{"id":136,"date":"2015-08-01T07:08:58","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T11:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/?p=136"},"modified":"2015-08-01T08:12:31","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T12:12:31","slug":"whose-god-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/blog\/whose-god-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Whose God?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cloud2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln was asked whether he thought God was on the side of the North.\u00a0 After a few moments of thought the grim-faced Lincoln replied, \u201cThe real question is not whether God is on our side, but whether we are on God\u2019s side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Churches today must face the same question.\u00a0 Are we calling on God to be on our side \u2013 whatever that may be \u2013 or are we joining God\u2019s side?\u00a0 Put another way, have we constructed gods of our own making to serve our needs or are we serving the God of the Bible?\u00a0 God asks, \u201cTo whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal (Isaiah 40:25).<\/p>\n

Author Don McCollough suggests that many churches today have created either a \u201cgod-of-my-cause, a god-of-my-understanding, or a god-of-my-experience\u201d that fills the void left by an abandonment of God and of true Christianity.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgod-of-my-cause\u201d manifests itself when churches begin with what they believe to be a good and worthy cause (liberation and feminist theologies come to mind immediately) and end up using God to justify their participation.\u00a0 This re-casting of God into the mold of the cause is tantamount to fashioning a new calf of social righteousness.<\/p>\n

The \u201cgod-of-my-understanding\u201d is a vile and demonic representation of Christianity.\u00a0 Denominationalism is at its roots responsible for much of the strife and hostility seen in the church today.\u00a0 Doctrinal lines are drawn in the sand, enemies named and challenged, and theological self-assuredness abounds.\u00a0 Yet as McCollough points out, Christians forget that God is not contained in any theological system.\u00a0 Indeed, theological endeavors demand humility as much as critical thinking.<\/p>\n

Finally, the \u201cgod-of-my-experience\u201d has intercepted the movement of the Holy Spirit in many congregations.\u00a0 Churches are locked into my<\/em> form of worship, my<\/em> style of prayer, my<\/em> focus in service.\u00a0 This mentality squeezes the life out of the body.\u00a0 The subjective rules over the objective, style wins over substance.\u00a0 The result is that Christians become \u201cingrown\u201d and narrow-minded.<\/p>\n

What can be done to overcome such tendencies?\u00a0 First, we must understand that a god we wish to fashion to fit our cause is ultimately no bigger than ourselves.\u00a0 Secondly, we must accept that this god cannot save us from our sins.\u00a0 Third, we must understand that any god that does not free us from the prison of our individual<\/em> perspectives is nothing but a construct of our minds.<\/p>\n

Whose God? The God who is not contained by houses made with hands, theological systems, or political persuasions. The God revealed to us in the pages of the Scriptures, and in the Son who came to pay our penalty for our sin, and in the Holy Spirit who indwells every born-again believer. That’s God friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During the Civil War Abraham Lincoln was asked whether he thought God was on the side of the North.\u00a0 After a few moments of thought the grim-faced Lincoln replied, \u201cThe real question is not whether God is on our side, but whether we are on God\u2019s side.\u201d Churches today must face the same question.\u00a0 Are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,75,76,77,78,79],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-abraham-lincoln","tag-don-mccollough","tag-god-of-my-cause","tag-god-of-my-experience","tag-god-of-my-understanding","tag-isaiah-40"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/soaringeagleradio.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/cloud2.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/soaringeagleradio.com\/index.html\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}