The Personality of God
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That's not God, that's Jesus!
- The personality of Jesus and the personality of God are one and the same. There is absolutely no conflict. Both are usually very compassionate and loving, but both can be provoked to anger. If you want to see God, turn to the Gospels and read about His son Jesus.
Jesus said, "I and my Father are one."
John 10,30
God's plans for our well-being are constantly disrupted by the schemes of the Devil who likes people to think he doesn't exist so that God gets the blame.
Why God gets misunderstood
- Many people have an image of God as being an immensely old man with white hair and beard, somewhere in the sky, but hidden from sight. Some may think of Him as severe and unapproachable.
Michelangelo's idea of God
Jesus, on the other hand, has quite a different image. He is perceived as being much kinder, much more approachable and a worker of miracles. Because He was misunderstood by the people of His time, they crucified Him.
- In the Old Testament the focus is on God. There are only indirect references to Jesus, those in prophecies about the future. In the New Testament the focus is on Jesus.
The Old Testament describes in a lot of detail the origins of the Jewish nation and their constant struggles for survival in a hostile world. It talks about the great difficulties God's prophets, the men who were directly inspired by Him, faced as they did their best to keep the nation on course. In the Old Testament we read about the continuous frustrations God had with His chosen nation, the enemies of that nation and the enemies of His prophets.
- Parts of the Old Testament paint a picture of God dealing with constant battles. It is not surprising that we get an unbalanced view of what God is really like.
God is love. What is love?
| God is love. 1 John 4,16 |
| [Saint Paul wrote] "Love is patient, love is kind; love is not jealous or conceited or proud. Love is not selfish or irritable; love does not keep a record of wrongs. Love never gives up; love is eternal." 1 Corinthians 13 |
It follows on from these two quotations that:
| " God is patient, God is kind;
God is not jealous or conceited or proud. God is not selfish or irritable; God does not keep a record of wrongs. God never gives up; God is eternal." |
