God and the Ultimate Warrior

What type of Warrior do you see as God?

100%- A warrior who will die for the world.

0%- A warrior who will kill for the world.
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When I was a kid my best friend loved to watch WWF wrestling. So every time I would go to his house to play after school we would play wrestling. My favorite wrestler to be was the Ultimate Warrior. He had long hair and a painted face. He was so cool and mysterious.

As I read the stories of God and Israel in my Old Testament class I am getting an image of God as the Ultimate Warrior, going before Joshua and the Israelites, ensuring a military victory. I have been having a hard time reconciling this image of God with the image of the Triune God that I get from Jesus as the loving creator, redeemer and sustainer of the world, a God who wants the entire Cosmos to be redeemed.

A few nights ago I watched the movie Hero with my roommates. It is a movie about a nameless warrior who has reached the utmost level in his training and enlightenment. In the end the nameless warrior realizes what it means to be a true warrior. He identifies three levels. The first being able move your body so well the sword becomes an extension of your anatomy. The next level is being able to use your mind so well that anything, even a blade of grass becomes a weapon. But the last level of a true warrior is using your mind, body and soul in such unity that you will no longer fight. The unity inside you has caused you to have a love for peace and you will sacrifice yourself in order to keep that precious idea of peace alive.

This is the ultimate warrior, one who lives in such unity with self and nature that they sacrifice their own life to preserve the life of others.

For God so loved the world…