Skip to main content

Who's Your God?

             In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

             "You shall have no other gods before[1] me.” (Exodus 20:3)

 

            Yesterday, I did a little debating with an atheist. His argument had three basic points:

He believes in one fewer god than I do,

People are basically good,

The differences between us were “just really philosophical.”

I’ll quickly note that my response to people being basically good because (he said) most of us lead normal lives and aren’t murderer or rapists focused on the definition of good as meaning not committing murder or rape is too narrow, and that psychological studies are showing how quickly and easily people do evil things, and how often people lie. And my response to the notion of “just really philosophical” was to note that how we see the world and what we believe is far more significant than our skin color. So dismissing philosophical differences is naïve.

            But the greater part of our discussion focused on the issue of gods. Again, I suggested that his definition was carefully narrow. I said that a god is that which has authority in our lives and to which we turn for help. A god doesn’t have to be an independent being. It can be an idea or collection of ideas, a statue, money, fame, power, etc. I said that atheists are either mistaken or dishonest when they say they have no god, because they consider themselves, science, or something else as the authority in their lives.

            He asked about why I didn’t worship Vishnu, Odin, Ares, Marduk, or Pikkiwocki instead of Yahweh. My answer was that not all gods are equal. Most of those listed didn’t involve themselves in human affairs much, and I know of know historical record of someone who interacted with any of them. Odin, Ares, and Marduk are not described as having created the universe or us, and thus they can’t be the ultimate authority. They seem to be a poor choice, but poorer still is making a god of oneself. Unfortunately, that’s the trend in society. We never got to the question of the judgment of the gods, or of what they demand in connection with salvation, or the fulfillment of prophecy, but it was fun.

            I’m not telling you all of this in order to pat myself on the back for what a good debater I am. The issues deserve consideration. Why do we choose Jehovah over Jupiter, Marduk, Odin, or Vishnu? What do we treat as a god in our lives, even if we wouldn’t call it a “god.” I have no doubt that Yahweh is superior in every way to all those other gods – even all of them put together. But do I live that way? Which is really more authoritative in my life, His Word or my word? Just a little to think about for the weekend.

 

 


[1]  Or “besides” 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more