In the beautiful poetry of the King James version of Genesis, verse 27 of the first chapter says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” And ever since then, humans have been returning the favor by creating God or gods in their own images. I recently heard a quotation from Anne Lamott: “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” As you know, the fifty-nine-cent word for creating our own gods is “anthropomorphism”; and it’s been going on for centuries.
The ancient Greeks and Romans created a whole heaven full of gods and goddesses. It certainly could not have taken long for even our most ancient ancestors to discover that they were not quite alone in the world—that there were forces and powers which, though unseen, had very visible effects on their lives. The Greeks—marvelous for their sense of order—seem to have been the first people to take an intellectual approach to these phenomena. Perhaps to earlier humans, it was sufficient that they had developed “sense enough to come in out of the rain.” The Greeks, however, needed to know what caused the rain, why there was sometimes lightning, sometimes thunder, sometimes destruction. They began, as H. D. F. Kitto says, to see “. . . that there is unity in things, that events have their causes and their results, that certain moral laws exist. This is the framework into which the particular action is seen to fit. The divine background . . . means ultimately that particular actions are at the same time unique and universal.”
Of course, many other questions also needed answers. Why, for instance, when two people planted a field, did one reap bountiful crops and the other only weeds? What caused various human emotions? How did wars come about, with all of their suffering and injustice? This tendency to search for the meaning behind events, to get to the root or essence of life, led—in a rather backward theology—to the creation of a whole set of deities and, in turn, to a whole new attitude toward life.
They—these gods and goddesses—formed a sort of super-society, existing above human society, with interaction between the two being necessary to explain certain mysterious events. Some of the most notable characteristics of the ancient Greeks are their desire for order, their respect for human dignity, and their passion for extracting the very best out of life. Out of the conflict between these desires and the frequent inability to fully achieve them grew a sense of tragedy, which became the hallmark of their literature. The need to make sense of forces over which they had no power but which did have power over them left them no choice but to find a way to make peace with the entire world—both the visible and the invisible parts of it. So, in their completely earth-bound frame of reference, humans created personifications of supernatural elements as the only means whereby they could attempt to understand and make peace with them.
The Greek deities—as products of the human imagination—could never be more rational, logical, or consistent than were the human minds which created them. And since human philosophy changes frequently, so did the gods’ personalities; the gods did, however, seem to represent the very best of human thought at any given time. And they provided the necessary extra pieces for putting together a complete picture of human values. Since the gods’ words and deeds were supposed to be above question or reproach, those ideas and motives which humans wished to make sacred or inviolable, they simply attributed to the gods. And when humans did question the judgment of the gods, they were really only questioning their own values, morals, and institutions—asking themselves if perhaps it was time to re-evaluate certain portions of their philosophy and to make changes in their institutions. The gods’ role in human destiny was always clearly an integral part of the process of establishment and reaffirmation of values.
Centuries later, much of this description still sounds familiar. In the twenty-first century, we have science, history, philosophy, psychology, and well-developed systems of theology to explain natural phenomena and human behavior. And we have Google! The major world religions are monotheistic rather than polytheistic, and people of the Christian faith affirm their belief in “the one true God.” However, there seems to be a great deal of variation in what that “one true God” looks like and acts like. Can it be that we’re still attributing what we consider the highest ideals and values to our God? Can it be that we still attempt to make certain values sacred or inviolable by putting them into the mouth of God? Can it be that we’re still creating God in our own image? I think so.
I used to have a stalker. Oh, it wasn’t the usual jilted lover, and I never feared for my life, although I did fear whether my sanity would withstand the constant onslaught of this person who claimed to speak on behalf of God. She spoke with great certainty and authority about what God thinks on all sorts of topics: what God loves and especially what God hates. Most people don’t have stalkers who have to be taken to court and kept at bay by means of a restraining order, but I think lots of people probably have that person who purports to speak on behalf of God and who judges their actions and beliefs as if they had a direct phone line to the Almighty.
In every public conversation, someone claims to speak on God’s behalf, asserting with the utmost authority what God thinks on the subject and what God hates and what God may do to us as a culture if we fail to heed this person’s dire warnings of God’s wrath. God hates homosexuality; therefore, God smiles on the baker who refuses to supply a cake for a same-sex wedding, and that baker finds affirmation in God’s approval. Some seem to suggest that God decreed men and women should have separate bathrooms and therefore is greatly disturbed by any mention of humans changing that sacred tradition. And from some arguments, one could easily infer that God is a card-carrying member of the NRA and personally wrote the second amendment; therefore, God wants to protect our right to own any kind of weapon in any quantity we choose. And I guess that also means God doesn’t give a damn about all the people who are dying in mass shootings, because we rarely hear anyone say what God thinks about those. And that may explain the mystery of Donald Trump’s teary-eyed expression of gratitude in his acceptance “speech” for the support of the evangelical voters. I’ve struggled to understand what seems like a contradiction: evangelical Christians enthusiastically supporting a candidate whose values are so diametrically opposed to theirs; but since Trump has the support of the NRA and Vladimir Putin, and since his bigotry matches much of the bigotry which some evangelicals attribute to their God, perhaps it’s starting to make a little sense.
The world is a confusing place, and uncertainty is difficult to embrace. As twenty-first century humans, we’re not all that different from the ancient Greeks. We’re still struggling to understand things which defy all of our attempts to make sense of them and to put them into a neat, orderly system. No one has ever physically met God, and the social issues which some people try to drag God into today are issues about which we have no conclusive information on which to make definitive statements of God’s opinions. But we have a deep-seated need for order and certainty, so we often create our own order. Whatever we individually believe are the highest values and ideals, those are the characteristics we attribute to our God. We also have a strong need to be right; so when we need to justify our positions on issues and shut down disagreement and argument, we put our words into the mouth of God. As a result, that “one true God” has become a pretty confusing conglomerate of contradictory characteristics.
I’d like to end this article with some really profound solution or philosophy, but I’ve got nothin’. I can only go back to where I started: “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” (Anne Lamott) Think about it!