A World Apart
You shall have no other gods before Me. Exodus 20:3 ESV
Before – “But it is only in the modern societies of the West that nonreligious man has developed fully. Modern nonreligious man assumes a new existential situation; he regards himself solely as the subject and agent of history, and he refuses all appeal to transcendence. In other words, he accepts no model for humanity outside the human condition as it can be seen in the various historical situations. Man makes himself, and he only makes himself completely in proportion as he desacralizes himself and the world. The sacred is the prime obstacle to his freedom. He will become himself only when he is totally demysticized. He will not be truly free until he has killed the last god.”[1]
Have you and I made ourselves? Have we defined what it means to be in the world in such as way that we leave out transcendence, awe, mystery, divine sovereignty? Have we removed God from the equation in order to be “free” of His demands? Questions like these could not even be posed in the ancient world. There was no world without gods. But for modern man, any world with God or gods is a world apart from my control, a world not of my own making, a world where I owe a debt to another. And for modern man, this is as inconceivable as it was for ancient man to think of a descralized existence.
Consider the implications of Eliade’s insight. Is religion in the modern world descralized? Does the experience of worship remove the mystery and sovereignty of God? Yes, we have feelings in worship, but do we experience the sacred? Have we not stripped God of His right to rule when we reorganize His demands to fit our lives? Have we not refused to embrace transcendence when we create our own worship rituals, ignore His desires and instructions and modify His festivals? Do we not view the mitzvot as obstacles to our freedom? Aren’t we simply killing the God of Scripture when we reinterpret His interactions with Israel as if they did not apply to us?
Observation must conclude that Christianity is a modern invention. Fully developed, it actually turns the world into a rationally explainable, self-absorbed theological confession. God is absent because we have sent Him away. Yes, we may still experience the movement of those innate desires to be close to our Creator, but we have dismissed Him as transcendent and sovereign because we have insisted on theological control. Our world is devoid of mystery but filled with manipulative opportunity. We are free to destroy ourselves while we sing another chorus of praise music. We no longer fear God. Consequently, we regard Him as the absentee landlord. And if He should send His emissary to remind us of our obligation, we will claim eternal exemption because we once met the Master on the road to perdition.
Topical Index: transcendence, religion, freedom, modern man, Mircea Eliade, Exodus 20:3
[1] Mircea Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, p. 203.
In Luke 18:8 Yeshua asked if He would “find faith on the earth?” and Revelation 14:12 outlines the full condition of the saints that He does find as keeping the “commandments of God and the faith of Jesus”. In this almost fully desacralized world, this can only mean a people that have finally chosen to go against every accepted religious, political and social institution. This will be a people who have finally grasped that the kingdom of heaven is not going to look even remotely like any earthly institution, and have quit trying to amalgamate the two. I think all the evil has come from believing that we can have both, and a whole lot of false doctrine and theory has made a whole lot of headway by playing on our desire for such. I think perhaps we just do not want to admit that humans have no capacity whatsoever to create a morality for themselves that matches the reality that heaven invented.
Your post has blessed me. It brings me back to the reality that all that matters is God and we cannot lose sight on what He has said; not what we think with our natural minds. Thank you for your post.
It is our chalenge to navigate the cross road between the kingdom of YHVH and the Kingdom of this word system with both faith and grace. Sometimes that cross road where we live is foggy, dark or full of shadowy people lost. Some are even blinded by the light. We however must be there, finding our way and God willing leading others through it. My you sister remain blessed for you so clearly keep your eyes fixed on the Word that is our map in the dark and our glory in the light.
This reminds me of the class I am attending. Twenty people paid money to attend class to learn something they didn’t know. (Well, a few of us actually paid for the class, the others are there thanks to government grants and and various federal money scheme give-a-ways!) Anyway, it is very humorous and also frustrating watching these students who have come to learn begin to instruct the instructor on what they are ‘learning.’ Each term the real instructors anticipate the super instructor students who think they already know what they have come to learn. Makes one wonder why they are there in the first place as they inevitably always have THE explanation of any particular topic they’ve come to learn.
The instructors name them Instructor #(whatever additional number of real instructors they already have.) The frustrating part for those who want to learn is we must listen to the mostly non-sensical explanations of those student/instructions, who, by the way, only think they know, waste time explaining their lack of understanding of the topic in a very unorganized and confusing use of words.
Bottom line is most of these students are in need of learning one simply thing, as do I with YHVH, and many others I see trying to figure out and live life biblically. That one thing is simply to SHUT UP and LISTEN. Then, once the instructors explain the ‘how’ properly, begin to formulate proper and intelligent questions to attempt to illustrate that you, in the least, have listened somewhere along the line rather than try to step in to the instructor position and teach the instructor how to really do it.
I am in need of simply shutting up, reading/listening to what YHVH instructs and then actually do that which he has directed instead of some traditional collections of do’s and don’ts.
Thanks Skip. Good observations today, as usual. Very helpful and encouraging.
