Posted on 08/19/2019 8:57:52 AM PDT by Salvation
We live in the age of the designer God, when many claim the right to imagine and craft their own version of god. Some of them refer to it as “the god within.” Others call it “the god of my understanding.” Still others speak of “the Jesus I know.” A consistent feature of these manufactured gods is that they just so happen to agree with the “believer” on almost everything. Another common characteristic is that they differ in significant ways from what the true God has given to us through biblical revelation. We used to call inventing and worshiping your own god “idolatry.” Today, the euphemism for this is being “spiritual but not religious.” In labeling themselves this way, people claim the virtue of faith; they speak of themselves in pious terms and even applaud themselves for being tolerant and open-minded, even while being dismissive (i.e., intolerant) of organized religion and the Scriptures.
Jesus spoke rather plainly of those who claim to be religious but are inwardly deceiving themselves and engaging in a game of “Let’s Pretend”:
Jesus began to speak, first to his disciples,
“Beware of the leaven—that is, the hypocrisy—of the Pharisees. There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops.
I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more. I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one” (Luke 12:1-5).
The Greek word that is translated as “hypocrisy” is ὑπόκρισις (hypocrisis). Its nominative form is ὑποκριτής (hypocrites), which most literally means “actor.”
Obviously, an actor is someone who plays a role. An actor who portrays Julius Caesar is not in fact Julius Caesar. In a certain sense, he is “pretending” to be Julius Caesar.
It is certainly fine for an actor to pretend for a time, to be someone he is not, but in the spiritual sense, it is not good to act or pretend. When Jesus warns of hypocrisy, He is warning against pretending to be someone that we are not; or pretending to live in a world, in a time, or under a set of circumstances that is not in fact real.
When the Lord warns us not to engage in hypocrisy, He is cautioning us against pretending, engaging in fantasy, or living in a make-believe world. This serves as the opening framework of all that is to follow.
And what does follow? Fundamentally, the Lord says that the pretend world denies the reality of judgment. He goes on to warn that there is nothing that is concealed that will not one day be revealed, that there is nothing that is secret that will not be made known, that what we have said in the darkness will be heard in the light.
He then further cautions us not to be afraid of those who only have the ability to kill the body, but rather of the one who after killing, has the power to cast into Gehenna.
Most people today live in a fantasy world in that they deny or discount the reality that there will be a day of judgment, a day of reckoning. They simply gloss over the notion that they will have to render an account for every idle word (Mt 12:36), that they will have to stand before Him who judges the intentions of the heart (Heb 4:12), and that nothing will lay hidden from Him (Heb 4:13). In effect, they pretend. Pretending is acting; it is a form of hypocrisy.
Creating a designer god, a spiritual but not religious god is likewise a form of hypocrisy. A pretend god cannot save us; a designer god is of no use when going to meet the real God. If one has not allowed the true God to purify and ready him, he will be incapable of enduring the bright light of His glory and the searing insight of His truth. In fact, such a person will likely reject Him as hateful and harsh. To those who hate the truth, the truth seems hateful; to those who prefer the darkness, the light seems obnoxious.
This is why only the true God can ready us for beholding Him. Only He can accustom us to the brightness of His truth and the heat of His glory and love.
A second quality of the “spiritual but not religious,” those who claim the right to design their own god, is a subtle self-righteousness. They feel they are somehow above all this “organized religion stuff.” They don’t need doctrines or Bibles or Churches to tell them what to do; they have a direct connection of their own to the god of their (superior?) understanding. It is a kind of rehashing of tired old Gnosticism.
When Jesus warned of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, He was referring to their sense of self-righteousness. They thought that they had nothing to worry about because they were “good people”—unlike others around them. They said their prayers, fasted on Wednesdays, and paid their tithes. On the Day of Judgment, they figured that they would just walk right on into Heaven.
Too many people today have this attitude of self-righteousness. They may invoke God’s grace and mercy, but they are not really willing to consider the fact that they may, by their own sinfulness, disqualify themselves. Emphasizing certain aspects of God while discounting others, they rework Him into their own god. This is acting; it is hypocrisy and self-righteousness.
Too many people brush aside the idea that they will one day have to render an account to the true Lord. “Oh yeah, I know there’s a day of judgment, but God is love so everything will be just fine. The god I know would never permit anyone to go to Hell.” Never mind that this is in direct contradiction to the whole of Scripture! Most today live in outright heresy on this topic. (Sadly, there are those who hold the opposite, extreme attitude: one of despair.)
The Lord says that we should beware of hypocrisy, careful that we’re not living in a pretend world. None but the pure in heart can walk into Heaven. We should not be so quick to presume that we have the necessary purity of heart. The real and true God is all holy, and Heaven is a place of the souls of just men made perfect (Heb 12:23). Jesus says, you must be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mat 5:48). This is reality, but hypocrites like to pretend, to play act.
A contrived “god-within” of your “own understanding” cannot save you. Stop pretending; stop reciting lines like some actor (hypocrite). Get off the stage and down on your knees; call on the true God and savior, Jesus, the One described in Scripture, not the “Jesus” of your preferences. Yes, call on the true Lord, God, and Savior, who alone can save you.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
The HR department where I work had a multi hour training session intended to help us cope with “generational differences”. She would often simply juxtapose on generation against another regarding attitudes and beliefs.
At one point she said, “Boomers are religious, while millennials are spiritual.”
