Sunday, March 29, 2009
Man forms God in his own image
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Frederick Fuller
Fuller is a retired teacher for Roanoke city schools and a fiction writer. He lives in Roanoke.
I do not believe God formed man in his own image. But I do believe that man formed God in his own image. The more I'm around religious folk, no matter what the religion, the more I learn that they worship a god that is like them. The god may not look like the human being who worships him, her or it, but the god thinks like the human being, I'll bet.
Take ultra-right conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who touts his Christian leanings loud and clear. I am sure that if at the Second Coming Jesus is not a right-wing Republican, like Limbaugh and his conservative friends, they will send him back and demand God send them the Jesus they created. I'm not trying for laughs. My point is they are ideologically impaired. Liberals are the same way. An ideologue is an ideologue no matter where one finds him or her. They simply have no room in their minds for anything that differs from their creed.
Indeed, I am always amazed when confirmed ideologues condemn the government for helping people, especially people they consider unworthy of help. They name people fed at the public trough -- welfare or government stimulus -- who are able-bodied and should be working. Let 'em starve, Hannity fans say.
Make a mortgage you know you can't pay and expect the government to bail you out? You were an idiot, Coulterians say, so go homeless. Take your family and freeze to death on the street. Teach you a lesson. I'm sick and tired of supporting these deadbeats who expect handouts, Limbaughians complain. I work and pay taxes and my bills; why should I help them?
Yet these ideologues also rage at government because kids can't pray in school or because politicians can't pray to Jesus at government-sponsored meetings or because the Ten Commandments are banned from government property. They are defenders of God. Defenders of Jesus. Put God and Jesus back into America and all will be well, they cry. After all, the Founders were Christian and this is a Christian nation. I hear that all the time.
But I am puzzled. Are they reading the same New Testament that I am? I have searched everything ascribed to Jesus in the New Testament, which I think also contains the Gospel, and I cannot for the life of me find one word from Jesus that turns aside anyone from help. Now I'm not talking about Paul, Peter, Jude, James and others who report what Jesus said. I am talking about what the writers of the Synoptic Gospels testify that Jesus said; words that came from his mouth. Never, I don't think, does he first check on them to see if they are worthy of his help. Does he ever ask anyone if they are working or if they can get help from family or friends? Where does he ever judge anyone and not help them? Maybe I'm reading the wrong book.
Point. Jesus says time and again that the way to God is through him. Do as I do, he admonishes people and, as I see it, that means give without conditions. If he died for the sins of the world, did he run a survey first to make sure everyone was worthy?
I'm afraid I find people like Limbaugh misunderstanding what Jesus said and did. I believe a true Christian gives anything to anyone without qualification. If I am hungry, feed me. If I am thirsty, give me water. If I am naked, give me your cloak. There is no qualification before he dies for all humankind, and I do believe there are some who, by conservative ideology, are not worthy, such as everyone.
So that's why I believe man made God in his own image. And that is also why I find it extremely hard to believe in any god. I ask myself, what kind of god would I make, and I shudder to think what that might be. How can I believe in a god that humans have made? May as well worship a skyscraper.
