How exciting!

Next Sunday, my church begins a new study during Sunday school based on this book. I'm just into the first chapter...but - how exciting!! Here are some tidbits:

Lie 1: God is whatever we want Him to be

This is the first reason why we have so many idolatrous ideas about God today: we are impatient with His silence in this confused age. Donald McCullough quotes newspaper columnist Russell Baxter, who lost his father to an early death, as saying, "After this I never cried again with any real conviction, nor expected much of anyone's God except indifference." We think that if God is all-powerful, He would put an end to the suffering of this world, so we construct a god who puts up with evil for the same reasons we do: he can do very little about it. Or else we turn away from reality and say that evil does not exist.

So a second motivation for idolatry is that we want a God who is more tolerant of us, less demanding, less "judgmental." When a friend of mine left his wife for another woman, he withdrew from his friends at the church and formed new friendships in bars and sports complexes. He felt better associating with people who could accept his choices without judging; he wanted to be affirmed, rather than rebuked, for the "courage" to leave his wife. Just so, we want a God who will not mess with the core of our lives.

(excerpted from 10 Lies about God by Erwin Lutzer)

What are the other 9 lies you ask? Well, here they are:

Lie 2: Many paths lead into God's presence (I can't wait to read this chapter!)
Lie 3: God is more tolerant than He used to be
Lie 4: God has never personally suffered (Oh wow -do some people really believe this??!)
Lie 5: God is obligated to save followers of other religions
Lie 6: God takes no responsibility for natural disasters
Lie 7: God does not know our decisions before we make them
Lie 8: The Fall ruined God's plan
Lie 9: We must choose between God's pleasures and our own
Lie 10: God helps those who help themselves

(excerpted from 10 Lies about God by Erwin Lutzer)

That's just a taste! What a study this is going to be!!

"Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them." Psalm 115:3-8