Dealing with that sad little milk toast of a man
No one really worries any more that Freud's alternative "explanations" for Christian belief might constitute actual refutations of Christianity's credibility; but few have influenced our culture's knee-jerk reactions to religion as much as Sigmund Freud, so for those who still suggest that God may be the fabrication of an over-active imagination for the soothing of a depleted emotion, our friend Gregory Koukl responds as follows:
"If we were to invent god, what would he be like? If left to ourselves to fashion a god of our choosing, would we create a god like the one in the Bible? A god formed by human hands would mirror human sensibilities. He would think and act, more or less, like we do. As our invention, his morality would reflect our desires. When we erred, he'd cluck his disapproval and then dismiss our frailties with an affectionate kids-will-be-kids shrug. After all, nobody's perfect.
The curious thing about the God of the Bible is how unlike us He is. His wisdom confuses us; His purity confounds us. He makes moral demands we can't live up to, then threatens retribution if we don't obey. Instead of being at our summons, He defies manipulation. In His economy, the weak and humble prevail and the last become first.
Did we invent that? Could we invent it? Is this the kind of god we would create if left to our own devices? Or have we seen the true God and trembled, closed our eyes, hid our faces and turned our backs?"
... he has a point.
posted by MM at 7:17 PM
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