First Impressions

First impressions are often lasting ones. Have you ever been embarrassed because you had a certain perception of a person only to find out that he/she is quite the opposite? Remember the gymnastics your mind had to go through because you ‘labelled’ a person to be so and so, and then need to make mental corrections – change your mind on that person. It can sometimes be extremely difficult to make those changes – in some cases nearly impossible. So it is not only facing up to wrong impressions that is hard to deal with but also changing those perceptions.

A parishioner of a church I’ve served many years ago did not like me at all. The problem was exaggerated by me trying to reach out to her. The more I reached out to her the more she would avoid me. Years later, I found out that I reminded her of someone (whom I never met and had no connection with) that did her wrong many years before. Because she found it impossible to break the mental connection between me and the other person, we could never build a relationship.

The image you form of a character, especially in the beginning of a narrative, plays an important role in how you experience a character and in the end, the way you read and experience the narrative. As in real life, the perception you form about a character often happens on a subconscious level. It is thus important from time to time, to stand back a bit and ask whether the image I have of a character in my mind is congruent with the one the narrator wishes to create.

That might not be that important when one reads fiction, but dealing with the character God, is a different kettle of fish. Subconsciously we all carry an image of God in our minds that was created through all sorts of inputs. How we read the Bible and how we relate to God and others will be impacted by our view / image of him. It is thus important to ask on a conscious level whether the image one has of God is the same the narrator of the biblical narrative wished to portray. If one does not do that and make the necessary changes, one might end up worshiping an idol (See also "What Kind of God?" 3 and "What kind of God? 4").

It might be more important to understand how narrators created / form characters than one think.

What 'kind' of God? (4)

When I look around me (and even at myself), it seems easy enough to create god(s) in our own image. It appears that every generation emphasise those aspects of God that ‘fit’ the current worldview and ignore those that don’t. The previous generations, for example, had a strong hierarchical view of society. God, therefore, was on the side of those in authority who keep society in good order. Emphasis was therefore laid on society subjecting to authority.

The current generation(s) (not that I’m sure which one I’m talking about or I’m part of) rejects any form of authority. God is now siding with the underdog and those in need, and is actually kind of against those in power. We do not hear anything anymore on submission to authority – not even the authority of our parents or teachers. God somehow disproves of anything non-democratic. Democracy on every level of life is now good and “god's will”. Even deciding what God is ‘like’ or what ‘kind’ of God he is, should be decided democratically. Like the queen of England, who is ruled by the likes and dislikes of her ‘subjects’, God is shaped by the taste and distastes of the current worldview.

When I listen to Christians, I sometimes think that we have ended up with a god very different from the one we meet in the Bible – especially the one in the Old Testament. It seems easier to fit Jesus into our mould than YHWH – easier to fashion him into the ‘kind’ of god that suits us.

Either way, if we end up with a god different from the one who revealed himself in both the Old and New Testament, we end up with an idol. Fretheim (1984:2) writes, “… idolatries do not need the plastic form to qualify as such. One can move directly to mental images which construct a false image of God…”

Asking the question about the ‘kind’ of God we are dealing with in the Old Testament (even if we find him to be too embarrassing for our modern world) appears an important one. We might think we are worshipping God while we are actually making ourselves guilty of idolatry – the Old Testament story is quite clear what God thinks of idolatry.