How Do You View God? (part 5)

     The last view of God from Curt Cloninger's film Godviews is called "God in a Box." Church members tend to put constraints on what God can do and where He can go. They keep Him in a box to show to others from time to time. They don't let Him out of the box often for fear He will scare off potential church members. The omnipotent God, the one who created the universe, is too powerful and frightening for the "sophisticated" people of the 21st century.

     This view of God in a box gives us the illusion that we are more in control than we really are. We like to be able to pull God out every now and then to show Him off, but for the most part we don't want His interference. We think we are perfectly capable of handling things right up to the point when we realize we can't.

     God's will will be done, whether we like it or not. My advice is to take God out of the box that you have placed Him in and let Him have total control of your life.

How Do You View God? (part 4)

     The next view of God Curt Cloninger gives in his film Godviews is "God the Old Timer." In this view God is the old man with the long gray beard. He used to be really active in His creation, but now He just sits on the porch and watches. God wound up the universe like a watch and now is just sitting back watching it unwind. He is retired and He neither wants much from us nor offers much to us. This view was popular with the philosophers. It is also known as Deism. It states that God exists but isn't directly involved in the world. Deists look at creation and see the need for a creator, but don't see Him active in its day to day activities.


     The Bible is in complete opposition to this view of God. In fact the Bible is an account of God interfering in His creation. On almost every page of the Bible you will read of God being actively involved in the happenings of this world. We may not understand what God is doing, but that shouldn't cause us to doubt His existence. Whether we see it or not, God is orchestrating all that goes on in creation.