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Lord

              Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. (Psalm 95:1-2)

          I don’t know if I keep coming back to it in this blog, or if I just keep coming back to it. If I’m being too repetitious, feel free to tell me so. But today’s passage, chosen by my Bible platform, brings me back. First, it invites us to sing for joy to the Lord, which refers to His authority, sovereignty, and divine rule. Then it invites us to show to the Rock of our salvation. A rock is that on which we can stand and build. I don’t think there’s really any doubt that these verses refer to God, but they also give us at least a partial definition of what a god is. A god is our Lord, the authority over our lives, that which rules in and over our live, and ultimately, over the universe. A rock is that which provides the foundation on which our lives are built. This isn’t all that a god is, but the other pieces of the definition rest on this basic understanding.

          Recently, someone posted a comment that there are 18,000 gods and asked how theists could be sure that the one they picked as the right one. I suggested that he study these gods, dividing them into groups. Among the distinctions we might make among them, we might separate those who were created or otherwise exist within a universe they did not create and those who created the universe/world. We  might find it useful to distinguish between those who created the world using some material like their own excrement and those who simply spoke the universe into existence.

          Then, we might examine the relationship between the gods and people. The third distinction I'll suggest is that we examine the means by which a person is granted entrance into heaven (or the equivalent.) What if any role does the god in question have to do with it? Lastly, I'll suggest that we examine the sacred literature or stories if no sacred literature exists, to discern whether there are any claims of the interaction of that God with anyone or any part of history.

          Answering these questions may not help us rid ourselves of all our false gods. We may not even realize that someone or something is a god in our lives, but it gives us a place to start. Likewise, it they are a good place to start for those who claim all gods are equal or the same.

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