Many want God to be an all-loving, all singing and dancing being who is so desperate for a following that he will do anything to please those who accept him.
Others seek a God who is like an impersonal fashion accessory that makes no personal demands. Such a God can be brought out in public occasionally and be thanked for helping in our achievements - making a show of our "humility" in thanking him, no matter how puerile our achievement may have been (think of Grammy award acceptance speeches here).
Others seek a God who will promote their own self esteem and make them feel good about themselves, one who will commend them for being such good people compared to the rest of the world.
I could go on...
How many genuinely attempt to seek God according to HIS terms?
I saw the following question and statement on another blog: "Do Jews or Muslims or Baha'is search for God? Obviously the answer is yes."
The implication here is that they have sought God and found one who is different to the Christian God, so who was to say which “god” was the right one, if any?
But how many of those people are actually searching for something other than God, something more selfish? How many are really interested in a genuine encounter with the creator of the universe? Are they genuinely looking for the one who has the ultimate authority over what He created whether we like it or not?
"the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever."
Returning to the blogger’s question :
“Do Jews or Muslims or Baha'is search for God?
I said that many seek God but on their own terms. This can be seen in the case of the Muslim and Baha'i. Both of these accept the reality of Jesus and recognise Him as a prophet and/or teacher – as do MOST other religions. But they only pay lip-service to those parts of His teaching that appeal to what they want to believe. They ignore His claim that HE exclusively is the way to God. They ignore His teaching on hell. They ignore the reason for and the significance of His crucifixion and resurrection. In other words they seek His teaching ONLY when it conforms to their own desires.
The Jews are a little different. They recognise the one true God, the very same God worshipped by the Christian. The significant difference is their failure to recognise that Jesus is the Messiah they have been waiting for. They do not recognise that Jesus’ life death and resurrection were the fulfilment of the word of their prophets because Jesus did not bring about the deliverance of Israel from the oppression of Rome. They fail to see that the prophesied glorious future for Israel that their Messiah will bring will come about when Jesus returns as foretold in the New Testament.
While the Jews currently reject Jesus, the bible predicts a time when they WILL recognise Him as the King they have been waiting for.
Looking at the matter openly, the very fact that the Jews are still around today, and that Israel is once again on the map, is a very convincing reason to recognise the reality of the God of Israel who is also the God of Jesus Christ.
What other ethnic group has remained recognisably intact after 2000 years of exile from their land - and has returned to that same land as a powerful and influential nation.
Of course it must be coincidence (not!) that the long exile and the return from nations around the world was predicted by their prophets hundreds of years before that exile took place.
1 comment:
Elton John was recently reported as saying:
“I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving.”
I think his insinuation that only a gay man could be compassionate, super-intelligent and understand human problems surely demonstrates a “heterophobic” attitude.
His comments are a clear demonstration of how many people (and other religions) recognise Jesus as a great man, a great teacher and even a great prophet, but in that alleged recognition they reject most of His actions, most of His teaching and all of His prophetic warnings.
The only Jesus they want to recognise is a Jesus who conforms to, and reinforces, their own chosen path in life.
The REAL Jesus can only be found when we seek Him on HIS terms and not our own.
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