A God Made in Their Image: Vengeance, Jealousy, and the Justification of Violence
Post 8 in the Peaceful Resistance Series
I want to believe in a God who is all-loving.
But it’s hard to hold that belief in a world like this—
where the people who most loudly proclaim His name
are the ones using it to justify the most inhumane acts.
They say they believe in God.
But look closer.
Listen carefully.
Their God looks a lot like them:
Quick to anger.
Obsessed with control.
Distrustful of outsiders.
Demanding of loyalty—or else.
This isn’t a God of mercy.
This is a projection—
a god made in the image of wounded men
who were never allowed to grieve,
never taught to question,
never permitted to love freely.
And so they imagine a God who reflects their brokenness,
and then call that image “holy.”
In His Image—or Him in Ours?
The Bible says we were made in the image of God.
But what happens when we flip that?
When we remake God in the image of our worst traits?
We give Him:
Our rage.
Our tribalism.
Our insecurity.
Our lust for vengeance and hierarchy.
And we sanctify it.
“He is a jealous God.”
“He is a God of order.”
“His ways are not our ways.”
But somehow, this God always agrees with them.
He hates the same people.
Supports the same wars.
Rejects the same books.
Fears the same children.
Condemns the same bodies.
And just like that—
they don’t have to confront their own fear, anger, or powerlust.
Because it’s not their will.
It’s “God’s.”
Even if that God looks more like a mirror
than a messiah.
The Inheritance of Slavery, Segregation, and Supremacy
This god they worship—
the one obsessed with obedience, punishment, and hierarchy—
he didn’t fall from the sky.
He was built.
He was carved into sermons and stitched into flags
by men who needed to justify the unjustifiable.
A god who condoned slavery.
A god who enforced segregation.
A god who blessed colonialism.
A god who declared that some people were made to rule
and others were made to serve.
This god didn’t fail to love all people.
He was designed not to.
A Theology of Whiteness and Rule
Slaveholder Christianity didn’t distort the gospel by accident.
It rewrote it with purpose.
Emphasizing submission over liberation
Twisting Paul’s letters into chains
Turning “order” into a caste system
Declaring that white, male, land-owning Protestants were chosen to lead
And when slavery was abolished, that god didn’t disappear.
He adapted.
He became the god of Jim Crow.
Of “separate but equal.”
Of white flight, private schools, zoning laws, and silent complicity.
He became the god of the Southern Strategy,
and later, the god of Christian Nationalism.
Not a god who brings justice.
A god who protects power—
and calls it holiness.
Vengeance Disguised as Righteousness
When they say “God’s will,”
they mean their wrath.
Because the god they follow is always angry—
but never at them.
His fury is reserved for:
The immigrant.
The trans kid.
The woman who doesn’t obey.
The teacher who tells the truth.
The protestor who won’t stay quiet.
The scientist who challenges the myth.
And when tragedy strikes—
a flood, a fire, a pandemic—
they say it’s judgment
against someone else’s sin.
“God is punishing this country.”
“That’s what happens when you turn away from Biblical values.”
“This is what we get for letting drag queens read books.”
No sorrow.
No empathy.
Just the smug satisfaction of people who think suffering proves they were right all along.
Because if their god is jealous and vengeful,
and you are hurting,
then it must mean He’s on their side.
They Don’t Want Redemption. They Want Retribution.
This is why they don’t preach mercy.
Why they’re unmoved by children in cages.
Why they cheer the criminalization of poverty, of pregnancy, of protest.
Because in their theology:
Pain is proof of punishment.
And punishment is proof of God’s justice.
And God’s justice is proof that they are chosen.
So they pray for rain on your wedding.
They hope you lose your job.
They cheer your suffering—
and call it “truth in love.”
But make no mistake:
This isn’t holiness.
It’s revenge theology.
The gospel of power, not peace.
The Real Threat: A God of Mercy
A merciful God is terrifying—
to people who built their faith on fear.
Because if God is actually merciful,
then punishment isn’t proof of holiness.
It’s proof of harm.
If God is full of grace,
then there’s no excuse for the cruelty they’ve called “truth.”
No justification for the suffering they allowed—
or caused.
A merciful God doesn’t destroy to prove a point.
He listens.
He weeps.
He heals.
But that kind of God requires something authoritarian systems cannot tolerate:
Self-examination.
Accountability.
Repentance.
Repair.
So they bury that God.
They rewrite His face into fury.
They make Him a weapon.
Because a God who shows mercy to everyone
might show mercy to the people they hate.
And then what?
Then they’re no longer the chosen ones.
They’re just people.
Broken and loved—like everyone else
NEXT - A Theology That Needs Enemies
