The Stepford God

People approach the idea of having a relationship with Jesus in at least three different ways. One approach is to simply reject the idea—to reason that there is no god, or at least not a god we can know. The second approach is an improvement, but not by much. Under this view, there is a god, but not a god with a mind of his own. You don’t follow god. He follows you. The last approach is to take Jesus as he intends to be taken—as Lord and savior. To demonstrate these approaches, I’ve used an illustration that other writers and speakers have used, which is based on the Stepford Wives films. In the 1975 film, the husbands kill their wives and replace them with emotionless robots. The robots look like the wives, but they exist only for their husbands’ personal pleasure. In the 2004 film, the wives aren’t dead, but they might as well be. Their husbands control their minds using microchips.

1. The Stepford God: The Original
God does not speak. We may have reasons to say that there is a god (e.g. the rational intelligibility of the universe), but not a god we can have a relationship with. If God exists, he is not concerned with human affairs. As far as we can tell, he has no interest in prayers, morality, changing people, suffering, death, or the afterlife. These are merely human concerns. If anything can be done about them, it must be done by us. We must build the solutions. And when all of our buildings collapse… well, let’s not worry about that. At least we tried. What we cannot build simply cannot exist. Anyone who says anything different probably isn't telling the truth. And if God says anything different, someone probably put a lie in his mouth. How do we know? Because “the true God” does not speak. How do we know? Well... we cannot be completely sure.  After all, that would make us omniscient! But we think the old philosopher was probably right: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.” But don’t worry. We have replaced him with our own creations, and they will probably work... probably.

2. The Stepford God: The Remake
God is not dead. God is alive and speaking. How do I know? Because he says whatever I want him to say. He does whatever I want him to do. And he gives me whatever I want. If things aren't going my way, I'm just not trusting him enough. But God wants to give me everything I want. He is always on my side, always agreeing with me and never contradicting me. He loves me just the way I am, and he would never try to change me. And he is very concerned with human affairs, especially mine. In fact, he is so concerned that he seems to have no independent will of his own. But he is not dead! I'm not sure why he would need to die anyway (then again, I am worth dying for). But I didn’t kill him... I only put a microchip in his brain.

3. The True God

“[T]his is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. . . . For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” (Jn 17:3, 18:37).

There is a God, and we can know him by believing in his son. Jesus Christ lived, died, and was raised from the dead. As a result, we can have a relationship with God. This means that God is not distant, and we have something much better than an abstraction. We have direct access to the God who created the universe—and he loves us! Yet we do not just call him our loving savior.  We also call him our Lord.  If he is anything less than that, then how could we possibly call him God?