Another example comes from a forum on Justice and Reconciliation in which a participant in response to a talk said: "Is not the Church too involved in the works of society to an extreme degree?" Another participant in response: " I see the response of the Church as passive we should be more involved."
Both of these examples come from two different situations but they express the differences Christian have on religious life. Those who consider themselves Christian need to examine the God to whom they pray. He mentions a book he is reading in which the author uses five different types of understanding of God.
The first is a Vending Machine God: you put the money in and press the button and what you want comes out. I put in my prayers, money, sacrifices, and God will return in blessings. When it doesn't happen the vending machine is out of order and we shake it and complain.
Secondly, we have the Watch Maker God: He puts all of it together and lets it run on its own. We merely standby and watch.
Third the Buffet God: He has prepared many tasty dishes and according to our tastes we can pick and choose what we want. The ones we have no taste for we can ignore.
The Police God: God is always on the prowl ready to catch us in some delinquency, ready to punish.
The Life Insurance God: We don't need him now. He is necessary when we have an accident and face trouble. He will save us from the fires of hell.
The writer asks us if any of these five speak to us. He reminds us that they have nothing to do with the God that Jesus presented to us. These are the kinds of God the atheist enjoys protesting against and the mature Christian does too. Our God is the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit the God of love.
