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God is NOT Normal

Jane Wheeler

A thought I have had rolling around in my brain seems to want to be the topic of today’s conversation. When did we make God “Normal”?

What I mean by that is, when in history did people start putting human traits onto God, instead of, as the Bible so eloquently says, “God made man in His image.” Genesis 1:27

We believe if we get panicky and worried then so must God, He must indeed be wringing His hands and wondering what to do over the problems that arise in our life.

We believe that if we had parents or people around us that were untrustworthy with our emotions or feelings, that indeed God must be in that category as well.

After reading the Bible through many times, I have yet to find that God has human characteristics, nor does He ever claim to. In fact when I read my Bible I am astounded over and over again at how NOT normal God is. He just does not do anything like we humans expect, in fact He seems to lack common sense sometimes.

He told Noah to build a boat and load up animals of the world to save them – I mean really? Think about that one, have you ever tried to get close to even one wild animal, never mind put them on a boat?

Moses, God gets his attention by talking in a burning bush except the bush never burns up.

Then there is the Jonah and the whale – seems pretty out there: man swallowed by a fish, survives 3 days and then is projectile vomited onto a beach somewhere.

Jesus turns water into wine and becomes the hit of the party!

The Savior of the world is put to death by the very people He came to save! Where is the common sense in that?

But that is exactly my point, God does not have to make sense and He certainly does not do things the way we think He should. What do we really know about God?

In my book The Complete Love Circle, God gave me a vision of what He is like and as a matter of fact He has already told all us what He is like, many times, throughout the pages of the Bible. But this one vision He gave me has come to resonate with many people because if we really think about it, we all have put human characteristics upon God, consciously or subconsciously.

Here is that vision:

So you might recognize some of these character traits, they sound familiar, hopefully very familiar. These are some of the most quoted phrases of the Bible it is called the Love Chapter and is often read at weddings. 1 Corinthians 13: Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud or arrogant, love is not rude or self-seeking, it is not easily angered, love keeps no record of wrongs and does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes and love always perseveres. That my friends is who God is – God’s Love Circle.

Now here is the tricky part, God told me that 1 Corinthians is His job description, that list is who He is, totally complete, not lacking any parts, so either we have to believe that God is all of those things, or He is none of them. You cannot take any parts out, nor do you get to put parts in.

For instance: I look down the list and go “um hum, yup, yup, I get that one”, but then my brain leaves the track when we come to (for instance) “not easily angered” and we set up some “but’s”. But if God was not angered then….. If God always protects, then this would not have happened or …..if God is trustworthy then …

Here’s the thing, God is ALWAYS – ALL OF THOSE THINGS- You cannot take any pieces out of the circle, He either is ALL of those things or none of them. Yet in our human thinking, we put God into the human category and try to make sense of Him based on our limited knowledge of who He is.

Still do not believe me? Try this exercise: Put your name in each of the 16 categories and say it out loud.

God is Patient to …….Your Name

God is Kind to …. Your Name

God does not envy….Your Name

Keep going, all 16…..

Were you able to get down the list? Was there one of two you just had a hard time believing? Most of us do.

But if we are trying to figure God out and how He operates, you have just placed yourself into the trying to put God into the Normal box and trying to fit human characteristics on God. He is NOT Normal, nor will He EVER be.

What He will be, is all of the pieces of the Complete Love Circle (pictured above), all the time and in all ways. How do I know this? He told us (in the Bible) and He showed us by sending us Jesus and the Holy Spirit and even if He does not do one more thing for you or me – it is enough because those acts alone make up the complete Love Circle and that is who He is.


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