Gandalf, Build-Your-Own-God and the Great I AM

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There are a lot of stances on God out there. Who He is (or isn't), whether He exists or is a figment of the imaginations of weak-minded people, of touch-feely people, of intellectually-outdated people.

Some of the more popular thoughts on God include: (listed in order of likeability...well actually number 2 blows, but I figured we ought to start with no-god)

1. God doesn't exist
Never has, never did. There is no higher power and the life we live here is all we have and all we can hope for. Whether this belief is scientifically based, comes from suffering or is simply a license to live without limits, it essentially says, there is no God. And that's fine, we are entitled to this stance.

2. God as an excuse for bigotry, evil, pride and hate
Don't have much to say about this god. Unfortunately, he exists.

3. The Deist Theory
There is a being; and he dwells high in the clouds. He made the world and watches with a kind of detached dismay at His creation gone crazy. He sees suffering and tuts over it, but doesn't act. He is detached, emotionally disconnected, and doesn't meddle in the affairs of his created beings. He's kinda like the father who is always at the office or the pub; the one whose kids grow up with a faint awareness of a tall guy who pops up at dinner time and appears occasionally in photos, like a smudge in the corner.

4. Gandalf God
He's like Yoder and Mr Miyagi in one white-bearded Deity. He is all that is wise and sage and stands in the sidelines drawing out the best in us. He is great, don't get me wrong, but there's something a little cheesy about a being who talks in cliches and looks like he could use a good dose of Metamucil.

5. Build-Your-Own-Deity
There is a god but he/she/it is a kind of vague god, Customised to our beliefs, much like one of those build-it-yourself burgers at McDonalds. This god is all that is good in the world, pops up in all belief systems (it is the same Being after all) and is basically whoever you want him to be. This kind of being doesn't really evoke much confidence; a god who can be shaped by my thoughts and beliefs is not a tangible, distinct and separate being, but a figment of thought; an idea, and as noble, moral, spiritual or lovely as that is, that is not the kind of god I need.

Thankfully, these gods are not the God of the Bible:

6. The Great I AM
He is distinct and contained; an entire being not dependent on me or defined by my thought. He has clear parameters around His being; what He stands for, who He is, what He permits, what He won't tolerate. He is not a Dictator, but a Distinct Being with strong, well defined edges, driven by love and bursting with surprising grace.

He is the Father we wish we had had growing up; the one who tells us we are a Princess or throws the footy around with us. The one who makes us eat our vegetables but can tickle us until we wet ourselves. The one who says no, we can't have a tattoo for our twelfth birthday because He knows what is good for us.

This God will always turn around with a warm hug and a listening ear, no matter what we have done, who we think we are. This God dines with sex workers and extortionists and yet has a pretty strong stance on sin (In fact, He literally cannot tolerate it) and pretty high requirements. He doesn't want your best efforts. He wants YOU. All of you, good and bad.

Of course, this is part of the wonderful mystery of I AM.

He came up with a brilliant plan so that sin wouldn't stand between Him and His creation. It has nothing to do with goodness, effort or general saintliness and everything to do with persistent, fatherly love and the enabling power of an abiding Presence.

This, people, IS God. We have been sold a lie.

God is not dead and He is not defined by my thought. He is separate from it and we are given the opportunity to shape our beliefs to His reality.

Which stance are you?