I asked what the difference was and she basically said that Boomers adhere to “organized religious organizations”. Of course, that begged the question, “Then what do millennials believe”, but I didn’t ask.
I never take those events seriously. It’s just a good time to keep up with emails and Freerepublic.
It’s sort of like that new denomination that calls itself non-denominational.
Spiritual is often confused with emotional. They are thought of as similar, but are completely opposite. Emotions are instinctive, require no discipline or wisdom, and are fickle. Easily manipulated. They can be good or evil, wise or foolish, healthy or harmful, whatever. Spirituality is discerning, however, and requires discipline. The right thing doesn’t always feel good, and the wrong thing doesn’t always feel bad. More often it’s the opposite.
Exactly. Don't try and dictate who God is, and certainly don't reject him on the basis of who you think he is. Pursue God, pursue God, pursue God, and let him show you who he is. Let him show you who you are. Let him shape you into the person you need to be. And if you mess up, which you will, pursue him all the more.
Anyway, this is my daily sermon to me. :)
“Spiritual is often confused with emotional.”
While true, emotions are very important in both religion and spirituality.
Remember the Pharisee’s prayers that were just words falling on deaf ears? They lacked emotions.
The greater problem is that emotions are confused with logic.
"Kafar Potemkin" is a great city masquerading as charming villages, even setting itself up as the happiest place on earth, the ultimate retirement community.
It's so bad out there that the truth had to come by way of a couple of slackers:
Bill:
Socrates - "The only true wisdom consists of knowing you know nothing."
Ted:
"That's us, dude."
"Be excellent to each other."
Simple.
Beware the hypocrisy of the religious but not spiritual. Bill and Ted will be the ones sitting down with all the greats, just like history teaches.
The only true wisdom consists of knowing you know nothing:
Daniel 12Not too long ago I was in the middle of posting about the Hebrew word for simple, "pashut". In "spelling it out" with all the letters of the letters, I noticed a pun on the internal letters, because they read as "I knew it." Not literal words, but how those letters would sound.8. And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
I thought that was funny. Well, then I got the idea to right-click on those leftover letters for a translation, just to see what would happen.
The returned message was, "No, you didn't."
There you have it.
Here it is in case anyone might be interested in the same result. The word pashut is in red, with the letters that spell the letters filled in:
פא שין וו טית
אי נו ית
("I knew it")
--->
"No, you didn't."
It's like what Buzz Lightyear exclaimed while drunk on Darjeeling:
"Years of academy training, WASTED!"
("Out the window! Buzz, you're a genius!")
Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
Please share with me the part of scripture where a “Religion” is mentioned. Are you speaking to them or “denominations” of which there are tens of thousands?
There is NO Church mentioned in scripture. The word Ekklesia means congregation or gathering.
I ask honestly as they are the dividers of people from Salvation as one group decides that their way is the only one and calls it a Religion
Jesus tells us in Scripture I am the way, the truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me
Him, not a Religion with all of the rituals and trappings making it into more of a performance than a personal Relationship for each of us to him, not through a “Church”
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Note: No Membership in a Church required nor does he give anyone the right to say who goes and who stays
The word “church” appears 73 times in the NT
Acts 25:19
Instead, the [followers of Jesus] had some points of dispute with him about their own religion and about a dead man named Jesus who Paul claimed was alive.
Acts 26:5
They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion , living as a Pharisee.
1 Timothy 5:4
But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.
James 1:26
Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
`
The same can be said for having a healthy wariness of the “religious but not spiritual”
Note the translation error
KJV But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
Religion is superstition
1 Timothy 5:4 King James Version (KJV)
4 But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God.
Older translations use the word superstition where in the newer ones it becomes religion, interesting
https://www.biblestudytools.com/kjva/1-timothy/5-4.html
Change versions there and note the evolution
Hope this helps
Look up the word Ekklesia as this was the root word from the Greek used more typically for NT
Congregation, original meetings were in homes and small groups even Synagogues
Interesting study, I hope we all learn from this
Once you accept and believe Genesis 1 verse 1, you’re stuck. It doesn’t matter if you call it spiritual or religious - the word of God must become the substance of your life. “In him we live and move and have our being.”
It is a valid concern, as is the reverse: religion without spirituality.
I Corinthians 5:2.
The word, religion, means literally “to reconnect”: to reconnect with a higher meaning (whether falsely or truly). It is etymologically related to ligature or ligament: connection. It is not necessarily synonymous with superstition.
You have several axes to grind, it is clear, and you use legalistic semantics to do so.
If there can be no authority to exclude a person from a congregation, then things cannot be done decently and in order, and one has chaos.
Read the above citation.
No, I search for truth not religions of which there are thousands that do not bring us together as Children of God, and followers of Christ our Lord and Savior
As far as excluding someone from a congregation I simply say as Christ did “Let him who is without Sin cast the first stone”
And last I am a dedicated Bible Scholar and my primary one has Greek and Hebrew dictionaries built in that take you to the actual root words used, not the ones translated or replaced by others that make it easier to read but often times remove the real meaning from the original.
And last to your comment about Axes, I seek the true words as I help others to join the flock. Judge not lest Ye be judged fits well here. You have your opinion and that is your right, anything else is between me and God
The only people who say their “spiritual” are those too lazy to go to church. This BS started in the anti-God hippy movement in the 60s.
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