GENEVA – A panel of distinguished psychiatrists spent four years reviewing the Bible to uncover what makes God tick.
The top shrinks say God’s personality is clearly revealed in the written record of His encounters with prophets and biblical characters.
The Lord is strong, loving and generous, they say, but “He can be a little bit picky.”
“He tends to be inflexible on occasion and He does have a temper,” says Dr. Gustav Weberlitz, head of the seven-man panel.
“He has a prodigious memory. He can recall things a person has done years and years later. He keeps score.
“The good thing is that the Lord is a forgiving entity who treats the faithful very well. But He doesn’t like it if they are ungrateful or get seriously out of line, like worshiping a golden calf or something. If that happens He gets mad and then He can be very, very strict.”
The panel’s fascinating report has stirred up controversy and vigorous debate in Europe.
A number of religious leaders have spoken out strongly against the work, saying it’s blasphemy to try to characterize God in human terms.
But defenders of the psychiatrists’ work say it may offer unusual insights for Christians who want to delve more deeply into their religion.
Among the report’s relevations:
1. God is extremely intelligent. He knows everything – even the thoughts and feelings of his flock.
2. God makes His own rules. He is not influenced by any factors but His own opinions when making decisions and promulgating rules.
3. God is a formal entity who likes ceremony. He appreciates folks who worship regularly, sing in choirs, give up something for Lent and so forth.
4. God is jealous. He does not want people to turn to other deities – or even to a love of money or sex. He wants to be first in people’s lives.
5. God is slightly sexist. He almost always relies on men, not women, to do His bidding. He does, however, have a loving and protective attitude toward women and children.
6. God loves love. There’s nothing He’d rather see among His people than brotherly love. He rewards it.
7. God has artistic tendencies. He loves to create beautiful things, which is why He has lavished so much attention on landscape, plants and trees, animals, stars, etc.
8. God thrives on praise. He revels in the worship and devotion of millions of followers. He likes to feel loved.
9. God is a high-energy deity. He enjoys undertaking thousands of activities at the same time and keeping track of millions of people and events. When He’s not busy, He’s bored.
This pegged my BS meter.
Religion is like alcohol.
The more you indulge,
the less coherent you sound.
If God went to therapy Ed Anger bettter get there.
Normally I would have something sarcastic to say – think it would be in my best intrest to be good and just say "God is great". He gave us 'Bat Boy !!
Only if you pick the wrong one.
I disagree with number 5- Jesus invested much of his time with Mary and Martha along with other women. God trusted Mary to carry his unborn son- Jesus could have just appeared (he is God, you know.) And when Jesus was resurrected, the first people he showed himself to were women. These are just a few examples of the way God shows love to women. Yes, he did spend most of his time with other men, but given the social context of the New Testament, men were the only people capable of traveling and church planting the way the disciples and Paul, etc. could.
God is not human. These are all humanly traits. One can never understand God.
I wonder how they got #9? I never saw a Scripture saying, God was bored…
True. God is not human. But if you believe in the god of Abraham. Then you believe we are made in gods image. And thus contain certain aspects of his personality. Just not perfectly. Love justice wisdom power are the 4 main qualities as outlined in the holy books. Obviously humans exhibit these at different levels. And yes we can understand god. And he invites us to get to know him better. It is why we have the bible so as to study his dealings with us. As for number 9. Most of these points are misinterpreted. For example god IS love. And hes not sexist. What garbage.
You will never fully understand God. Only the son knows the father, and the father knows the son. As well as intelligent, you did not write that God is sentient. Cats are intellingent, so are dogs and birds but they are not sentient. If you want more of an idea of God, go here ——> http://www.godonthe.net/evidence/personal.htm
& here ——-> http://www.everystudent.com/wires/whatlike.html
Not sentient ? What do you mean ? Animals have very visible emotions