Thank you, Michael C. Convicted.
🙂
Your comment reminded me of my first real job as a waitress working as a soda jerk in our local Rexal drug store that my later Mother-in-law ran. The lesson I learned was invaluable, and has served me well my whole life. Her instruction was “I’m the boss and you do things my way”, basically I don’t care how you like to do things or what you have be taught before you came here, you will do it my way or you won’t be working here. I learned to have a Teachable spirit. I might later see the why of her instructions and I might not, I learned her ways of doing things and I didn’t need to know why.
Later I taught some art classes and that was my first instruction to the class, have a teachable spirit and you just may learn something and so will I as we share our knowledge with one another. Forget everything you knew or thing you know and try to learn something new.
🙂
Let’s me think of the following wise words spoken in an era when kings ruled and country men were slaves to the king…
“Whoever goes forward in the presence of God in the most trivial matters ceases not to perform God’s work, although he appears to do nothing important or serious. I suppose that we are always in the order of God and that we are following God’s rules for our condition in doing these trivial things.
Most people, when they wish to be converted or reformed, expect to fill their lives with especially difficult and unusual acts, far more than to purify their intentions, and to mortify their natural inclinations in the most usual acts of their condition. In this they often badly deceive themselves.
It would be much more valuable for them to change their actions less, and to change more rather the disposition which makes them act. When one is already leading an honest and regulated life, it is far more important in order to become a true believer, to change the within rather than the without. God is not satisfied by the sound of our lips, or the position of our bodies, nor external ceremonies.
Carry this very simple will, this will entirely filled with that of God, wherever his God leads you. Seek God in the hours which might seem so empty, and they will be full for you, because God will sustain you in them.”
Francois Fenelon
Skip this is excellent and along with the ‘word on exegesis’ it will be a an ‘attachment’ in my handbag (smile!) to help explain why I try to walk the walk not just talk the talk, with YHWH. This will be especially helpful for anyone who asks me why I have gone back to the ‘law’!
Yes excellence piece! I’ll be contemplating on the 3rd and 4th paragraphs for a while. I can’t even put into words how eye opening this is to me.
It seems you will encounter close-mindedness no matter where you go. No matter what group. Some people are open. Some people aren’t. If you think you have all the answers then you are in essence?? I read that somewhere. ?
🙂
Well said Skip…the followup question would be, “How is this repaired? Can it truly be repaired? How does this relationship with God get restored?…Ever since the garden, God has instructed man with a list of “to do’s and not to do’s”, though the list was much shorter in the beginning.
I am daily in awe of Jehovah, His daily love for me, the wonder and beauty of His creation, the marvel of His history, His timeless truths recorded for us all. His authority is well known and well documented. As my Sovereign (when I let Him), He rules ALL. He allows my transgressions yet HE loves me still. That’s amazing grace!
God has established boundaries for His most precious creation since the beginning of time as we know it. And we have failed to meet those standards every time…We do not hold to His established boundaries.
Fearing God will keep me from being disobedient often but not always. Being in awe of Him and His ways will draw me closer to Him, but not always. I do not see Christianity as a new(modern) invention by man but an extension of God’s history of His relationship with His chosen. Why would God see it as more important to celebrate Passover than to worship Him and acknowledge His ownership of me in a Sunday service in a building with other God fearing, Jesus loving Bible believing folks. Do we think that God looks down on those who murder others and cling to their idols of their own making with any more or less contempt than one who doesn’t take their Sabbath from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.
God desires our whole heart in perfect compliance with His standards. “Be holy, for I am holy”. The law established in the garden, then expanded in the desert and offered on Sinai, then expanded and expounded on thru the ages shows us that we can’t keep it. The Law is a cruel schoolmaster. I can’t keep it. You can’t keep it. Fighting over which ones are more important to God than others is a fool’s errand.
God has always shown that He desires an intimate relationship with His chosen. Yeshua personalized that desire in a mighty and clear way. Hanging on the rules…focusing on the rules is a man made display of pride and misses what God has shown us all along. We can’t keep them. We never have. We never will. Our pride might be the culprit to defend what we believe to be God’s exclusive position on what His mandates are…which ones apply today, which ones no longer do. No God’s before Him. Not one. Who among us has kept that command? Do we not make ourselves God whenever we break any of God’s laws. Yeshua said to break one is to break them all. We are all simply doomed to an unholy life because sin exists in us.
I will choose to love God and do everything in my power and in the power of God in me to walk worthy in His sight….knowing that i will come up short. Then I will confess my shortcoming and seek His forgiveness and trust that His grace will cover over my sin and His love for me will not diminish.
Christianity doesn’t take away the lessons God shows us in the Old Testament, it expands it, it deepens it, it builds upon it as it relates to God’s desire for us to want to have and maintain a relationship with Him for His glory…
But, alas, maybe I’m wrong
I am so glad to have been introduced to the paradigm shift you talk about. I did grow up with a limited exposure to God. The law was about do’s and don’ts’. It is so wonderful now to begin to shift and see. Admittedly reading and listening to your paradigm shift is different than absorbing it. That is a process. But one I am so happy to be on. Thank you Skip!
