Creating God in our Own Image


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Over the years, I've given this phrase:  Many who fall away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ will do so because they've chosen the path of "creating God in their own image."

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Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

This is what pretty much everyone does.  It is the great sin of pride that allows us to believe that we believe in a God that suits our needs, rather than trying to change ourselves to meet what God requires of us.

The Old Testament is replete with story after story of the children of Israel going off to worship Baal and Ashtaroth.  Why was this so habitual?  Simple.  They thought there was something wrong with the Law of Moses.  They didn't want to obey all the statutes.  And they really didn't want to worship / love a god who would require such things of them.

Why Baal and Ashtaroth?  Because they were "moldable" gods.  Baal for instance, was called a storm god, a sun god, a fertility god... the list goes on.  And Ashtaroth and Asherah were sometimes considered the same being and other times two separate gods.  They were whatever the people wanted them to be.  You don't like people telling you what you're doing is wrong? Just make a god who tells you that you're ok just as you are.  What the heck is a commandment anyway?

One reason we find it easier to love God and hate our brother is that we can't deny who our brother is.  We love not God, but our "image" of God.  The graven image in our minds is nothing like the actual Being who created us.  Instead, we create our own god.

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“This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent”

The task before us is to discover the Living God. He who exists.  Jehovah.  We do not create an image in our minds of what we believe he should be like to be "worthy of my worship".  Even as we study scriptures, we see something that doesn't make sense, we say, "Oh that must be a mistranslation."  Or "I can't believe in a god who does that."

Once we find that the Lord has required or done something we disagree with, our impulse then is to think there was something wrong with HIM.  Instead we're asked to be humbled by the knowledge that maybe we don't know what he's really like.  Maybe we need to change OUR concept of good and evil.  Maybe we just plain don't know the whole story -- and it was only under extreme circumstances where the wickedness of man forced His hand to do something that we consider "bad" to begin a new era of "good".

Maybe we are only a worm.  Maybe we should be declaring "Oh, wretched man that I am."  Maybe we should stop wondering why He isn't behaving like a good little god.

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2 hours ago, Carborendum said:

Over the years, I've given this phrase:  Many who fall away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ will do so because they've chosen the path of "creating God in their own image."

This is what pretty much everyone does.  It is the great sin of pride that allows us to believe that we believe in a God that suits our needs, rather than trying to change ourselves to meet what God requires of us.

The Old Testament is replete with story after story of the children of Israel going off to worship Baal and Ashtaroth.  Why was this so habitual?  Simple.  They thought there was something wrong with the Law of Moses.  They didn't want to obey all the statutes.  And they really didn't want to worship / love a god who would require such things of them.

Why Baal and Ashtaroth?  Because they were "moldable" gods.  Baal for instance, was called a storm god, a sun god, a fertility god... the list goes on.  And Ashtaroth and Asherah were sometimes considered the same being and other times two separate gods.  They were whatever the people wanted them to be.  You don't like people telling you what you're doing is wrong? Just make a god who tells you that you're ok just as you are.  What the heck is a commandment anyway?

One reason we find it easier to love God and hate our brother is that we can't deny who our brother is.  We love not God, but our "image" of God.  The graven image in our minds is nothing like the actual Being who created us.  Instead, we create our own god.

The task before us is to discover the Living God. He who exists.  Jehovah.  We do not create an image in our minds of what we believe he should be like to be "worthy of my worship".  Even as we study scriptures, we see something that doesn't make sense, we say, "Oh that must be a mistranslation."  Or "I can't believe in a god who does that."

Once we find that the Lord has required or done something we disagree with, our impulse then is to think there was something wrong with HIM.  Instead we're asked to be humbled by the knowledge that maybe we don't know what he's really like.  Maybe we need to change OUR concept of good and evil.  Maybe we just plain don't know the whole story -- and it was only under extreme circumstances where the wickedness of man forced His hand to do something that we consider "bad" to begin a new era of "good".

Maybe we are only a worm.  Maybe we should be declaring "Oh, wretched man that I am."  Maybe we should stop wondering why He isn't behaving like a good little god.

A correction - Baal was not a G-d but rather a demigod.  Interestingly he walked on water to display his power to his followers - all this long before Moses.  One should note that in Egypt at the time of Moses, Baal was represented as a "golden calf".

