Reflection Paper Assignment
Why God?
THEO 626: Doctrine of God
March 22, 2025
“Why God?” is a bold question. It is the kind of question asked by someone who has laid
their last stake and erected the tent of their beliefs. In “America's Four Gods: What We Say
About God—and What That Says About Us,” Paul Froese and Christopher Bader categorize
American beliefs about God into four types—Authoritative, Benevolent, Critical, and Distant.
These models, defined by how Americans perceive God to be, offer insight into contemporary
religious thought. This personal reflection examines how Froese and Bader’s themes reflect
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common beliefs in current society, identifies the dominant and absent models, and explores
how disciple-making could be the answer to addressing the Four Gods.
In current society, we see how conservative Americans tend to resonate with The
Authoritative God, who tends to be seen as more engaged and judgmental.1 This mirrors today’s
evangelical emphasis on sin and justice. Many Christians like to lean towards The Benevolent
God, who is seen as engaged but very loving. This meets that desire for a compassionate deity
that many seek after.2 The Critical God is labeled as judgmental yet disengaged and captures
beliefs among marginalized groups who expect divine reckoning.3 Lastly, the Distant God is
uninvolved and is believed by the educated, secular Americans who see more of the universe
than a personal deity.4
Currently, the Benevolent God appears dominant in American culture. People tend to
seek God for the sake of comfort and peace and to feel loved. Megachurches have paraded
God’s love and his grace into the forefront of people’s minds more than his judgment and
justice. They pick and choose what is comforting and neglect what is challenging. This impacts
ministry because people only see God in a single scope. They unknowingly assume they can
abuse his loving grace and continue living as they do without realizing that his love and grace
transform the believer's life. It is scary, though, that as people only focus on the benevolence of
God, they can miss the mark and maybe even be looked at and be told, “I never knew you.”
(Matt. 7:2123).
The way to rectify this is by making disciples that can make disciples. By simply making
disciples and teaching people the importance of knowing the Word, having confidence in the
Word, and committing to the Word, then modern society would be flooded with mature
1 Paul Froese and Christopher Bader, America's Four Gods: What We Say About God—and What That Says About
Us (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 24-26.
2 Ibid. 27-29.
3 Ibid. 30-32.
4 Ibid. 33-35.
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Christians. If that is done, then not only will evangelism naturally be met through genuine
relationships, but these four views of God will round out, and some might even drop out.
Disciple-making is lacking here in America, and that needs to change.
In the Carson Valley of Nevada, the modern Christian sees more of the Benevolent God than
anything else. While God is benevolent, this comforting truth tends to keep people stagnant in
their faith development. The thought is that people do not have to share the Gospel because
God will take care of it another way. They feast themselves on the Bread of Life and do nothing
to work off the carbs. If Gods love is genuinely impacting these people, then the hope is that
they would be stirred to go and make disciples, but unfortunately, it is relatively rare in the
Carson Valley to see this.
Froese and Bader’s work reveals that God’s image shapes beliefs and practices.5 For the
culture to shift into having more proactive mature Christians, the culture needs to lay down the
singular views of God they have and take on the well-rounded view of what his majesty truly is.
The church could achieve this if they loved not only in word and speech but also in actions and
truth (1 John 3:18).
5 Ibid. 150-155.
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Bibliography:
Froese, Paul, and Christopher Bader. America's Four Gods: What We Say About God—and What
That Says About Us. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
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