The question to Who is God is one to which we have attempted to answer for far too many years. A question we’ll perhaps never truly answer before we go into eternal rest. The definitions of God broad from “I am who I am” to even the possibility of a wide array of Gods represented by the different aspects of nature. When it comes to the understanding of the Jewish or Christian God, many understand that He is beyond our full understanding. Even Pascal would rather admit that God is so far beyond our comprehension that it is a matter of whether you would throw into the wager or not of his existence.
Ratzinger, on his own behalf proposes the idea of God as a personal being, a powerful being and a promising being. There is always going to be a side of God that is influenced by your own perception of Him. Through you, you get to personalize your own relationship with God and your personal perception of Him. This perspective is evident mostly on the physical representations of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is black Jesus, Asian Jesus and even brown Jesus to relate with his followers all around the world. Then, there is the common vision of God all powerful, omniscient, omnipotent, the creator of all and ultimate judge in our world. Finally, there is the God in which we believe out of need. To answer to our existential crisis and understand the world without indulging in fear of eternal darkness we believe in God as hope for an afterlife. In a similar way, we believe in God to have a companion through life and have hope of a better future.
I like how you brought up how God to each of us changes based upon our individual perspectives. This idea is flawed, where each of us are making God something individual when really He is all powerful, connecting all of us, not separating.
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I really liked how you talked about how God can change based on our own needs and perspectives. This isn’t what I thought of when Ratzinger talked about a personal God, but I think this is a very interesting interpretation. I like it because I think it helps unite all people. While it might seem to separate us into different races and groups, I think it helps unite us as it helps bring together many different people under one belief, which might not otherwise encompass all the diverse groups.
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