Thoughts from the Morning after Christmas…

God is not the American dream. To have the American dream manifest itself in my life …health, wealth, and wonder…is not a signal of God's presence or His stamp of approval. It might NOT be well with my soul, even if I'm feeling at ease or basking in public approval. I might not be blessed.

Is God someone or an idea?

It seems to me that the American Christian community, myself included, oscilates between an understanding of God as being either captive to His attribute of justice or slave to His attribute of mercy. The belief that He HAS to punish sin. And the subsequent belief that He HAS to accept us into Heaven because of what is commonly believed Christ did (i.e., penal substitution). In both cases, He's not really sovereign or free to choose but subject to these concepts. It's a 1 dimensional view of God...stagnate. It boils Him down to an idea, not a dynamic Someone we can have a relationship with. It is a path to Atheism.