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Any Idols in Your Mind

4/24/2013

1 Comment

 
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Golden Calf
04-25-13 Any Idols in Your Mind?

During research for an upcoming sermon I dug up enough information to speak on the subject, with more than adequate content, for at least a month. It’s a touchy and for the most part, totally misunderstood topic. The subject is idolatry. Many assume they worship the one true God when in fact they pay homage to a god of their own creation.

Anne Lamott made a very insightful statement concerning learning how to discern whether you are worshiping God, or kidding yourself, with this line:

“You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” 

Strange as it may be, Anne’s statement, more often than not, is the acid test of fellowship among many groups. Any sane person grasps the truth that God is on record as loving people that we would not wish to be seen with in public, let alone the monthly meeting of the brethren.

When we consciously take the position so graphically stated by Anne Lamott, we are creating a god in our image based on our own understanding. Not all whom God loves may have our exalted level of understanding the deep things of God. A preacher stated, “My concept of God does not permit a hell.” The poor man fails to grasp he has fashioned an idol of his own intellect.

1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.”

Copyright © 2013 Larry Lilly


1 Comment
Oral Deckard link
4/24/2013 11:43:37 pm

Your blog posts always seem to bring up something fundamental that's been hidden in plain sight for too long.

Anne Lamott's “You can safely assume you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do” makes clear that we create idols within ourselves. There is another statement I have heard, "We are created with a God shaped vacuum in our heart," which explains why every culture finds something to worship.

Then there is another old line "God is inside us." Many Christians take this to mean The Holey Spirit, but sometimes it isn't all that holey. One of the oldest religion categories is the assumption of self as god.

Recall the statement by the temporary accidental evangelist Catherine Hepburn in The African Queen, "Nature, Mr. Alnut, is what God calls us to rise above." Our Old Nature, the one we had before we were born again, is totally self serving. A "natural man," devoid of any civilizing influence, is what is now referred to as a sociopath.

In a Christian society, a true sociopath was kind of rare. But as we continue to become a less Christian society, much less rare.

Then there is the old statement "looking out for Ole Number One." Who your Ole Number One is is who your god is. If it is you, yes, your god is inside you. You have that Ole Time Religion the God has been working to cleanse us of for so long.

And here's the stupidity of it. A sociopath can never steal as much as would be given him freely if he would read and follow the directions in the Sermon on the Mount, and treat others as he wished to be treated. Basically, they foolishly step over a dollar to snatch up a dime.

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