The Can Opener

Jerome Bettis is the Bus. Karl Malone is the Mailman. Frank Thomas is the Big Hurt. And I think I may have found my nickname this weekend: the Can Opener.

I suppose you could misinterpret that. It sounds like some kind of macho thing, like a guy who's had too many Bud Lights and is threatening to "open up a can" on some unsuspecting guy in a gravel parking lot. That would not be me. But yesterday I talked about our image of God at church, and it became obvious that I opened up a big can of worms. I can't say what I intended to do exactly, but that's what happened. It was a good thing. Today I'm thinking that one of the best things I could do on Sunday is open up cans.

If you weren't there, let me catch you up. A Baylor University/Gallup poll last year studied people's perceptions of God, and found that Americans have four predominate views, determined by God's relative levels of anger and engagement in the world; they are:

• Distant - God is uninvolved and unfeeling about the world
• Critical - God is angry, but doesn't tend to be involved in the world or people's lives
• Authoritarian - God is actively involved, and is ready to open up a can on someone
• Benevolent - God is involved and is not angry

Biblically, God is both benevolent and at least somewhat authoritarian (comments?). But Christians, as it turns out, are all over the map in how they view God, and it really affects people's ability to see God as loving (note that love only characterizes the Benevolent God). We had a lively discussion at our table last night about how we view God--functionally, not philosophically. Our kids' views on God's nature were even surprising to us. There was a lot of discussion about struggles to overcome views of God that are often deeply ingrained and become major obstacles to loving or trusting God.

The biggest can of worms, it seems to me, is this: many of us have a nagging question somewhere in the back of our minds. It goes something like this: "I think God loves me, I want to believe that God loves me, but ___________." Different things go in that blank, but they have a similar ring. "...but wouldn't things go better in my life, or wouldn't they have gone better in the past, if God really cared?"

So let's just leave this can open for a while. What about you? What is your functional view of God, and how does it affect your relationship with him? Why do you think you view God the way you do? What goes in the blank for you?

PS: the other discovery from yesterday was that the benefit of having been at our church service was dramatically reduced if you didn't talk about it or have anyone to talk about it with after the service was over. The table made the service; the service without the table was...fine, but not necessarily life-changing. I can't say it too often or too emphatically--community is where life change happens. Don't miss it!