The third stupid way to think about God is truly interesting. The authors prefaced their presentation of this third way by this advertisement:

Yes, this is the proverbial god of wrath. Ready to show you how much he cares by punishing you. There is no end to the playful little tools in his pleasure arsenal. In a moment of rage, continents convulse with seismic activity. In a fit of moral indignation, he demonstrates the latest craze in viral mutations. And his skill with floods is legendary. This way of thinking about God makes Him a deity who despises sin and sinners with such passion that he’ll murder in order to exterminate them.

If this is the only way you want to think about God, you have no other choice. He forces his noblest creation to dance   like a trained poodle on the brink of annihilation. Grace, like a dog biscuit, offered or withdrawn, depending on performance.

But let’s play fair. The Marquis de God may be an old grouch. He may be cruel and despotic. But he does have a good side. He knows how to keep mankind humble. And let’s face it, that’s quite an accomplishment.

For the upside, the Marquis de God is a testimonial to divine power, of sorts. We have created a god we can revere because we have truly made ourselves powerless to do otherwise.

But this is not a true God at all. He is all too human. He behaves as if he had our ego. He loses his temper as we would. This is a childish projection of fear. For not of God, but of our own inner savageness. We externalize it. Place it outside, so we don’t have to admit to it inside.

Our making evil an act of retribution by a wrathful god does not explain evil. All we do is take it out of context. We create a duality out of a singular fabric that weaves light and dark, good and evil.

Can we not stop turning paranoid delusions into spiritual revelations? Can we not stop invoking God’s vindictiveness for everything that goes wrong in the world? And start blaming the consequences of our own moral decisions?

The alternative is a faith that worships punishment. And as a stupid way of thinking, the Marquis de God is a solid 10 on the Richter scale.

How do you think about God?