lesser gods

A while back I realized I could tell whether or not a book was theologically sound by looking at the publisher on the binding. Similarly, we know when we are dealing with false news when reading or watching it. CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, New York Times, Business Insider, Newsweek, Time, US News and World Report, Fox. Basically, every single news outlet that filters to the top of your Google Chrome search because Google is complicit in the propaganda. Once reputable outlets…now only caricatures of journalism past. Unfortunately, the alternate to these propaganda outlets is becoming frighteningly small and can be counted in single digits.

I found this pre-filter helpful especially when scanning through searches for discount books on Alibris, Christian Book Discounters, Amazon, eBay or on shelves in local thrift shops locally. Very rarely did I move away from a very small group of certain publishers. The usual safe publishers were IVP InterVarsity Press, Hendrickson, Eerdmans, B&H Academic for language studies. If I did, I was sure to heavily scrutinize the book’s sources that were on my reading list. Those publishers were Zondervan, Crossway, Thomas Nelson. There were good commentaries and books under the secondary publishers like Francis Schaeffer, A.W. Pink, Word Biblical Commentaries, etc. But there were also some real stinkers. Outside of the aforementioned sources, theological things became an extremely dicey minefield.

What was the difference? Hermeneutic or interpretation methods. Specifically, how polluted the interpretive method became with either cultural/political influence or academically with what is called higher criticism. How people approached the text. Liberally with unorthodoxy or neo-orthodoxy (demythologizing, reliance on only naturalistic/empirical explanation or a posteriori knowledge, errancy of Scripture, etc.). Traditionally or with orthodoxy (Belief in miracles, supernatural elements, reliance on the a priori knowledge and the metaphysical, Inerrancy of Scripture).

This subtle differentiation ….is the pivotal dividing factor in the United States current polarized state. What half the country bases its morality on. What half the country bases its Truth on. Everyone does one or the other. There are no other options. There are no fence sitters. One bases its truth in a belief of an absolute. The other in relative truth. One believes in an absolute arbitrator of truth (God, something greater than themselves) the other a relative arbitrator of truth (man, courts, government). Errancy/Inerrancy. Physical only or Metaphysical and physical combined. A posteriori knowledge only or a priori and a posteriori knowledge combined.

For me it really is that simple. We made things far too difficult. We made the simplest easiest thing in the world into a nightmare. Listening to God. Just listen. In His place we've placed a million and one obstacles to the simplicity of obedience. Just as the Jews placed a impenetrable wall around the Torah with additional rules and laws that added nothing but more places to fail. They made belief in God into a minefield. So too we've massacred the truth and made an ever shifting sand or morass impossible to pin down. 

Limiting the amount of functionable components and simplifying things makes them easier. A concept so simple even a child can understand it. In our arrogance and intelligence we've become like fools. In search of something besides God we found a million lesser gods. Each one leading us down a million dead-ends. In an effort to disobey One God we obey a myriad of lesser gods. Then we wonder why we are overwhelmed and overmedicated. In the Bible they were called Ashtoreth, Baal, Chemosh, Dagon, etc. Today they are called Democrat, Republican, 401K, Academia, Bills, Science, NFL, LGBTQ, Self, etc.

In lesser gods we trust and because of it we die.