How do you reconcile yourself with the popular image of God?

What God logically can or cannot be is different from how some people would like God to appear. Their motive is to convince people to "convert" and "behave". There are many images of God as jealous and vengeful, as well as images of God as tender and nurturing, all in the Jewish scriptures. In the New Testament, God's influence is mediated through the persons of Christ and the Holy Spirit, more loving, less violent. But preachers are interested in membership and order among the ranks. Sticks are usually more effective than carrots, so they emphasize the unrelenting "justice" of a "holy" God, making us look guilty and deserving of punishment by comparison.

But philosophically, you can realize that this doesn't make sense. It has a very mudane, transactional, human rationality to it. A transcendent God wouldn't think like us, calculating moral debits and credits. This God would want his creation to succeed in every way possible, and would not regard one creature as more or less "worthy" than another.

So "heaven" and "hell" are human concepts, driven by human fear and desire. I doubt that whatever "God" might have planned for us resembles anything in Christian thought.

Some theologians argue that "hell" is really the ultimate withdrawal into self and rejection of all creation, kind of like a black hole, while heaven is just the opposite. That would make more sense because it means the construction of these states is up to us. But it is also possible that God, aware of our flawed ignorance, has no intention of "punishing" or "rewarding" us as childish competitors for his affection. After all the carrot-and-stick behaviour control of religious demagoguery, we may discover that such concepts as "obedient" or "faithful" or even "good" or "bad" no longer make sense in the "next" life.

We don't have to buy into the "popular" image to have our own valid concept of God. God has to make "sense" to you.

I personally have NEVER had that perspective of God. I found the GOD who had always been in my heart & converted from catholicism when I was 14. I felt God was a loving, merciful being, who knew me personally, wanted me to be happy, was a real person with parts, passions & a tangible body and I found THAT thru my conversion to the LDS faith. Don't get me wrong - God's wrath is shown to be real, especially to the wicked - but the wicked choose that wrath by their choices. Those who love God and follow His ways and truly try to follow the Savior, Jesus Christ find peace, grace, forgiveness and a loving, caring Heavenly Father. I have never & will never see or feel fear & trembling towards God because I know He only wants me to be happy. If I am unhappy I can almost certainly point towards my own behavior & attitude that is bringing me DOWN and not God. God is not in darkness - He is full of light, love & peace..... You won't find a wrathful, vengeful GOd EVER portrayed in an LDS church like that! And there isn't one portrayed in my mind or heart like that either!

It's because popular images are more often than not caricatures. People use shorthand to avoid dealing with tough issues and grappling with the actual texts and teachings of a religion. I think most christians make peace with the actual difficult aspects of their faith, at least enough to realize that the popular images of them are unfounded.

I think the popular image of God is BS, so I don't believe in it. But even if that popular image is true, that God isn't worth worshiping.

The popular image of God is not accurate.We do not end up in hell because we don't worship him, we go there because of our unbelief and lack of trust in him.

Humanly speaking, our parents love us, but they punish us for not obeying the rules, right? Is that awful?

I remind myself that that particular concept of God was created to control a primitive and superstitious people a long time ago. It's no longer relevant.

Noone realy knows what he /she looks like and i am sure human imagination does not quite get it we pagans accept this and use the gods and godesses of our ancesters I am not trying to recruit you im just sayin come up with an image that you can feel close to and youll find it easier to attune to your god i assure you its the level of your commitment he / she is lookin at not what you think they look like PEACE TO YOU ON YOUR PATH

You will see many descriptions of God in these pages... which one do you agree with?? Any reason not to believe in that one???

That's not my image of God.

figured such a being must be evil.

only thing that made any sense.