All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
When God Is Gone
From My Perspective - - -
Is “religion” vital and essential for the well being of a nation and its citizens? Is it merely a psychological and emotional “crutch” that gives people a sense of enablement and empowerment? Does it serve any useful purpose to (a) believe there is a God, and to (b) think that he has a concern and ability to make any real difference of any sort in world or personal matters? Have we become pluralistic regarding the “God-Factor” and succumbed to a conglomeration of what different ones identify as “God” to and for them?
The Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) dealt with this question when he spoke and wrote about “God Is Dead”! The idea is stated in "The Madman" as follows: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
This view was later picked up and popularized once again by Bishop John A.T. Robinson (1919-1983) and stated in his book, Honest To God. Reviews about his approach include: “The overwhelming theory of Honest to God is the idea that having rejected the idea of 'God up there', modern secular man also needs to recognize that the idea of God out there is also an outdated simplification of the nature of divinity…He claims that secular man requires a secular theology. That is, that God's continuing revelation to humanity is one brought about in culture at large, not merely within the confines of ‘religion’ or ‘church’, so called.” The book also introduced the idea of situational ethics to an English speaking audience. This was a form of relativism, based on the idea that moral codes are not set in stone, but may be subject to circumstances.
Interestingly, the Media has attributed a form of ‘divinity’ to President Obama. The belief is he is the one who can affect and effect change for the good of this nation and the world. As a matter of fact, on June 5, 2009, Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level…declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above the world, he’s sort of God." And to think, this adulation is bestowed on one who has declared to the world that the USA is no longer a “Christian Nation” (even though our foundational documents declare otherwise), and then this past week when speaking in Cairo, Egypt to a largely Muslim audience he stated, the USA is one of the largest Muslim Nations in the world (there are 1,500,000,000 Billion Muslims in the world – there are less than 2 million in the USA). However, if President Obama is a “sort of god”, one would suppose in his omniscience this must be true.
This whole idea and notion of denying the One True and Eternal God has been around since time began. Romans 1:18 through 32 is a very clear description of where we have arrived as a nation and how we got to this point. If Evan Thomas is correct about the “sort of God” that we now embrace, the Apostle Paul is even more correct in Romans 1:24-25 - and this apt and accurate summary: “…God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” A frightening truth is shared in Hosea 5:4-7, “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.” Is this where we are today? Is this the stubborn and foolish choice we insist upon? Are we willing to “bend” or must we become “broken” first? Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is still near!
Is “religion” vital and essential for the well being of a nation and its citizens? Is it merely a psychological and emotional “crutch” that gives people a sense of enablement and empowerment? Does it serve any useful purpose to (a) believe there is a God, and to (b) think that he has a concern and ability to make any real difference of any sort in world or personal matters? Have we become pluralistic regarding the “God-Factor” and succumbed to a conglomeration of what different ones identify as “God” to and for them?
The Philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) dealt with this question when he spoke and wrote about “God Is Dead”! The idea is stated in "The Madman" as follows: “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?”
This view was later picked up and popularized once again by Bishop John A.T. Robinson (1919-1983) and stated in his book, Honest To God. Reviews about his approach include: “The overwhelming theory of Honest to God is the idea that having rejected the idea of 'God up there', modern secular man also needs to recognize that the idea of God out there is also an outdated simplification of the nature of divinity…He claims that secular man requires a secular theology. That is, that God's continuing revelation to humanity is one brought about in culture at large, not merely within the confines of ‘religion’ or ‘church’, so called.” The book also introduced the idea of situational ethics to an English speaking audience. This was a form of relativism, based on the idea that moral codes are not set in stone, but may be subject to circumstances.
Interestingly, the Media has attributed a form of ‘divinity’ to President Obama. The belief is he is the one who can affect and effect change for the good of this nation and the world. As a matter of fact, on June 5, 2009, Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level…declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above the world, he’s sort of God." And to think, this adulation is bestowed on one who has declared to the world that the USA is no longer a “Christian Nation” (even though our foundational documents declare otherwise), and then this past week when speaking in Cairo, Egypt to a largely Muslim audience he stated, the USA is one of the largest Muslim Nations in the world (there are 1,500,000,000 Billion Muslims in the world – there are less than 2 million in the USA). However, if President Obama is a “sort of god”, one would suppose in his omniscience this must be true.
This whole idea and notion of denying the One True and Eternal God has been around since time began. Romans 1:18 through 32 is a very clear description of where we have arrived as a nation and how we got to this point. If Evan Thomas is correct about the “sort of God” that we now embrace, the Apostle Paul is even more correct in Romans 1:24-25 - and this apt and accurate summary: “…God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” A frightening truth is shared in Hosea 5:4-7, “Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord. The pride of Israel testifies to his face; Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in his guilt; Judah also shall stumble with them. With their flocks and herds they shall go to seek the Lord, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them. They have dealt faithlessly with the Lord; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.” Is this where we are today? Is this the stubborn and foolish choice we insist upon? Are we willing to “bend” or must we become “broken” first? Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is still near!
Views: 41
Comment
Welcome to
All About GOD
The Good News
Meet Face-to-Face & Collaborate
© 2024 Created by AllAboutGOD.com.
Powered by
You need to be a member of All About GOD to add comments!
Join All About GOD