Skip to main content

How We Picture God

I saw an interesting picture that someone posted on Facebook that made me think, so I thought I would share my thoughts in writing. I don't think this blog will have anything to do with teaching, but that's okay : ) Here's the picture...



My first thought was, "Would he? I really can't picture kind mild shepherd Jesus holding a gun." I realized I had this crazy picture in my head of a younger skinny white man with a beard looking apprehensively at the gun in his hand like it's going to hurt him. This is a ridiculous picture of Jesus! Jesus was kind, fair, righteous, loving, and sinless, when he walked the Earth, but He was also God. God doesn't mess around. He gives people chance after chance after chance to screw up and be forgiven. He has more patience then I can even fathom for putting up with all of us humans and waiting patiently for us to stop being so stupid and obey. There are times and circumstances, however, when God will use violence. The biggest and fastest-firing gun in the world isn't going to look like anything next to some of the things that we can read about in Revelations. God helped some leaders destroy cities and conquer armies. (I'm pretty sure this involved the use of some weapons.) He made two bears maul 42 people for disrespecting God's words and works.  In Acts he made two people fall to the ground dead because of their lies. Judges has some incredibly violent stories about the different people that saved the Israelite people. All throughout the old testament, swords played a part in God's plan.

 If God had had a different plan, I could see Jesus having a gun. Maybe he would hunt with it. Maybe he would trap shoot with it. Maybe he would still choose not to own one because it didn't fit into God's plan. Maybe he would have been a sniper. I honestly think the person who is proudly sporting this bumper sticker needs to rethink how they picture God. I wonder if they have considered more than just the white-robed man surrounded by animals with a child on his lap because there is a lot more to God then that, and I think it's good for us to remember the other sides of God as well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Second Chances

I've been thinking about second chances constantly lately. As an adult, think about all the times you've been given a second chance. I am not a perfect wife, but my husband gives me second chances all the time.  I tried to make cookies once with baking soda that was 2 years expired. They didn't turn out so great, but I have had other chances to bake things and I learned a value lesson about baking soda : ) I tried out for my church praise team and didn't make it. It was embarrassing and for a while I didn't feel like singing or playing the piano, but I can try out again and if I don't get so nervous next time, maybe I'll make it. I'm not banned forever because of one audition. I took the ACT twice when I was in high school, and my highest score was the only one colleges cared about.  My first year of teaching, I struggled quite a bit with classroom management. I needed more time and unfortunately first-hand experience to just begin lea...
Post a Comment
Read more

If I were a function...

If I were a function, I would choose to be Here's what I would look like on the surface: This function looks like a straight line. It may not look particularly interesting, but it has a few pretty important features. 1) First, it has a positive slope. As time passes, the value of the function increases. As time passes in my life, I want my experiences, wisdom, knowledge, love, and closeness to Jesus to increase, as well. "All things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28 2) This graph has a hole at 2. That is, in fact, a fancy mathematical term-- hole . This occurs because the top function can be rewritten as (x - 2)(x + 2). Since there is an (x - 2) factor in the bottom of the function, those (x - 2) factors cancel each other out. This means the first function (the one I would choose to be) is identical to f(x) = x + 2 at every single point except at x = 2. Just like my function, I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought about mapping activity

I was reading a few teachers talking about teaching their students to use maps and analyse the changes as well as using GPS and geocashing to use latitude and longitude. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you guys are science teachers? Based on that assumption, I was thinking it would be neat to incorporate a corresponding math project involving graphing. Maybe the students first learn about it with the science teachers. They do the project based lesson with maps and GPS. Then they could come to my math class and create their own map including cordinates. They could use slope and find distances between locations on their map. They could even hide their own treasures around the school campus and then trade their maps with other students to find each others' "treasures." They could use the concept of slope to tell students how to find the treasure. Maybe they have to start at a certain latitude or longitude and then go a certain direction with a certain slope, and they woul...
Post a Comment
Read more