The God Too Far

I was thinking the other day about the nature of God as revealed in the Bible and how it seems to rub some people the wrong way. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "Well, if that's what God is like, I don't want anything to do with Him!" So I wondered what was too much. If you thought, as a silly example, that God was green and then you found out that the Bible says He's blue, I don't suppose you'd protest much. That's not "too much". But for a lot of people when they find that the Bible says that God is a God of wrath against sin and the Divine Judge will send people to eternal torment for their sin ... now, see? ... that is a "God too far".

So, I wondered, what is in between? What is "acceptable" for God to be and not "acceptable"? I'm sure you can see immediately the problem with the question. We don't get to decide. God is who He is. What we have to do is properly understand what the Bible says about Him and accept it.

When I thought that, my first thought ended that last sentence with "or not". We can accept what the Bible says about God or reject Him. And, indeed, many do. But then I realized that this, too, was pointless.

You see, if there is a God and if that God is the way the Bible describes, however that might be, we don't get the choice to pass judgment. I mean, we can and do, but it is pointless to do so. If this God exists, He is God. Our preferences and values and the lines we draw are irrelevant. He is what He is. He is God. And whatever that is, that's all there is. We can't say, "I don't want anything to do with Him" as if there are other options. "I'll take God B instead!" No such thing. "I'll take a God of my choosing!" Not on the menu.

The real question, then, is not what is or is not acceptable for God to be. The real question is exactly what does the Bible say He is? What is the truth about God? Whatever that is, that's what is and we don't get the option of choosing another. At that point we can choose to submit or be damned. We don't get other options. So if you've a mind to think "If that's what God is like, I want nothing to do with Him", perhaps you'll want to think again. If that's what He's like, that's what He's like and there is no other available God.