Thinking About God

The past few days I have been thinking some about our perception of God these days. Its changing with the times, about the same as we have changed our thoughts about what makes a good father.

In my mothers day, it was accepted to have a dad that was kind, took care of his family, but he could be not all that emotionally attached and that was fine. Most often, his work kept him occupied and in the evening it was his time. Often dads of days gone by were stern and authoritative. The ruler of the home.

My generation started to expect something more. We wanted a dad that was connected to what we were doing, experiencing and feeling. Think about the movie Love Story, it has so much to do with how the father was not really invested in his son, and used a strong contrast of a very personal relationship with the girls father. There was a serious message about fatherhood in the song, Cats in the Cradle.

We wanted more than just rules, and a long list of unspoken expectations. When we see examples of what a good father looks like today, we see a dad playing with his children, or see a dad portrayed as having a listening ear and most assuredly the kind of dad that is involved.

The desire to have a Heavenly Father be personal and connected has changed with the times too. My parents generation saw their relationship with God as formal, and when they went to church, the list of expectations and the do's and don'ts were the main focus of the sermon. There was no "feel good" sermons. Oh, Gods love was certainly mentioned but it really was conditional, "IF you love me and keep my commandments" sort of thing. Church now is different for many. There are designer churches, multi-media, entertainment filled events that show God as a tender loving Father that accepts us for simply loving Him. We want our God to fit into our touchy feely side. I am not saying this is bad. People stop going to church if all they preach is "hell fire and brimstone". Its too much like an unfeeling, not connected type father figure people now refuse to accept. To be honest, I have no idea where this will take us in the great scheme of things, but I sure don't want to go sit in a pew for an hour and hear how bad I am and how bad everyone else in the place is too. My dad is a great guy and he never ruled with an iron fist, my parents just were nice and you never wanted to disappoint them, because you KNEW how much they loved you and it would hurt them to go off the deep end and be rotten. I think now a days, we want that kind of relationship with God, not the stern father figure many of us grew up with. It always seemed to me, that praying to Jesus was like when I wanted to do something I had an idea would not go over well with my parents. I knew if I asked my dad, softened him up some, then he would talk to my mother and convince her it was o.k. since my dad was the softie in the family. My mother was the tougher of the two. Emery is the softie in our family too.

With the times, things change. It used to be enough that someone said something was so. You read in the newspaper that a huge beast was found and you accepted it. Now with so much networking and technology we want proof and we question everything. When a picture of Jesus appears on some surface, some folks flock to that spot and accept it as a miracle. But then there is the rest of us, who want to check out the angle of the light, see if its rigged in some way, dissect it, and find the scientific explanation of the thing. Miracles are just not what they used to be. If the mountain shakes, we say its an earthquake or volcanic eruption, not God being home and shaking things up. We question how much of an amazing thing can be chance or is it Gods hand working in our lives. Our whole concept of God is changing and not sure too many of us have realized just how much it has.

Even as I write these thoughts out, my mind is racing, thinking about all the changes just in my own lifetime. Ministers, priests and Rabbi's are no longer seen as the final authority. We now understand they are not always what they should be so we watch them like hawks. We don't accept everything they teach, we question it, check it against the scriptures and then decide what we want to do with it. They are rated by the number that attend their congregation.

It sure must be a tough job these days.

I personally want to know a God that is compassionate, full of love, not a war monger or revengeful God. I am among the masses that want to have a heavenly Father that is like the ideal concept of a father. Changing times, changing ideas and certainly changing religion, even if we don't like the idea of it. The wheel is already in motion .