Perspectives on the Nature of God - Which of these Five Views Matches Yours?

Each of us holds a different image of God. There are as many perspectives on the nature of God as there are people, but these views tend to cluster into several groupings which are instructive to examine. However much any of us may choose to argue, or to fight and kill, for our point of view, the nature of God is an unanswerable question. Perhaps there is a specific answer, that we will never learn - in this lifetime. Perhaps the nature of God is so complex and multifaceted that each view of God describes an aspect of the complex whole. Or perhaps the nature of God is actually defined by our beliefs.

Which of these five views matches yours?

1. God the Wrathful: This is a God in whom the human characteristics vengeance, anger, and pride are magnified to superhuman proportions. God the Wrathful is a thinking feeling being who is almost always depicted as male. God the Wrathful holds humans in contempt. This relationship of God and human is demonstrated in the passages, "All men are sinners," "He will suffer vengeance seven times over," and "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation."

2. God the Judgmental: This view of God is dominated by the existence and supreme importance of absolute right and wrong. God the Judgmental is a being, usually male, who is lawmaker, judge, and jury to humanity. Have you been naughty or have you been nice? If you have been good, you get magnificent gifts after you have died - if not before. But if you don't follow the rules of God the Judgmental, you get a lump of coal in your stocking, you suffer the torments of everlasting Hell. God the Judgmental is characterized by the passages, "May the Lord look upon you and judge you," "Allah has cursed them on account of their unbelief," and "The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and faithfulness."

3. God Who? This perspective on the nature of God discounts the existence of anything that cannot be seen or touched. In this view, God is either known not to exist, or is doubted to exist. We live in a world of physical reality where the dreams and conscious actions of humans compete with the random happenings of an indifferent natural world. This view of God is shown in the anonymous quote, "Religions are all alike - founded upon fables and mythologies," and the Ernest Hemingway quote, "All thinking men are atheists."

4. God the Compassionate: This God is a kindly superhuman, either male or female, who is benevolent as well as being omnipotent - a God who loves humans, who offers many gifts and few, if any, lumps of coal. Those who believe in God the compassionate are often troubled by the apparent contradiction between the existence of an omnipotent and benevolent God and the prevalence of violence and suffering in this world. The possibility of a compassionate afterlife is, to some, a possible escape from this dilemma. God the Compassionate is characterized by the passages, "God, who gives generously to all without finding fault," and "You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

5. God the Universal Spirit: This God is of a completely different character than any of the preceding. God the Universal Spirit is not a being, and is neither male nor female. This is a God beyond any human or superhuman qualities, a God without form, substance, personality, emotions, or demands. God the Universal Spirit does not anger, lose patience, or seek revenge. It does not reward some human behaviors and punish others. God the Universal Spirit does not have an independent existence - it resides in every person, in every grain of sand. Each of us is filled with the God Spirit, and simultaneously each of us is a tiny part of the God Spirit itself. The nature of God the Universal Spirit can be glimpsed in the Ernest Holmes quote, "The manifest universe is the body of God ... all people are incarnations of the One Spirit." and the Mohandas Gandhi quote, "God has no religion."

You have probably rejected four of these five views of God as being absolutely wrong, and even been uncomfortable with the wording of the view with which you most closely align. In doing so, you have rejected the sincere beliefs of the vast majority of humanity. Is promoting your preferred characterization of God more important than compassion and acceptance of diversity? Apparently most people think it is. Charles Schultz had his Peanuts character Linus (the little kid who always carries a blanket) say, "All right, so you believe in Santa Claus and I'll believe in the Great Pumpkin. The way I see it, it doesn't matter what you believe, just so you're sincere." Perhaps great wisdom comes from little mouths.