Chalke Talk 28: We're made in God's image, but he's not made in ours

This week Steve looks at how people’s perceptions of God have been responsible for tremendous positivity but also tremendous damage throughout history, and today.

What are some of the constraints to worshipping a God that is constantly tainted by our attempts to understand him better? Steve quotes George Bernard Shaw, who puts it well: “God created man in his image – unfortunately man has returned the favour.” Using the examples of the Dutch Reformed Church’s support of Apartheid in South Africa, and the homophobic legacy in Commonwealth countries, Steve argues that a radical misunderstanding of who God is has resulted in terrible consequences. And although it’s easy to pick on the church, the problem actually runs much deeper. Our ideas about who God is, what God is like and how God wants us to live can either have a really positive or really negative impact on the world around us.

Do you agree? What does that mean for us as Christians? What can our generation do to undo the negative legacy of these ‘sins’ of the past? And, lastly, how do we ensure that we don’t make the same kind of theological and pastoral mistakes again?

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