There is one inalienable, unalterable truth:
God is Love.
If we dare to believe that truth, then we will approach the scriptures with a radically different mindset, and view the scriptures through a drastically different lens.
When recording cultural and historic events from their limited perspective, could it be that the scripture-writers (being mere men), painted God with a brush dipped in sin? What I mean by that is this: sin had so permeated man’s perspective (sort of like a white sock immersed in red dye) that he could not help but view God through clouded lenses – glass coloured darkly, as it were – and painted him with colours that seemed to repudiate the truth: God is Love. These sin-drenched colours erroneously portray God as being violent, judgemental, cruel, vindictive, self-centred, uncaring, capricious, etc.
It’s also very important to keep in mind the cultural and social mores, customs and traditions of the time, as well as the fact that these men would be very acquainted with malevolent tribal gods who demanded appeasement and sacrifice. Combined, all these factors would produce a blend of colours resulting in a grossly disfigured, Picasso-like portraiture of the one true God. And who, do you suppose, is the Great Master working behind the canvas, mixing such garish colours? Satan himself, operating through sin in the stained scripture-writer’s flesh, portraying God-is-Hate instead of God-is-Love.
It’s a well-known fact that all visible hues are comprised of a blend of the three primary colours: red, blue and yellow. Those are the colours that our earthly eyes can detect. However, there are an infinite number of colours our earthly eyes are incapable of seeing (ones which will be readily visible in all their splendour in Heaven). If we paint God using only earth-bound colours, we get an inaccurate portrayal of his true likeness. However, if we dare to believe God is who he says he is – the essence of Love – despite what we think and see, and instead dip our paintbrushes into the infinite variety of colours available to us through the prism of belief, then the truth about God’s true nature becomes clearly visible.
So how are we to view God?
First of all, don’t worship the scriptures! Keep in mind the flawed perspectives of the men who wrote them. Accept the fact that the scripture-writers, though inspired, were heavily influenced by the distorting aspect of sin in their own flesh and by the instigation of Satan whose sole desire is to convince multiplied generations of human-kind that God is anything BUT a loving Heavenly Father.
Secondly, re-read scriptures through the lens that God is Love, and then question anything that would suggest otherwise.
Then what is love?
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres”.
In the verse above, in each case substitute the word ‘love’ with ‘God’. THAT is who God is. THOSE are his true colours, but they are indiscernible to the eye of unbelief.
God is issuing both a challenge and an invitation in the form of a da Vinci-like code: are you willing to cast aside all your preconceived notions and all you’ve been taught to believe in order to know God for who he really is?
God is beckoning. Do you dare to believe?
Margo Broadbent
