Biblical Views of God

by Amy-Jill Levine and Douglas Knight
Huffington Post

The claims are familiar: humanity could not control nature, did not understand conception or birth, and feared death, and so we invented a God that brought order to chaos, purpose to life and comfort in death. Next, we developed religion to placate the God we invented to assuage our fears of what we could not understand or control. Then, we wrote the Bible to sanction the religion that placated the God that we invented. Next came clergy, to interpret the Bible. And today, we have academics to challenge the clergy who interpret the Bible that explains the religion that placates the God that we invented.

Such debates over the existence of God are not only tedious, they are also pointless. Those who believe, believe; those who don’t, don’t. Belief is like love: it cannot be compelled; it does not function on logical parameters. As some religions would put it, faith is a matter of “grace.” For these traditions, we do not summon faith; it summons us.

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