Do you believe in a loving or hostile God is a parody on Albert Einstein’s statement, “The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe.” Einstein thought that was the most important question facing humanity, do you believe the universe is friendly or hostile?

How that question was answered would determine the response. If we believe the world is a hostile place, then all our efforts, technology, scientific resources, and discoveries would focus on safety and power by creating more walls and weapons.

If we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we use those resources for good.

It’s a very important question to answer. But I believe a bigger and more important question to answer is whether we believe in a loving or hostile, judgmental God.

How Our Image of God is Shaped

Most people’s image of God, initially, is a subtle combination of their own mother and father or other early authority figures.

If you are fortunate enough to have loving parents and role models, you have a head start on your image of God being a loving Parent.

But if the authority figures in your life were absent, abusive, manipulative, untrustworthy, those traits can carry over to the image you form of God and whether that image is loving or hostile.

Much of the work Jesus did was to heal and to show us who God was, a loving God. He tells us that we are part of God in these verses from John.

“The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23

John 17:22-23

John writes, “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

I Used to Believe in a Hostile God

My image of God was very distorted. The message I heard from the pulpit left me disillusioned so much so that I turned away from my faith and from God for twenty years.

And I must admit, I struggle with the God depicted throughout the Old Testament. But it has been through the spiritual practices of prayer, meditation, and stillness that I’ve experienced God’s loving Spirit through a personal relationship. For me, I choose to believe in a loving God.   

I Now Believe in a Loving God

I share more about this shift in this free, short eBook, Bringing God’s View into Focus to Live Life with Joy and Flow along with the audio version.

Having a loving image of God allows you to live your life with greater joy, flow, and freedom. God’s love, power, and glory will flow through you to others.

You will have greater peace, clarity, and purpose in your life as you love and trust God fully.

That has been my experience in making that choice. I choose to believe in a loving God.

If religion has left you wounded and disillusioned, download this free eBook and audio book: Bringing God’s View Into Focus to Live Life with Joy and Flow.