There are some 40,000 Christian denominations worldwide. Most of us are familiar with 15 or 20 of them.

It sounds neighborly to say that we all basically believe in the same God.

But that’s not true.

The God I believe in is summed up in Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6:27-36 (mostly the same material). I call this “core scripture.”

Here, Jesus gives us His picture of God as loving all people all the time. He says God is kind even to “the ungrateful and the wicked.”

The word for this kind of love is “grace.”

Unconditional love.

And Jesus says this is the only kind of love that makes a difference.

Loving those who love you is easy. “What reward do you get” for doing that? He asks.

Many Christians do not share this understanding of God.

How do I know?

We all know Christians who believe things that contradict Jesus.

Many Christians believe God destroyed the world with a flood.

They believe God decided creation was a mistake. God goofed!

Then God tried to correct the blunder by wiping out everything that would not fit on a big boat.

And then regretted that!

This angry, unhappy, vengeful, mistake-prone God is not the God we know in Jesus Christ.

This is not the God who loves all people all the time. If Jesus is right about God, the Flood Story is wrong.

So—

Which do you choose?

• • •

Try St. Matthew.

We choose Jesus.

Thanksgiving service at 11:00. Dinner after.