And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3).

Your perception or revelation of God will determine the way you relate with Him and the kind of life you’ll live. Many have their perception of God tainted by religion, rather than the truth the scriptures reveal to us about Him. I once visited a certain church and noticed a board on which some kids had attempted to answer the question “Who is God?” The question had been posed to by their Sunday school teacher; and one of the kids, in his answer, wrote, “God is a terminator; He can destroy anything and anyone He wants to.”

How unfortunate! That young mind already had the wrong opinion of God, from the impression given by the older generation. Through the years, men have misrepresented God, and this has affected their relationship with Him, and denied them the experience of wholesome fellowship with Him. In their ignorance, many have attributed unpleasant and tragic incidents to God. They believe God ordained both good and evil. Thus, when for example someone passes on, they’ll say “The Lord gives, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!” What a wrong perception of God!

Some even think God took time to select certain people for wealth and some for poverty; some for sickness and others for good health. They believe whatever happens in their lives, good or bad is the will of God. They’ve misunderstood the nature of God, and perceived Him wrongly.

God is good and only does good things: “Every good gift and every perfect gift of from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Let this be your perception of Him. The Bible lets us know that He is Love. His ultimate display of love was to save you while you were still a sinner (Romans 5:. It was His deliberate choice to save you and He did it because of His love nature. He chose to give you all of Himself and everything that belonged to Him because He loves you. This is the perception of Him that you ought to have.

hmmmmmmm

And why are the kids wrong in their perception of "him" as a terminator? Isn't that how the old testament made "him" out to be? Or perhaps you are saying the biblical perception of God is false?

mabell:

And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent (John 17:3).

Your perception or revelation of God will determine the way you relate with Him and the kind of life you’ll live. Many have their perception of God tainted by religion, rather than the truth the scriptures reveal to us about Him. I once visited a certain church and noticed a board on which some kids had attempted to answer the question “Who is God?” The question had been posed to by their Sunday school teacher; and one of the kids, in his answer, wrote, “God is a terminator; He can destroy anything and anyone He wants to.”

How unfortunate! That young mind already had the wrong opinion of God, from the impression given by the older generation. Through the years, men have misrepresented God, and this has affected their relationship with Him, and denied them the experience of wholesome fellowship with Him. In their ignorance, many have attributed unpleasant and tragic incidents to God. They believe God ordained both good and evil. Thus, when for example someone passes on, they’ll say “The Lord gives, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord!” What a wrong perception of God!

Jenwitemi:

And why are the kids wrong in their perception of "him" as a terminator? Isn't that how the old testament made "him" out to be? Or perhaps you are saying the biblical perception of God is false?

when we talk about having the right perception of God, all its saying is that you should have grown-up, that is be responsible in the things of God, we are not talking about children, because children are not responsible for any thing, imagine you given you two year old child the dishes in the house to take care of, you should sure expect that, that child would put them to mess.
i think that the issue of having the right perception of God, is addressing us ADULT and not children. so hear the admonition of the Lord for you, its a wise counsel.

No, my friend. I don't think that was what the op was trying to point out by using that story as an example for the point she is trying to make. Her point was that the children have a wrong perception of what God is, and i say that the scriptures with which the children grew up, gave them the perception they have of God, which is a "terminator" death machine. So therefore, if this perception is perceived as wrong by the op, then she should look more critically at the scriptures themselves, rather than putting the blame on those kids.

inedi:

when we talk about having the right perception of God, all its saying is that you should have grown-up, that is be responsible in the things of God, we are not talking about children, because children are not responsible for any thing, imagine you given you two year old child the dishes in the house to take care of, you should sure expect that, that child would put them to mess.
i think that the issue of having the right perception of God, is addressing us ADULT and not children. so hear the admonition of the Lord for you, its a wise counsel.