Viewing God the Father through a non-violent lens requires moving away from the "Ancient Warrior" or "Angry Judge" imagery. Instead, God is understood as the Ultimate Nurturer and the Source of Peace.

This perspective emphasizes that if "God is Light and in Him is no darkness," then God cannot be the author of violence or coercion.

1. God as the "Non-Coercive" Source

Traditional views often depict God as a King who uses force to get His way. An inclusive, non-violent view suggests that God’s power is persuasive, not distributive.

The Idea: God does not "smite" or force things to happen. Instead, God is like a parent who constantly invites, lures, and encourages the world toward beauty and justice.

2. The Parent Beyond Gender

To be inclusive, we recognize that "Father" is a metaphor for intimacy, not a statement on biological sex.

Nurturing Fatherhood: This view draws on "Father" as a caregiver. It incorporates qualities traditionally labeled as "feminine"—gentleness, empathy, and fierce protection of the vulnerable.
The "Womb" of God: Some scholars point out that the Hebrew word for "mercy" (rechem) comes from the root word for "womb." Thus, God the Father is seen as the "birthing" source of all life.

3. What about Jesus's sacrifice on the cross ?

There are many different facets or views of God the Fathers relationship with Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. The Atonement is a word that describes how Jesus died on our behalf to satisfy the debts we owed through our wrongs on the cross. This is best viewed as At-one-ment where the Father and Son and Holy Spirit work together to free mankind from the cycle of violence.

The Inclusive View: God the Father didn't kill the Son; humanity’s systems of violence killed the Son, and the Father stood in solidarity with the victim.
The Message: God is always on the side of the person being oppressed or hurt. God's "wrath" isn't a desire to cause pain, but a deep, parental grief over the harm His children do to one another.

4. God and Social Justice

Social Justice: If God is the Father of the poor, the refugee, and the outcast, then loving God means protecting those people from violence.

The Practical Takeaway

An inclusive view of God the Father means you are inherently safe. You don't have to perform, "get it right," or fear a trapdoor to hell. You are a child of a Source that is purely Love, whose only "agenda" is your flourishing and the peace (Shalom) of the world.

the Bible is the story of humanity’s "growing up" in its understanding of God.

5. A progressive revelation of God in the Old Testament?

In this view, the Old Testament isn't a collection of perfect snapshots of God, but a diary of a people slowly learning to see God more clearly.

I. The "Tutor" Analogy

Theologians often use the analogy of education. You don't teach a kindergartner calculus; you start with basic rules.

Incomplete Revelation: Early biblical writers lived in a violent, tribal world. When they won a war, they assumed God was a "Warrior." When they suffered, they assumed God was "Angry." They attributed their own cultural violence to God because their "spiritual eyesight" was still developing.
The Trajectory: The Bible shows a move from a God who demands sacrifice to a God who says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6).

II. Jesus as the "Final Word"

This theory relies heavily on the opening of the book of Hebrews:

"In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son... the exact representation of his being." (Hebrews 1:1-3)

The Perfect Lens: If Jesus is the "exact representation," then any image of God in the Old Testament that contradicts the character of Jesus is viewed as an incomplete human projection.
The Filter: If Jesus says "Love your enemies", then the "wrathful" commands in the Old Testament are seen as the ancient authors' misunderstanding of God’s will, filtered through their own violent culture.

III. The "Cruciform" (Cross-Shaped) God

A key part of this theory is that the Cross is the ultimate revelation of God’s power.

Old View: God’s power is the ability to crush enemies (Violence).
Jesus View: God’s power is the ability to die for enemies (Non-violence).
The Conclusion: When we see Jesus on the Cross praying for his killers, we are seeing the true heart of the Father. This "re-defines" God. Any earlier scripture that depicts God as a perpetrator of violence is viewed as a shadow that disappears when the Light (Jesus) arrives.

IV. Why this matters for the Old Testament

This theory doesn't throw the Old Testament away. Instead, it treats it as a sacred travelogue. We read the violent parts to see how far we have come and to understand the context into which Jesus spoke. We see the "wrath" not as God's true character, but as the "darkness" mentioned in 1 John 1:5 being slowly pushed away by the rising sun of Christ's revelation.

6. A Non-Violent God

To round out this teaching, we must address the "Problem of Divine Violence." If Jesus is the non-violent "exact representation" of God, how do we handle the darker, more aggressive portraits of God in the Old Testament?

In an inclusive, apprentice-style framework, we view the Bible not as a flat, static manual, but as the record of humanity’s "spiritual evolution."

A. The Argument for a Non-Violent God

The core argument is simple: If "God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all" (1 John 1:5), then God cannot be the author of shadow, cruelty, or coercion.

The Nature of Love: Love, by definition, requires freedom. If God used violence or "smiting" to get His way, He would be a Dictator, not a Father.
The Power of Persuasion: A non-violent view suggests God’s power is "luring" rather than "forcing." Like a parent encouraging a child to take their first steps, God invites the world toward beauty and justice but refuses to override our will with a "divine hammer."

B. The "Inadequate Attributions" of the Old Testament

Why does the Old Testament describe God ordering wars or sending plagues? Inclusive theologians suggest these are inadequate attributions—ancient writers doing their best to describe God through a very limited, violent cultural lens.

i. The "Tribal Warrior" Phase

In the ancient Near East, every nation had a god who fought for them. When the early Israelites won a battle, they assumed their God was a "Mighty Warrior." When they lost, they assumed He was "Angry."

The Inadequacy: They were attributing their own military success and cultural violence to God’s command because they didn't yet have the "vocabulary" for a God of universal peace.

ii. The "God of the Gaps" (Cause and Effect)

Before modern science or a deep understanding of grace, ancient people attributed everything—hurricanes, droughts, and diseases—directly to God’s hand as punishment or reward.

The Inadequacy: They viewed God as a "tit-for-tat" judge. It took centuries of "growing up" to reach the book of Hosea, where God says, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

C. Jesus as the "Final Word" (Hebrews 1:1-3)

This theory suggests that the Bible is a trajectory leading toward a destination. That destination is Jesus.

The Perfect Filter: If an Old Testament story portrays God as a perpetrator of genocide, we "filter" it through Jesus. Since Jesus said, "Love your enemies," and died for his enemies rather than killing them, we conclude that the ancient writer was mistaken about God’s character.
The Shadow and the Light: The Old Testament provides the "shadows" (the early, blurry guesses about God), while Jesus provides the "Light" (the clear, sharp reality). As the light gets brighter, the shadows disappear.

D. Summary: The Evolving View of God

The "Early/Inadequate" View	The "Jesus/Mature" View
God as Warrior: Commands the destruction of enemies.	God as Father: Commands the love of enemies.
God as Judge: Uses violence to satisfy "justice."	God as Healer: Uses sacrifice to end the cycle of violence.
Coercive Power: God forces history to follow His will.	Cruciform Power: God wins the world through self-giving love.

7. Why This Matters for Your Apprenticeship

If you believe God is pure, non-violent Love, your apprenticeship becomes a journey of learning to lay down your own "weapons"—whether they are physical weapons, harsh words, or judgmental attitudes.

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