God of Love or man gods? By Keith L. Anderson, Ph.D. When we talk about God, who are we talking about? Are we talking about the God of love? Are we talking about the God who, we say, sent His only begotten Son to die for our sins? As I look at this country and even the world, I wonder just who it is we’re praying to and worshiping. I mean think about it. We acknowledge that God is a God of love, yet we hate each other for things like skin color, gender, and gender identity. If we are to be totally honest, we’d have to admit that we promote more reasons to hate each other than we do to love each other! We war against our own kids, our poor, the elderly and people who aren’t members of our particular political party. We also war against other countries, at the drop of a hat. In this godly country, our leaders show no hesitation or remorse about lying to the people they have sworn to protect. We do all of this under a flag we claim represents God and Country. Again, what God are we talking about? We do a lot of lip-service and internet yapping; about how great God is. But I wonder if God is annoyed at those of us who call Him “Lord”! The God of Love can’t rid us of racism and other hate because His people are too busy trying to become their own little gods. His people want to stay huddled up in their churches, singing about “How Great Thou Art”. In writing there’s a saying, don’t tell, show. Regardless of our denominational affiliations, maybe it is time to SHOW how great God is. In my fight against racism, I have run across too many pastors who don’t want to talk to their congregations about the sin of racism. Yes, racism is a sin! If God is indeed love, and hate is a manifestation of racism, then racism opposes the love of God. Anything that opposes the Love of God is by definition, sin. Therefore, those of us who believe God is love should be at the forefront of ridding this country of racism; and any other hateful isms and anti-people phobias. So, do we worship the God of Love, or have we created man gods? Although this piece sounds as if it directed at Christians, it isn’t only directed at Christians. This country and this world are made up of many groups of people with many beliefs. No one group is absolved of the consequences, resulting from the actions of other groups. We all pay. Like Michael Franti sings, “We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can’t bomb it into peace!” A world of peace means loving every man, woman and child.