Who Does the Creating?

"God created man in His own image, says the Bible; philosophers reverse the process: they create God in theirs."

Georg Christoph Lichtenberg





Of course it would be foolish of me to paint all philosophers with one brush but this quote from Georg Christoph Lichtenberg goes to the very heart of one of the biggest problems we human beings have.  We forget that God is so much greater than we are that we cannot begin to understand him.  Because we cannot understand Him we are tempted to build an image of him that suits our own conceptions.  After that we throw out all the conflicting information we receive both from life's experience and from sources such as Holy Scripture.  Sadly we are left with a God who is irrelevant to our life experience, or who has been changed into a powerless, feel good entity.  Such a God has no ability to attract or inspire.  I personally do not mind the parts of scripture that portray a God I cannot understand because they remind me that I only see a small portion of the big picture.  They give me confidence that I cannot control this God or even decide if I like him or not.  God is God and I need to get used to the fact that HE not ME who calls the shots.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."  Where is the wise man?  Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age?  Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe." (1 Corinthians 1:18-21)