Theistic God.

                            

The God that gays reject and atheists refute and Satanists hate is the classical Theistic God.

The Theistic God is the old man in the sky who rewards good and punishes evil and judges whether we go to heaven or hell.

This angry, violent, child abusing torturer is the traditional God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

But many modern Christians, Jews, and Muslims no longer believe in this Theistic God.

There are reasons why this view of God has prevailed in the past: politics, authority, fear, and cynicism have all contributed to its supremacy.

But there are other views of God in the Bible and the Koran.

The loving Father of Jesus who forgives sins, includes outsiders, and refuses to judge people has its roots in the Old Testament.

And each chapter of the Koran is preceded by the words:  In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. 

So when you reject God be aware that the traditional religious image of God - the classical Theistic God - may not be what God is like at all.

Jesus said that the world did not know God.

Perhaps it still does not know Him.


Photo Credit: John Kroll Flickr via Compfight cc