Done with Religion

by Mike Edwards

See  Reimagining God  – Part 1

I began to reimagine God in my early twenties. What I was being taught in church about God didn’t align with my understanding of a perfectly loving, morally good God. The only kind of God I thought was worth believing in.

What did I know about love? I had parents and other relationships. I couldn’t imagine that God’s love wasn’t the same of what I understood about perfect human love or how I wished others love me. It doesn’t make sense why a Creator wouldn’t love the same way we humans believed were created by a Creator to love (aka goodness vs. evil).  I decided in my journey to reject harmful portrayals of God that conflict with universal human understandings of love and goodness. I came to believe that God is not defined by rigid doctrines or literalist readings of Scripture. See some of my core beliefs below as you imagine what you think God is really like.

God is not the source of harmful doctrines that turn people away from God

I reject portrayals of God that justify:

• eternal torture in hell – 12 Reasons To Believe Hell Is A Myth!
• condemnation of gays – -God Loves Gays | What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God
• subordination of women – What Does God Think About Women?
• divinely sanctioned violence comes from human biblical interpretation – not God’s true character – Doesn’t An Inspired Bible Lead To Violence And Other Evils?

Uncertainty about God is healthy

Humility is essential. Claiming certainty about God leads to judgment, exclusion, and harm. The truth is we can’t prove God exists.

• Uncertainty fosters compassion and openness.
• Faith becomes a free, meaningful choice rather than dogmatic obligation.

Biggest Sin – Certainty

God’s nature is best understood through love

I return to one central idea:

If God exists, God’s character must align with the highest form of human love. This love is nurturing, relational, and never coercive.

God is not defined by rigid doctrines or literalist readings of Scripture but by perfect love, moral goodness, and the universal human intuition of what it means to love well. My work encourages humility, moral reasoning, and rejects harmful portrayals of God in favor of a love-centered understanding.

Mike Edwards was added as a writer and has been a great addition to the Done with Religion site. Mike provides many interesting views and various ways of looking at things. He is not afraid to ask questions and he keeps an open mind as to teachings of the institutional church. Mike also has his own site where he writes at What God May Really Be Like