We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

monster god

God is Not a Monster

Pastor Brian Zhand has a way with words that captures the imagination. And he is a pastor that has taken time to read the church fathers. In a recent post, he quotes Saint Antony who wrote, “I no longer fear God, but I love him. For love casts out fear.” Brian confronts the common misconceptions and images of God that depict him as “mercurial and merciless, petty and vengeful.” He writes,

God is not a monster. There are monster god theologies, but they are mistaken.

Accusation and scapegoating, the ravages of war and the wages of sin, these are monsters. The cruel vagaries of chance — until they are tamed by Christ in the age to come — may fall upon us as monsters. But God is not a monster. God is love. Jesus reveals this to us. If we move against the grain of love we will suffer the shards of self-inflicted suffering — and we can call this the wrath of God if we like — but the deeper truth remains: God is love.

So don’t sit in the dark with the tormenting idea that God somehow harbors malice and ill-will toward you. It’s all a cruel fiction. Turn on the light of Christ and realize that the monster you imagined does not exist. Who exists is Jesus. And he is the one who says to you, “It is I, be not afraid.”

You can find the whole post here.

Photo credit: ScottSimPhotography / Visualhunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND

Related Reading

Christus Victor Atonement and Girard’s Scapegoat Theory

Many of the major criticisms of Crucifixion of the Warrior God that have been raised since it was published four weeks ago have come from folks who advocate Rene Girard’s understanding of the atonement. A major place where these matters are being discussed is here, and you are free to join. Now, I have to…

Sermon: Letter to Henry

We usually share a short clip from Greg’s sermons here, but we decided that a clip just won’t do this week. This last weekend Greg preached about the life and death of Henry and what it does and does not say about God. You can listen to the sermon and download other resources over at…

Sermons: Resurrection Principle

Is the resurrection of Jesus true?  The entire Christian faith rests on if is or not. In this short sermon clip, Greg Boyd goes through a few historical proofs as to why this is true. It is important to remember Christ’s resurrection and the meaning, purpose and principle behind it. In the full sermon, Greg…

Topics:

Podcast: Why Didn’t Jesus Fix the World or Show Us How to Run Our Government?

Why didn’t Jesus fix the world, or tell us how to run a government?  http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0366.mp3

Participating in the Divine Nature (Love)

When God created the world, it obviously wasn’t to finally have someone to love, for God already had this, within himself. Rather God created the world to express the love he is and invite others in on this love. This purpose is most beautifully expressed in Jesus’ prayer in John 17. Jesus prays to his…

Love and the Other Attributes of God

If we keep our focus on Christ, we see that God’s power and God’s love are not two separate attributes, as many people assume. As I often state, love is not merely something God does; love is what God eternally is. Everything God does, therefore, expresses perfect love. God’s power, therefore, is simply an aspect…

Topics: