Representations of God

At church last Sunday, the pastor was giving a sermon about the significance of sin in Christian theology, and how some people downplay its significance. He was talking about how no sin of any individual on earth is obscured from the knowledge of God, and cited a verse where God calls upon the mountains and the earth to testify against his people. His point was that God could even call upon inanimate objects as witnesses, such that one cannot hide one’s sins even if he or she is secured behind four corners of walls, because even the ‘walls have ears’. The pastor made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the forensic detective show CSI, and said that God’s ability to call upon inanimate objects to provide evidence is superior forensic techniques to anything seen on that CSI show.

I suppose different people would react differently to a sermon message on the significance of sin in Christian theology. Some people find any emphasis on the doctrine of sin offensive, others may concur with it but believe that such messages should be relegated behind messages espousing God’s grace and redemption of sin. Indeed, there are other sermons given by other speakers in church who seem to prefer to emphasize God’s grace and redemption over his abhorrence over sin.

There are indeed many representations of God afforded by various people, with different emphasis on certain aspects of God preferred by one person over another. Occasionally, such difference of emphasis can become dividing points amongst the Christian community. But I suppose that the problem may lie with how different Christians may prefer different emphasis on God’s character. For me, I acknowledge the doctrine of sin, but I also acknowledge the redemptive works of God to forgive sins. I think it is good to avoid either extreme in portraying God as either a condemning, wrathful God on one hand, or as a completely non-judgemental, antinomian God on the other hand.

Can one truly know who God is, or are any description of him merely representations? Some may say, “Isn’t it possible to refer to the Bible for authority on this?”, or “You can only know God if you personally experience him.” I just don’ like it when some Christians thump their verses from their bible on others to support their idea of what God is like so as to support in a rather shallow way whatever they are trying to proposition. I suppose I try to square my idea of what God is from reading the Bible. Yet, I am not a complete textual fundamentalist regarding how God should be represented. I see benefits in people finding a personal understanding of God that appeals to them, without them being castigated for not adhering strictly to the bible. My personal preference of how I would like to understand God is one who is understanding enough to know that we as human beings are susceptible to doubts, weakness of the flesh, disillusionment, and all other human frailties, and who loves us despite of these and will forgive us as long as we ask for it.