The fifth stupid way to think about God is GOD THE GENERAL. This way has God saying to all of us: Stand at attention. I am your God. I am Lord and Commander. I will not give one hoot for losers. You got that?
Greetings! You have been drafted into one of the stupidest ways of thinking about God. Say good-bye to the kids and kiss the little woman for the last time. It’s off to battle. He’s got might. He’s got right. He is General God!
He’s a nationalistic god, whose holy mission is to serve his country, protect its honor and defend its citizens. But don’t be swept away. This not merely a god of defense, though he is often justified that way. General God is a self-righteous and meddlesome god. He is not content with holding his position. He wants to advance, and advance, and roll into any nation, at any time. To shove his views down your throat. To purify the earth of all infidels.
This is General Madness, a territorial maniac. He is a mercenary who can be employed by any nation for any cause. He is the commander of crusades and the leader of jihads. He guides kamikaze pilots to their death. He makes the world safe for democracy.
But he does not interact in history to establish moral law. Instead, he infects history with violence.
Yes, General God becomes a symbol of unity for a few. He exalts some people and drive others apart. He is exploited by governments to mobilize consciousness en masse. He turns ideology into sacred theology.
This god grants us strength and exalts our ego. He causes us to treat our enemies as subhuman and teaches us to love our inhumanity.
This is hardly a god. This is a man-made expedient – an idolatrous creation whose job is simply to help us win, militaristically or economically. He is a warrior exhorting us to conquer for our country, in wars or in markets.
How wonderful it would be if we could indeed contain our moral dilemmas by force. How easy it would be to give up choice and just salute. How whole we all could feel if our divided loyalties could fuse into one truly, divinely inspired movement. People, nation, and god advancing together as one front, behind one flag – behind a swastika.
But in the end this god only leaves us dismayed by our destructiveness. Debased by our own primitive behavior. And all too often, we find ourselves godless.
General god is a god who hates to lose. A god who, upon defeat, hides in a bunker until national pride surges again.
Can we not dispose of this idea of God in the latrine once and for all? Can we not stop worshipping in the church of the Purple Heart? We will never find a different god unless we go AWOL from General God!