By Rudy Barnes, Jr., May 17, 2025
Many people of faith don’t believe in the vengeful God of the Hebrew Bible, but believe in a God of love and mercy exemplified by Jesus. Many progressive Christians believe in a demiurge, or lesser man-created god; and many progressive Christians who believe that Jesus was the universal Word of God, or Logos, share that Gnostic belief in a dimiurge.
As an octogenarian retired United Methodist pastor, I’m a Maverick Methodist who believes in a universal God of love and mercy who sent Jesus as His Word to be followed, not worshipped as God’s human sacrifice and the only means of salvation. I believe that the teachings of Jesus on altruistic love are God’s universal will for all humankind.
The moral teachings of Jesus are summed up in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves. It’s considered a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike; but its universalism is heretical to exclusivist Christian beliefs that Jesus never taught.
According to Jesus God’s will is that his universal and timeless teachings are relevant to both our social and political lives. While Christians have neglected their stewardship of the moral teachings on sacrificial love, the church has promoted exclusivist doctrines that don’t require a moral commitment to follow Jesus, only exclusivist belief in Jesus as God.
Jesus never taught that he was divine or that God preferred Christianity over other religions. My commentaries have promoted the universal relevance of the teachings of Jesus to politics, with an emphasis on discerning the difference between good and evil. Jesus never promoted church doctrines that asserted Christianity as the one true faith.
The Trump regime represents the worst of Christian nationalism and populism, with no assurance that America’s Constitutional government can be restored. With a weak Democratic Party and Trump’s dominant Republican regime, the future of freedom and democracy in America remain uncertain until the 2026 midterm elections.
Jesus taught that God’s will is to reconcile and redeem humanity, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer; but Satan does a convincing imitation of God in politics and the church. The teachings of Jesus on sacrificial love have never been popular, but church doctrines based on belief in Jesus as God but never taught by Jesus remain a popular source of cheap grace.
What American Christians think of God is shaped by popular ideals in American politics and the church. It should be obvious that it matters greatly to America’s future who or what Americans think of God. In the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil our fate is shaped by our concepts of God. It’s one battle that America cannot afford to lose.
Notes:
It is not a new phenomenon that horrors have happened in the name of God. The Crusades were wars fought to convert the infidels; during the Inquisition, folks were tortured in the name of keeping Catholicism pure; smart, strong women were hunted and killed as witches both in Europe and in colonial Massachusetts. Africans were enslaved; Indigenous were slaughtered; land was stolen; theologies of Apartheid were created in South Africa and Jim Crow in the U.S.. Blacks were lynched and Jews were exterminated in the name of God. Queer and Trans people are banished and tortured in the name of God. Lies, deception, broken hearts, poverty, capitalism run amok, environmental raping and pillaging, all happen in the name of God.
In the name of God. Which God? Whose God? Does God want the death and destruction of people and planet?
Honestly, we don’t fully know who God is. God is mystery, that we can’t quite comprehend. Is there a God at all? I think so. I believe so. But to be honest, much of what many people call “god” is made up from the worst of our thoughts, fears and projections. In other words, though some Holy texts say God creates humans in God’s image, humans also create god in ours.
Too often that made-up god is a bully, hates all the people we hate, and will smite our enemies. That made-up god is on the side of the rich and powerful; the poor and disenfranchised be damned. In fact that made-up god wants us to believe that the tragedies of poverty and sickness are the fault of the poor and sick.
God is love, and God’s will is that we have peace, well-being, and an everlasting love.
Notes:
Who is (Your) God? What we believe about God shapes how we treat our neighbor. See
https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/who-is-your-god/
On the greatest commandment as a common word of faith and love over law:
(1/11/15): The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html
(1/18/15): Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/love-over-law-principle-at-heart-of.html
(1/23/16): Who Is My Neighbor?
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/who-is-my-neighbor.html
(1/30/16): The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/the-politics-of-loving-our-neighbors-as.html
Other related commentary:
(3/31/18): Altruism: The Missing Ingredient in American Christianity and Democracy
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/03/altruism-missing-ingredient-in-american.html.
(6/15/24): Musings Why Churches Ignore the Moral Teachings of Jesus https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/06/500-musings-on-why-most-churches-ignore.html
(8/3/24): Musings on Popularity as the Measure of Success in the Church and Democracy
https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/08/musings-on-popularity-as-measure-of.html.
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