God IS...

Gods character - what is it?
What's he like?

Well apparently the bible says he is loving and just and merciful, but he's also jealous, wrathful, angry and well, just about every human attribute has also been ascribed to God at some time in some way.

But there is only one attribute that God IS - and that's love.

God IS love.

He isn't loving, or shows kindness when he is happy, or merciful when he feels sorry for us. HE IS LOVE.

So all the other stuff in the bible? Maybe man, in his attempts to understand the universe, how it all fits together and all our failings, shaped God in his own image. And maybe the biblical record is the account of the discourse between God and man leading up to God sorting it all out, once and for all, through Jesus.

Maybe we read the bible as if every word describing God's character and actions is exactly how He is, instead of thinking its the record of man struggling to define Him through their own understanding.

The only characteristic of God that is valid is love. (1 Cor 13)