Grumpy God

At some point in time along the way branches of Christianity adopted the ticked off, pissed, ranting God of anger. Of course the “correct” terminology is wrathful, angry, holy justice. But how the lost world sees it, how wounded believers see it, how children and teens see it is rather the former unpleasant words than the theologically correct version. Word have power not just meaning. In spiritual terms things are deeper than just the dictionary. What words we use have a rippling impact that goes beyond first glance or casual usage. So if we promote God as angry, especially when we hint that this anger is the hate people filled variety we send a very specific message.

This message is one that reminds people of the lightning bolt throwing deities of mythology, in other words idols. It reminds them of a carnal earthy father whose rage-anger tore through the house and screamed in their face for minor childish or adolescent behavior. It bring to mind the boss who has been assigned anger management classes. It holds nothing holy, doesn't look like justice or contains anything like the fruits of the Spirit. And it isn't their fault or their carnality that causes them to think this. It is the very words we use. Words have power.

Without correct scriptural context an angry God is someone to run away from because he hates you and wants nothing more than to hurt and torture you. He doesn't look like Jesus. I and my Father are one. God contains no shadow of turning or changing. God is Jesus and the Spirit. He is 2 Corinthians 13. He is the fruit of the Spirit. He is the one who bled from so many wound he was unrecognizable. He is the one who suffocated to death because he loved sinners that much. I don't think many people grasp the enormity of what Jesus did when he took on the sins of the world. He wore that filth, filth so deep and dark that the Father temporarily turned away from him. For that moment Jesus had the same connection to God that every lost person does and he died that way.

God so loved... The favorites? The morally pure? The experts on the Laws of Moses?

God so loved THE WORLD. Yes God is angry and has enemies but at look at the life of Jesus shows where that anger is directed, at whom that anger is directed. The ordinary lost person, the weak unlearned seeker, the faithful, the doubter and the one who misunderstands were NOT among those who received his ire. He didn't whip the loser from the temple. He gave his anger to the religious pros who were bilking honest folk out of their coins. Those who turned the house of prayer into a scam store.

You see this is the difference between the theologically angry God who hates most everyone and true scriptural righteous anger. One view turns God into someone who hates all the same people I do and the other turns me into someone who loves her enemy. One type of angry aims at the sinner because of the damage they cause. The other type is angry at the person because they were born into the slavery of satan. One hates the poison of sin because of the damage it does. The other hates people for simply existing having inherited their father Adam's defects.