Vindictive Judge or Anodyne Version of Ourselves?

‎"Just in passing let me wonder why anyone is surprised that church attendance is in decline in America. If half the church is presenting a faith that makes God out to be a vindictive judge, and the other half is making God out to be an anodyne version of themselves, it’s actually amazing anyone goes to church at all." — Sam Wells

I have no taste for the former. But, I worry that we in the Episcopal Church often tend toward the latter. The God of Christianity should not be reduced to a vindictive judge. But, neither is that God a Big American Liberal in the Sky.

See:

Idolatry of a Certain Sort?

Radical Centrist Manifesto II