Who is God?

Upon reading a section of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and Deuteronomy 32:18-27 I realized that contemporary Christian circles speak so much of the love of God and not enough of his anger. It is so easy to believe and grasp just the trait of God's Love, the same one we have cheapened into Christian slogans. Isn't the image of the gentle God that we have painted in our minds flawed?

I am terribly afraid that the contemporary emerging church worships a different God than I do. At times the only resemblance our faiths have is the strange coincidence that our God’s have the same name.

Many paint an image of an all gentle and all forgiving God in their minds, one that loves them unconditionally no matter what they do. They therefore live an existential life claiming to practice “Christian Liberties”. By focusing on one single aspect of the person of God, they seem to create their God entirely.
Although we will never fully grasp God in his entirety, he left us 66 books that he has miraculously preserved over the last six-thousand years. They point directly to him and his character. It’s a heinous sin for anyone to pick and choose what to believe out of it.

The God I believe in is not this watered down version many sell to the world.
“There is a strong drift toward the hard theological left. Some emergent types [want] to recast Jesus as a limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes. In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with… a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.”
—Mark Driscoll, Relevant Magazine

He is the terrible God of Anger, Love, Mercy, Faithfulness, and compassion. Although God treats modern believers differently his attribute of Anger is as strong today as it always has been. You can’t get far into the Old Testament before you run into His wrath. It is clearly displayed in Deuteronomy 32:18-27. If you are unfamiliar with the passage read it and tell me God doesn’t get angry at his people.
This is the point I do not understand. People get so passionate during worship yet many don’t understand him in any capacity whatsoever. The fact that he is an angry and jealous God makes his mercy that much more apparent.
I would literally not have a God to worship if he hadn’t saved me from anything. It is easy to separate God from our condition, but God’s mercy is him saving us from himself. His righteous anger sends unbelievers to hell.
How is it possible to lose sight of this fact?

The Point
“What are we, that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?” -Jonathan Edwards, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

There was much more I had to say, however I’m hoping my point is clear. God is more than just the God of Love. Let us not find ourselves comfortable in his mercy. Although everything about God is everlasting, at times I believe we have earthly chastisement coming our way for how flippantly we claim the name of our savior. It is naïve to think that God will not spill his wrath out upon us believers. Although we are guaranteed salvation and mercy, we are not guaranteed wealth, earthly justice, or even life. Nor does he ever promise to not punish us. We approach worship without a care, get some emotional high because we love the songs, then go about our day without a consideration towards our savior.

As believers we need to realize and embrace the God of the bible. The good, the bad, the ugly. Many are uncomfortable with the idea of God’s wrath, however I am more uncomfortable of being comfortable. If I am not feeling guilty I am afraid. I never want God to cease to pursue me. John Piper shared similar sentiments in a sermon in the early 80s. In summarization he stated that if he was fearful of the day that he would open the bible and not grow or learn.

Let us approach worship with the realization of the truth that we have an opportunity to worship the same God that loves us unconditionally but also the same one who has created and destroyed. The very same God that is merciful but also could end our miserable existence if he so desired.

Re: Idolatry in Relationships

I think a huge reason why we have so many non-serious and shallow relationships in the world today are because of people being discontent. First and foremost it’s obvious that they are discontent with being single, but also being discontent with God. Although on the surface we wouldn’t necessarily call them needy, I think a large part of their relationship failure is due to them coming into their relationships with the need to be loved or the need to be needed. It is being in love with love not necessarily the person. Basically, loving the fuzzy feelings and not the individual. I’m pretty sure that fuzzy feelings don’t last for 50 years.

[ A bunny trail and Digging a hole:: I think denial helps with this error of thinking. Any man who has spent ANY time with a woman, will know they can be irrational. HA! Settle down I said ‘CAN BE’. But seriously. It’s not always going to be smooth sailing… Maybe people just need to face facts and see that?]

I think if people are truly needy and they enter relationships because of it; they set their relationships up as being adulterous to God from the start. If people are looking for others to worship them in a relationship they are making idols of themselves. Kind of sounds like a freaky cult to me… but apparently it happens all the time. Even if someone truly believes in their heart that they will give 100% into the relationship- if they are expecting to get anything in return then doesn’t that defeat the point and perhaps even make it idolatry? I think a lot of divorces are caused by people wanting to be worshiped and then having their expectations not lived up to.

- - Random:: On top of all this, I find it Ironic that many of the people that I have heard express that they really want to have a girlfriend, don’t serve others now. I really don’t think you would start being a servant the second you get married.