Your Image of God is Created in You and Creates You

Hand of God Nebula image by NASA/CXC/SAO/P.Slane, et al.

Forgiveness was the theme for a week of my Interdisciplinary Approaches to Trauma seminar this semester at Princeton Theological Seminary. One particular article described the parental influences on a child’s religious perspectives. How we see God (or the image of God we carry around with us) is greatly influenced by our relationships with our parents or other caretakers growing up.

With this in mind, I discovered this quote from Albert Einstein who said, “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation and is but a reflection of human frailty.” He added, “God may be subtle but he isn’t mean."
                                              
How does this perspective on God reflect the influence Einstein’s significant role models had on his development as his image of God was being created? 
                                                    
Richard Rohr, a Franciscan friar who writes a daily devotional for his Center for Action and Contemplation said, “Your image of God, your operative image of God --  lives in a symbiotic relationship with your soul and CREATES what you become. Loving people, forgiving people have always encountered (or perceived) God as a loving and forgiving God. Cynical people are cynical about the very possibility of a coherent loving center to the universe.” 

Ponder this scripture: Psalm 103: 1-5 -- “Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits; who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfied you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
                                                                          
2 questions for your soul to contemplate: 1) How do these words align with the image of God that continues to create you? 2) How does your life show this image of God to the world?