You’ve got your Camp-Counselor Jesus, your Sugar Daddy Jesus, your Prayer Warrior Jesus, your Hippie Jesus, your Beatnik Jesus, your Dreadlocked Jesus, your Blue-Eyed Jesus, your Civil Rights Jesus, your Gun-Toting Jesus, your Rock Star Jesus, your Stained Glass Jesus, your Fire & Brimstone Jesus, your Bible-Thumping Jesus (complete with his church suit), and your Hollywood Jesus (who speaks with a British accent).

Will the real Jesus please stand up? Or should I say “rise up?” And may we seek to know God and follow Jesus in the way that they are and not how we want them to be.