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We’ve heard it a hundred times, seen it on bumper stickers, even on billboards, that “God is Love.” We read the words but do we believe the message? It can be confusing, because sometimes the same people who exhort us to believe that God is love turn around and tell us that if we don’t belong to their religion then we’re going to be sent to hell, or that if we continue to live in sin we will surely bring down the wrath of God upon us. Most traditional Christian churches teach that Jesus came to earth to appease the anger of the Father, and to save us. The trouble with this picture is, who is Jesus saving us from? Well, in essence, God! That can’t be right! The question arises, which is it? Is God love or is God vengeance? And how can God be both? And if he is both, what kind of God do we have up there running things? It’s not a very pleasant picture.

What is the essence of God? Many people can agree that God is the Beginning and the End, the Source, Reality, Life Itself. God is Life and the Source of Life. All spirit in all people and things, all that is animate, growing, living, breathing, existing, all things that have being, essence and form, owe their existence and subsistence from the Source Itself, from the origin of life and creation itself, from God. So, right away we see that God isn’t some comic book character. God is bigger than that. God is the immeasurable fountain of life. We can also say about God is that this life comes forth from God’s love. As Swedenborg said, “Love is the life of humanity.” In fact, love is the life of all things. This love comes forth in its very essence as endeavor itself, the force of life moving forward to fulfill its end. Love is that which directs all things, from the love of life itself and living to a love of sharing and giving, from the warmth in each beating heart to the warmth of a tender embrace. All that love is life and all that life is God. God is life, and God is love.

Here’s one idea for you that will help you immensely if you can let go of old ideas of God and believe it. God not only condemns no one to misery or to hell, but rather, God cannot condemn us. Can you believe that? God can’t condemn us, hate us, give up on us, disapprove of us, or ever reject us. Love cannot cease from loving. Love creates. It does not destroy. Love enlivens and does not take away life. Love encourages and supports. Love does not condemn and turn away. God not only loves us but is constantly there to lift us up, and bring us to a better place than we could bring ourselves. One way to look at it is that God is our greatest supporter, our biggest fan, our ideal parent, mentor, guardian, and friend. Yes, he is our friend, and at the same time is the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

But what about hell and misery? They are real. But they do not originate in God. We create our own hell. We create our own misery when we turn away from the source of life and love. I know for myself that when I turn away from being a loving, trusting, helpful person, to a selfish, fearful, self-serving person, which unfortunately happens from time to time, that I put myself through hell in the process. I can’t be happy if I cut myself off from love, from trust in a higher power, and from a connection to others. I feel isolated, fearful, empty, and completely dissatisfied. That’s hell for me. I am confident you know what I am talking about because it is the human experience. We create our own hell. Now I believe that the hell we create follows us after death, and that hell is a place where spirits go who don’t want heaven and the love and fellowship heaven has to offer. God doesn’t send us to hell; God loves us so much that he lets us go there if that’s what we choose, but it’s not his hell for us, it’s our hell for ourselves.

Can you come to accept this? God is real because God is life itself. God is not distant but very present in your life. God does not look upon you with any attitude except from love. God works constantly for your welfare but only in connection with your own choices and freedom. God’s ways are not always our ways, as the Bible says , but God’s ways are good, and always lead to good. God cares, always. God loves you. Hear it this time: God loves you. Believe it: GOD LOVES YOU.

The very beginning of the Bible starts out in Genesis by saying, “God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27) We humans are created in the image of God. We are human because God is human. Notice also that humanity is male and female, and the wonderful and complimentary characteristics of each gender are in the image of God. In the ancient world God was seen as a father for a variety of reasons, including ancient people seeing God through their own patriarchal culture. It is also customary in Christianity to refer to God as male because God came into the world as Jesus Christ. I honor this image of Jesus and refer to Jesus Christ, whom I revere as my Lord and my God, as my Heavenly Father. Jesus even teaches us to do this in his prayer, “Our father who art in the heavens . . . .” (Matthew 6:9) However, sometimes this patriarchal view has been taken to such an extreme that theologians have claimed that God in essence is male, and have made it very hard for some people to connect with God. This is another false notion--that God, in essence, is male. God takes a masculine form as Jesus Christ, but the essence of God transcends gender. God is Divine Love, and this love is expressed through Divine Wisdom. Love is the essence. Wisdom is the form. Neither of these is male or female, but the feminine and masculine creations come from these and both reflect the essence of God.

However, the image of Jesus Christ as God in human form plays not only an important role, but a critical role for humankind. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of the Divine in human form, as the Apostle Paul said, “In him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9) In him we see the loving tenderness, the gentleness (and appropriate firmness), the guidance, the love, the healing and the forgiveness of the Divine. In him we see God, even as Jesus himself said to Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) What Jesus gave us was a visible and human picture of God. Consider words such as these:

Let the little children come to be, and do not forbid them, for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 19:13

My peace I give to you...let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27

Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28

These are all invitations into his loving embrace. How does this compare to connecting to an invisible God, or to life itself? It’s hard to have a personal relationship with an invisible and unknowable life-force. In fact it is impossible. But to know this same invisible life-force in Jesus Christ, both Divine and Human, is very possible. Through the Divine Humanity of Jesus Christ the Divine is at once visible, approachable, and accessible. Swedenborg beautifully illustrates this point:

Union with an invisible God is like union of the sight of the eye with the expanse of the universe, the bounds of which are not to be seen. Or it is like looking out into the middle of the ocean, when the gaze falls on air and sea and is frustrated. But union with a visible God is like seeing a man in the air or on the sea opening his arms and inviting you into his embrace.

What it all boils down to is that you can have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, because the invisible Source of Life and Love is made visible in Jesus Christ.

by Grant Schnarr
Author of You Can Believe and
Return to the Promised Land