FROM THE MANUSCRIPT
In the author’s words
So when you challenge the interpretation, they think you are challenging God. When you question the doctrine, they think you are rejecting truth. When you ask where the belief came from, they think you are attacking faith. When you point out the fear underneath their religion, they think you are being rebellious, bitter, deceived, prideful, or lost. But sometimes the questioner is not running from God. Sometimes the questioner is trying to separate God from everything humans have placed on top of him. That is what this chapter is about. The God behind their certainty. The God they defend. The God they inherited. The God they confuse with truth itself. Because before someone tells another soul to convert, they need to ask a harder question: Have I met God, or have I only inherited an image of God? That question is dangerous. Not because it destroys faith. Because it destroys false ownership. Most people do not want to admit that their image of God came through other people. They want to believe they believe what they believe because it is obviously true, because the Bible is obvious, because Jesus is obvious, because salvation is obvious, because heaven and hell are obvious, because their church is obvious, because their pastor is obvious, because their parents were right, because their tradition was right, because their fear was holy, because their certainty was earned.
The God They Inherited, manuscript p. 47. Transcribed from the supplied manuscript; line breaks normalized.
The definition above is an editorial summary of this chapter, not a separately named theory or a claim of scientific proof.