NOTHING can possibly have a greater effect upon the lives of men than their views about God. Now, as in the past, these views are often based on erroneous concepts, with the result that God is looked upon by many as a being very much after the pattern of the sons of men, —a being who loves and hates, and is merciful and vengeful by turns. In short, God to many is little else than a magnified mortal.
Now if the anthropomorphic concept of God—and that is what has just been referred to—could be held by members of the human race as a purely theoretical speculation, it would not be of so much consequence. But it is not that way at all; for the moment a concept of God is formed by the so-called human mind it begins to influence human motives, and consequently human actions. Thought will revert to whatever concept of God it may have accepted,— will constantly revert to that concept, because, however illogically conceived the concept may be, it embodies the belief that in some undefined way God is the controller of human destiny.
Consider, for example, the fallacy that God is not wholly good. To admit it is to believe that God is conscious of both good and evil; and, if conscious of both good and evil, that He may employ evil to carry out the purposes of His will! Furthermore, if God be conscious of evil as well as good, He is capable of acting on His subjects through penalty, punishment, and curse; indeed, it would be logical to conclude—if God be conscious of evil as well as good—that He has made provision for the use of these same agencies of diabolism.
