Exodus 20:1-3 (NLT) – Then God gave the people all these instructions: “I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me.”
I have recently been reading a very thought-provoking book titled Discipling Nations by Darrow L. Miller. It is fascinating as it dissects prevailing world views (secularism, animism, Christianity, and Islam being the major ones dealt with). The more I work with Medical Ambassadors International the more aware I become of the vast differences in worldview and how they affect nearly everything in our lives…not the least of which is religion and ethics.
For example, the modern mantra is a call for tolerance. This was largely promulgated by those holding a post-modern worldview that says tolerance means showing equal respect to all moral and metaphysical ideas. They hold that being tolerant towards people who disagree with us is a virtue. Is it always that case, though? Is tolerating false ideas and evil social practices that lead to wickedness, cruelty, injustice, and oppression really a virtue? Would we really think it a virtue to tolerate those who propagated Nazism and the Holocaust, communism, and socialism? Even the World Bank has conceded that not all moral ideas and practices have the same consequences. Typically, the poorest nations are the most corrupt nations.
It is worth noting what Plato (a pretty smart guy, all things considered) observed in Republic, when he told his fellow Greeks that it is impossible to even begin to build a just society without getting rid of the foul stories of their gods and goddesses. A people cannot be better than their gods.
This is why, perhaps, God said what He did in Exodus 20:1-3. Is what God said popular? No. It isn’t very tolerant, right? It is not a question, however, of tolerance, but of truth. Why did God say what He did? Because He knows that people cannot be better than their gods and goddesses. If their gods, like those of the Greeks, engaged in revels and orgies and the like, people will tend to imitate their gods. If their gods are materialistic in nature, we will be given to materialism ourselves. But if our God is GOD, we will be a holy and righteous people and society.
What is your God like? It’s an important question because it will determine what you are like!
PRAYER: Lord, how many substitute gods have I\e placed before You? How many lies of world view have Your people surrendered to? Clear our minds of the foolishness that we have come to believe that we may believe only the Truth that proceeds from Your mouth! In Your name, Amen.
Copyright 2022 by Galen C. Dalrymple.
DayBreaks Devotions 