What does God look like? What (or whom?) do you think of when you think of God?
Have you ever noticed that when you think about God, most of the time you're thinking of yourself? The character of God that comes to our minds is most often a reflection of ourselves. So God thinks like we do and acts as we would and loves those we love and hates those we hate and, when push comes to shove, wouldn't you just know it...God is on OUR SIDE!
It is a challenge when we define God as some kind of unseen force or energy or entity or person who is the ultimate in benevolence, because it leaves us vulnerable. With a God so clearly undefined, we're liable to impose on God whatever character or personality works for us, and God's limitless benevolence then becomes a mere reflection of our own limited self-love.
So, what is the truth about God?
The truth, or course, is that no one really knows--though I've a hunch there are those who've known, or at least come close to knowing. To us they've left a legacy of assurance that no matter how certainly we believe that we have God all figured out, in that we are most certainly wrong. They've also shown us that it is beyond our scope of duty to define God. And if that leaves us all feeling a little uncomfortable, well, I suspect that's the point. It keeps us on our toes. It keeps us striving. It forces us to step out from behind the protective walls of religion and into the light of reality.
After all, there is one thing we do know of God...and that is that God isn't here to be figured out so much as to be experienced.
"No one has seen God."
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