Our images of God and real God

There appears to be a particular schema in how our minds work - not our hearts but our minds.

We construct in our brain our own image of God and then react intellectually to the image we have created.

This schema is not just a private individual thing but a social happening; we want to share with others the images of God we have generated and we also adopt ideas from others who have created such images.

There are real physical communities where people with similar ideas about God, religious or anti-religious groups with their regular meetings schedules and liturgies. Nowadays there are many virtual communities that shared man generated ideas about God over the Internet.

Against
An individual and his or her associated group of humans can first create an image of God and then join forces to reject that image. They argue with powerful logic that such a God that God should be according to their construction of Him is not real and does not exist.

For example, Richard Dawkins suggests that the God as God should be would create perfect living things with no unnecessary body parts. So he argues that because living things do have some rather useless body parts there is no such God who makes perfects things.

Long time ago I read in some book where a writer argued in similar vein and was laughing why men have nipples. Such useless body parts show how foolish is the idea that there is a God that creates perfect living things. Reading that I was just wondering does his wife know nothing about man? As they say, a woman touching the nipples of her man can be heaven or it can be hell...

Our construction of God whose works of creation are nicely streamlined and logically perfect does not stand closer examination. That there have been devastating mass destructions of life on Earth followed by new radiations indicate that there is no such God this image requires.

Similarly, others find it even amusing that Bible tells about a God who first creates man and then regrets doing so and wants to destroy His own work in a flood. This does not fit the man made image of God.

For
An individual with his or her associated group of humans may fully accept in faith the image of God they have created. They argue that such a God exists and reject reality that is not in conformity with the image they have created.

For example, a religious community believed so strongly in the power of God to heal through faith all the sick that they did not provide proper medical care to a lady in their midst who was suffering from cancer. They had strong faith. According to the story I was told they had a radio playing loud music not to hear her screams of pain. Probably some religious music, I do not know.

We may also create an image of God who is good Heavenly Father. When a car accident crushes a dear family or that beloved son falls to accidental death from the mountain path in Peru faith in such human constructed God faces true challenge.


Real God
There is only one real God. The God of Israel.

This God is not the imagination of the Jewish people - in fact, He has made the Jewish people.

This God does not fit to the images we make of Him as good Heavenly Father or perfect creator of world with no blemish or something we can figure out logically using our brains and knowledge of Nature.

We need to let the God of Israel show Himself to us and teach us about Him - that is the only way to learn to know Him.