by Bob Trowbridge

Created on: January 17, 2008

While it is quite possible that God is a true being, that is a matter of faith and not susceptible to normal types of proof. Those who believe there is a God are called theists. Those who believe there is no God are called atheists. Both hold their positions through faith, not through knowledge or any kind of rational evidence. Those who are undecided are called agnostics.

So, whether there is a God or not, the God that is proclaimed by any and all religions is an invention of the human mind. The Judeo-Christian God, for example, has very different images for Jews and Christians, even though they supposedly worship the same God.

In the Torah or Old Testament we find a God of laws, a Judge, a King, a Lord. Humans tend to project upon their gods and goddesses the highest qualities and positions they see in their own world. So God is often spoken of as a King or Lord, the highest position known to those peoples. God is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In the New Testament, Jesus presented a different image of God. Jesus did not simply refer to God as "Father." He used a much more familiar term, Abba. This is more like our word "Daddy." So we see in this image a more familiar and more approachable deity.

In the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome we see human qualities writ large. The gods and goddesses play out our abilities and our foibles in exaggerated form. So wisdom is personified in the goddess Sophia. The human tendency for war is personified in Mars, and so on.

In so-called primitive societies were are more likely to see multiple gods who are associated with nature. The forces of nature are seen as something beyond the control of mere mortals. In order to have some control over these forces, tribes would create gods and goddesses that control the forces of nature. By worshipping and sacrificing to these deities, one could hope to have some influence on the important events and necessities of life.

In most societies, including our own, we tend to see God as the highest possible human, the best that we might achieve within our own imaginations. This can be very positive if it encourages people to become the best human they can. Or it can discourage if the goal seems impossible to achieve.

Although we humans try to ascribe the highest attributes to God we can possibly imagine, it is likely that we fall short of what a real God might be like. On the other hand we might ascribe qualities to God that make no sense. In the first case, if a God exists, He/She/It is

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