DayBreaks for 1/30/20 – The Death of God(s)

During the late 50’s through the early 70’s, there was a group of theologians who boldly proclaimed “God is dead.” The idea was somewhat popularized earlier by Nietzsche. It was even featured in Time magazine and other mainline news magazines and the idea had profound implications for our society and world. Debates and symposia on the subject captured great attention.

And then, seemingly as quickly as it rose to prominence in those three decades, the God is Dead movement died. I don’t know exactly why, but I suspect that it may have been because people just couldn’t cope with the implications of a universe without purpose and meaning. Here’s the thinking, as laid out by Steve Brown in A Scandalous Freedom: “Boiled down, those implications amounted to this: If there is no God, there is no value; if there is no value, there is no meaning; and if there is no meaning, you are a turnip growing for a time, dying, and returning to the earth from which you came.”

But let’s think for a moment about this in another way. Although I don’t believe for a single moment that God is dead, there are many gods, including some within me and within you, that need to die. Any selfishness, greediness, holding onto anger, racism, falsehood, pride, mean-spiritedness and the like are manifestations of a god that lives within me and that god is named me! They are all about me, me, me and my right and my interests and they care not for others.

Romans puts it this way: So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. – Romans 8:12-13 (CSBBible)

I long for the day when I’ll be able to say “My gods are dead” so that only the rightful God remains forever.

What are some gods of yours that need to die?

PRAYER: Father, we need Your help in slaying the false gods in our lives so that You along reign within us! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

On a side note, I like this:

Copyright by 2020 by Galen C. Dalrymple.  ><}}}”>

 

DayBreaks for 9/28/18 – A Victim of His Own Invention

DayBreaks for 10/01/18 – A Victim of His Own Invention       

From the DayBreaks archive, September 2008:

As a man soweth, so shall he reap.  Gal. 6:7

When someone who has been skirting the law for some time gets caught, we are prone to say that “He’s getting what he deserves.”  That is true…violations of law deserve punishment.  There seem to be exceptions when things go unpunished, but ultimately, as Ecclesiastes 12:14 says, For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.  There will be no escape for any deed that was done – good, or bad, visible or invisible.  A sobering thought, isn’t it?

I thank God that even though my deeds will be made visible, that the punishment for them has already been suffered by my Lord.  He paid the price, the penalty, for all my wrongs.

Several years after inventing radar, Sir Robert Watson-Watt was arrested in Canada for speeding.  He’d been caught in a radar trap.  He wrote this little poem to commemorate the event:

“Pity Sir Robert Watson-Watt,

strange target of his radar plot,

and this, with others I could mention,

a victim of his own invention.”

Ah, yes… “a victim of his own invention.”  We’ve all been victims of things we’ve invented.  We invent lies to cover up some deed done or undone, and we fall victim to that invented truth.  People invent gods of their own that suit their own whims and desires – and usually those gods are nothing but benevolent and have little to do with truth or justice.  The day will come when those gods fail them, if not before, when they stand before the God who was never invented but what always Was, and Is, and Is to come. 

Watch out for the inventions you form in your own mind about God, or gods, or truth.  We can “invent” stories and lines of logic all day long that just won’t hold water when the Truth that is Jesus Christ is revealed. 

Beware your inventions…you may become their victim!

PRAYER: Foolishness runs deep in us, Lord.  Forgive our foolish ways and open our hearts to the only true and living God and the One who is and embodies ALL Truth!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.

COPYRIGHT 2018 by Galen C. Dalrymple. All rights reserved.

DayBreaks for 11/16/17 – As If

NOTE: Galen is traveling…again.

From the DayBreaks archive, November 2007:

Playing God.  It’s something that we accuse doctors of doing at times, or even other folks who are trying to control everything and everyone.  It’s a ridiculous concept, if you really stop to think of it.  Perhaps that’s why movies like Bruce Almighty found such an audience – it probed the depths of what it might be like if some bumbling human tried to take on the job of God.  And, God Himself challenged Job with the concept – almost saying point blank: “If you think you could do a better job, give it a spin!”  Job, fortunately, was wise enough to not take Him up on the offer. 

Here’s a different twist on the notion:

“Losing PlayStation privileges or being confined to a room would be hard enough for most children, but at the tender age of ten, Sajani Shakya almost lost her status as a living goddess.  In the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal, living goddesses—called Kumari—are chosen from the same Hindu caste as Buddha and worshiped as deity.  As Sajani soon learned, with the elevated status came elevated expectations.  Under no circumstances was she ever to leave the country.  Nepalese authorities were outraged, then, when she chose to travel to the United States to participate in a documentary that was being filmed about the Kumari tradition.  Upon her return, she received notification of termination from goddess status from Jaiprasad Regmi, chief of the government trust that manages the affairs of the living goddesses.  However, after a little pressure from the public and Sajani’s own remorse, the government has since offered a reprieve.  Sajani will retain her title if she faithfully goes through an intense cleansing process that washes her of the sins of the countries she has visited in her travels.” – AP, 7/21/07

There is a huge difference between God and the gods of men.  As if any human, or a group of “authorities” could strip a real God of His Godhood.  It can’t help but make me wonder what definition of “god” the Nepalese were operating under.  It’s preposterous to think that we can take away God’s “Godness”. 

To some extent, they are right: with greatness (and if anything constitutes greatness, surely that would be “Godhood”!) come expanded expectations.  We just need to be careful of what expectations we place on Him.  Do you expect Him to do your bidding?  Do you view Him as the Heavenly Answer-man?  In the real God we see a great dichotomy: He is the one who gives answers, he is the one who can do anything, yet we often approach him by telling him what he should do in any given situation.  And if He doesn’t, we might be tempted to lose faith in Him (in essence, stripping Him of His God-ness) in our hearts and minds. 

The Truth is that God doesn’t need us to declare Him as God.  He knows who He is.  Our problems is that often we don’t know who we are in relation to Him! 

PRAYER: Help us to grow in appreciation and awareness of Your greatness this day.  Teach us that we are nowhere close to being able to do Your job and to humbly walk before You.   In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Copyright by 2017 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

DayBreaks for 08/06/13 – Choosing Bad Gods

DayBreaks for 08/06/13 – Choosing Bad Gods

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 world view 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 we 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 2013 by Galen C. Dalrymple.

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