Is God "Two-Faced"??

I’ve posted some excerpts from Gary Sigler’s series The Experience of Oneness in another post. In part 3, he talks more about looking to Jesus for our view of God….

The Jewish system had no comprehension of this unconditional love of God. And Jesus came to reveal to them, this is my father. You think he’s mean. You think he’s hurtful. You think he kills babies and murders children. You have a concept of God that was picked up from Paganism. It’s the pagans who burn their children…who sacrifice their children. So Jesus said, “this is my father. Just look at me and watch what I do.” “Watch the compassion and the love that I have for the people around me and then you’ll understand my father because you see, my father and I are one.”

I ran across a book on a pretty nifty site called Religion on Line. The name of the book is God With a Human Face. (more to come on that).  I stole the title of this post from that book. In the book, it says:

One of the deities of the Romans was Janus, the god of doorways and of beginnings. In sculptures Janus was pictured as two-faced -- like a doorway, which can let you i0 or let you out. Over time the expression "two-faced" lost the neutra1 meaning of in and out. It came to take on the idea of double-dealing. A two-faced acquaintance is one whom one can never trust; we cannot be sure that that face she shows to us is the same face that she shows to others. A two-faced god is one who also cannot be trusted: Sometimes the face of the Kindly Healer will be turned toward us, sometimes the face of Dread Avenger.

This two-faced god is well known in folklore and in popular religion. This is the god who has to be cajoled to heal. This is the god who just might, if sufficiently badgered or appeased, turn a smiling face toward the unfortunate. But if all prayers fail and that kindly face is not turned, then the supposition is that the afflicted deserves his fate -- or that his friends and relatives are being punished for being not sufficiently faithful.

This two-faced god is an idol -- a fabrication of the human imagination, a projection of fear and guilt. The countenance of God revealed in Jesus is not that of one with two faces: Dr. Spock for some and Sock-it-to-them for others. Rather it is the face of One who looks upon us with unwavering compassion.

So the question we all have to ask ourselves is this….

Did God show us his true “face” in Jesus? Is God "two-faced"? Did God come to dwell with mankind in the form of Jesus….Immanuel, God with us…and then not clearly portray his true nature and character?

Human beings, even the most straightforward and honest among us, put on a slightly different face for the world at large than the face we wear in the privacy of our own homes. Oftentimes, we seek to appear kinder, gentler, wiser…more understanding…better than we really are. We cover up the bad stuff. Is God guilty of the same type of masquerade? Consider the words of scripture....

John 10:30

I and the Father are one."

John 14:9

Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

John 12:45

And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.

Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Hebrews 1:3

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,

John 10:37

If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me.

2 Corinthians 4:4

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

17:25-26

O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

What do you see what you look at Jesus….God With a Human Face?