The God of Manyness

The God Of Manyness If your were to read the psalms, you would find that God has many different emotions and seeming personalities, depending on the particular psalm. God might at one time appear merciful, loving, kind, and patient. Other times God is warlike, vengeful, judgmental and punishing. God can be silent or roaring, demanding or accepting. God is all over the place in the psalms. How come? Well, I suspect that when these psalms were being composed, there were no "belief" wars among the Hebrew tribes. There might have been some political posturing, but not faith in the correct God issues. So no one was offended if one idea about God differed from another. Each experience was valid. Or other words, no one really knows who God truly is, and that is OK. God could still be loved if not known, as the contemplatives would tell us. Then came religious wars, the Reformation in Christianity. The "Who" of God became dogma, and dogma was set in cement for each side in the conflict. If you did not believe in my idea of God then you were my enemy and I could do damage to you. Conversion became a movement to faith as dogma, and ritual and rule. God had to be either this or that. God could not be both or neither. Religions began to believe that they actually knew God, and the knowing was what was important. With that most forgot to "love" the unknown God. In spirituality, too much thinking is not a good thing

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