I agree with much of what you are thinking but would point out something - we are all children of our Father in Heaven.  It is my opinion that we do not create G-ds in our image but rather in the image of Lucifer (Satan).   I do not have the confidence in mankind that you do - I believe that the tendency of those that do not worship the true and living G-d - that they end up creating nothing of themself but rather falling into the worship of Satan and the removal of Agency - with the intent of a all powerful G-d that controls everything.

 

The Traveler

 

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On 6/8/2022 at 11:49 AM, Traveler said:

A correction - Baal was not a G-d but rather a demigod. 

As I was saying.  He was a "moldable" god.  He was whatever the people of the time wanted him to be.  So, that's possible I suppose.

But I'm unfamiliar with that variant.  He was considered the son of El and Asherah.  Both gods.  So, Baal would have been a full god, not a demigod.

Could you provide a source for that position?

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Interestingly he walked on water to display his power to his followers - all this long before Moses. 

Again,  source?

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I agree with much of what you are thinking but would point out something - we are all children of our Father in Heaven.  It is my opinion that we do not create G-ds in our image but rather in the image of Lucifer (Satan).  

Potato-tomato.

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On 6/9/2022 at 5:25 PM, Carborendum said:

As I was saying.  He was a "moldable" god.  He was whatever the people of the time wanted him to be.  So, that's possible I suppose.

But I'm unfamiliar with that variant.  He was considered the son of El and Asherah.  Both gods.  So, Baal would have been a full god, not a demigod.

Could you provide a source for that position?

Again,  source?

Potato-tomato.

Some of this is from my own research - particular to the Baal and Anat (consort to Baal) epoch.  Part of the problem is that the Epoch of Baal changes or evolves (as do even versions of Biblical text) through different times and cultures of ancient history.  For example in some tests Anat avenges the death of Baal and in others she resurrects Baal.  During my last trip to France I spent some time at the Louvre researching the worship of Baal in Egypt during the time of Moses.  I was able to draw direct connection to the golden calf in Egypt during the Moses and the Exodus.

 

The Traveler

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"It is as the Lord Himself lamented to the prophet Isaiah:


“[These] children … will not hear the law of the Lord:
“[They] say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
“Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.”


Sadly enough, my young friends, it is a characteristic of our age that if people want any gods at all, they want them to be gods who do not demand much, comfortable gods, smooth gods who not only don’t rock the boat but don’t even row it, gods who pat us on the head, make us giggle, then tell us to run along and pick marigolds.


Talk about man creating God in his own image! Sometimes—and this seems the greatest irony of all—these folks invoke the name of Jesus as one who was this kind of “comfortable” God. Really? He who said not only should we not break commandments, but we should not even think about breaking them. And if we do think about breaking them, we have already broken them in our heart. Does that sound like “comfortable” doctrine, easy on the ear and popular down at the village love-in?"

Jeffery R. Holland, Apr 2014 General Conference

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7 hours ago, Emmanuel Goldstein said:

Something like this?

 

549330.jpg

There's both a metal bull to represent a "bull" or economically strong market, and a metal bear to represent a "bear" or economically weak market. 

They're actually, physically traded out given economic situations, a visual reminder of what the state of the national economy is.

If you'll recall, a few years ago there was a bit where someone tried to do a "girl power" - themed statue for that plaza to encourage women in the work force, but the people responsible for erecting the statue made the mistake of positioning the statue so that she was staring down the bull. 

This was promptly ridiculed and mocked by more than a few people (myself included), as it sent the inadvertent message that the presence of "empowered" women was impeding the American economy by preventing it from running freely, something that completely contradicted whatever message the creators wanted to send about women in Corporate America. 

Last I heard, the "girl power" statue was permanently removed because of this negative reaction. 

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21 hours ago, Ironhold said:

There's both a metal bull to represent a "bull" or economically strong market, and a metal bear to represent a "bear" or economically weak market. 

They're actually, physically traded out given economic situations, a visual reminder of what the state of the national economy is.

If you'll recall, a few years ago there was a bit where someone tried to do a "girl power" - themed statue for that plaza to encourage women in the work force, but the people responsible for erecting the statue made the mistake of positioning the statue so that she was staring down the bull. 

This was promptly ridiculed and mocked by more than a few people (myself included), as it sent the inadvertent message that the presence of "empowered" women was impeding the American economy by preventing it from running freely, something that completely contradicted whatever message the creators wanted to send about women in Corporate America. 

Last I heard, the "girl power" statue was permanently removed because of this negative reaction. 

Are you saying that the stock market and economy are not something that is worshiped by our civilization?

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