“Yes, we have feelings in worship, but do we experience the sacred?”
That is a huge question!
When we do, our lives would surely be transformed!
I have also seen and observed some who do not worship, having been a “believer” for many years! That truly is regarding “Him as the absentee landlord.”
True Love
Teacher [Rabbi], which commandment is the greatest in the Law [Torah]?
Jesus [Yeshua] declared, [You shall] Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment..
St .Augustine [what is a “saint” but a saved sinner?] said, “Love God and do as you please..”
Yeshua [the God-Man] said, “if you love Me, keep my commandments.”
Do as you please? – Keep my commandments? Love has it’s limits! And there is no higher motivation than love. Why do you do – what you do? Who do you love? Who do you value? Who do you serve? [You gotta serve somebody!]
Everyone has a boss. My Boss is a Jewish carpenter. He, if you haven’t heard or don’t know, is LORD. He is today, the Master and Commander of the Universe. Do you wish to see love in action? Love does need to be demonstrated.
Isaiah wrote:
~ But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed ~
John testifies:
This is love.. — not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4.10)
Come with me to Calvary, to the cross [the tslav] of (the) Christ. There we may view true love in action.
[There] God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! (Romans 5.8)
Friend, not only did Christ die for us — He (now) ever lives to make intercession for us!! We serve a Living Savior!!
Paul (formerly known as Saul) wrote what is perhaps, “the” best question ever!
A question which we must know the answer to! And that question is:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8.35)
Well..?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
Noope.
Paul? [Again, what sayest thou?] And the answer is?
NO(!) , despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
When did He ever stop loving us? Ne ver.
For I am [fully convinced, persuaded, I now know] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come.. [Shall we continue this “Hallelujah?”]
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD.
And what could we possibly add to these blessed words, but our joyful resounding “Amen!”
Blessed IS the Name of the LORD!!!
This comment should printed out and (with the instructor’s permission) distributed to all students in the class. Then maybe they could learn also.
Hello Skip and others,
I am reflecting on this writing after another tragic public shooting has occurred in the U.S. What Gospel are “we” delivering today?
The one certainty seems to be when humanity is confronted with a direct choice, or in some tactful way held accountable for their misdeeds, e.g., Nathan confronting David with a parable after David’s sin), we either say we will hear and do, or we walk away quickly with a resonating no to God and His ways. On the surface, today we are to tolerate, forgive limitless, love the under-privileged, and near the top of the list, don’t pass judgment on another human.
I grew up hearing, Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Today, I hear, God loves humanity and desires the best for all concerned. Hell is minimized to nonexistent. I listen and respond with the aid of the Ruach HaKodesh when my being fully hears, Choose today whom you will serve. That message is missing today from many sources!
David R
What a sublime paradox for the Creator of heaven and earth to implore the people so humbly:
Thus says the Lord:
What wrong did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far away from Me,
And pursued what is worthless,
And became worthless?
Jeremiah 2:5
P. 139 from The Prophets
Can we apply this to the world we live in? Are we in pursuit of worthless things? I find it difficult to think of God punishing the innocent as well as the guilty. I am trying to remember the difference between justice and fairness. +
I would agree many Judeo/Christian theologies and most western philosophies have “stripped” Yahh from ruling their personal lives. I elaborate on this in my poem “Venner-Stripping” on my blog worksofwords.live Western American culture at least has a long ignoble tradition of stripping the sovereignty of God from the lives of its people. Yet one can not deny the simple truth that God set before each person the choice of ” Life” or “Death” His blessing or “the curse”. (Duteronomy 30:15-20) To chose outside of His will, Way and Spirit is to enter a sometimes slow sometimes fast path to destruction. It’s my opinion the soul intuitively knows this – we must harden our hearts to head this way; but we do far to often. Turning around is easier sooner than later.
What peril of morbidity there is for man comes rather from his reason than his imagination. It was not meant to attack the authority of reason; rather it is the ultimate purpose to defend it. For it needs defense”… “The whole modern world is at war with reason; and the tower already reels. The sages, it is often said, can see no answer to the riddle of religion. But the trouble with our state is not that they cannot see the answer; it is that they cannot even see the riddle…In so far as religion is gone, reason is going. For they are both of the same primary and authoritative kind…. They are both methods of proof which cannot themselves be proved. And in the act of destroying the idea of Divine authority we have largely destroyed the idea of that human authority by which we do a long-division sum. With a long sustained tug we have attempted to pull the mitre off pontifical man; and his head has come off with it… you cannot call up any wilder vision than a city in which men ask themselves if they have any selves… We have no more questions left to ask. We have looked for questions in the darkest corners and on the wildest peaks. We have found all the questions that can be found. It is time we gave up looking for questions and began looking for answers” (G.K. Chesterton)