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Paul Hospodar
Paul Hospodar's blog
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Customize your god!
8 stars|8 comments|April 30, 2008|827 reads
 
14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Do you have a custom ringtone on your cellphone?  A different color case or holder?

Do you have a different wallpaper on your computer than the "rolling hills" that was loaded on Windows?  Something that fits your personality a little better?

Do you have a car that's not painted black?  (Henry Ford never thought you would!)

Custom shades or blinds in your home?

Custom cabinets in your kitchen?  Walls painted other than contractor white?

While we are all unique and wonderfully made by the Lord, I think the 'right of customization' in the world today is a problem when it comes to God.

The verse above causes quite a stir among those that aren't saved today. They want a customized god. Sometimes it's one that allows them to continue in their sin and that's identifiable by most.  However, sometimes it's less apparent and veiled by 

I was witnessing to a self-described "recovering catholic" who now claims to be a Buddhist.  He took issue at first with "people who never heard of Jesus not going to heaven".  I told him that it wasn't not 'hearing of Jesus" that sent them to hell, but their sin.  What he said next is symptomatic of the need for so many people to 'customize their god':

I'm sorry, but I can't except Jesus as the one and only saviour of the human race. His kindness, compassion, and love ripple through over 2,000 years, so he must have been a very powerful person.... I also believe that anyone who excepts Jesus as their personal savior can find comfort and peace in him. I do not believe that he alone holds the keys to Nirvana.

So close, yet so far, eh?  This happened online and the guy went silent after my last response - hopefully because the Spirit was working on convicting his heart of his sins.  Or maybe he just didn't want to hear any more.

Too often, the world wants a god that says deeds (works) get you to heaven...or charity...or self-sacrifice...or purifying yourself through many lives.  They always say "there has to be many ways to get to heaven".  Why?  Because there are 500 channels on cable, 31 flavors at Baskin-Robbins, and we think we deserve to make the rules.

God is God...He doesn't HAVE to allow for customization.  He doesn't HAVE to give more than one option for how to get to Him.  The world needs to stop thinking they can paint their salvation any color they want, and change the means of reaching it when they want. 

3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Thank you God, for keeping my choices simple, and for giving us your Son.

 

 

 
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Deb Rockwell
 Deb Rockwell
April 30, 2008
Absolutely wonderful and powerful blog!
Hudnall
 Hudnall
April 30, 2008
it's sad.
Heaping up for themselves teachers having itching ears
 Michael Moore
April 30, 2008
Awesome!

I am basically a simple-minded person. I too am grateful for the simple choice of accepting Jesus!

116:6The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.


The message of the Gospel in itself is actually really simple. So simple in fact that most people need the help of someone else just to misunderstand it!

Great Word my friend!
Sugg
 Sugg
May 02, 2008

Most Excellent Word! Thanks for sharing! I am right there with Michael. Yes so simple most people need help misunderstanding it! Be blessed!

Mike n Laura
 Mike n Laura
May 05, 2008

"we think we deserve to make the rules"

Each and every one of us still battles this genetic disease!! 

RobinJoy Hutchison
 RobinJoy Hutchison
May 05, 2008
"God is God...He doesn't HAVE to allow for customization."  I love that! Awesome post. 
Hal Waterhouse
 Hal Waterhouse
May 13, 2008
The sovereign God whom we serve cannot be be changed to suit! Great points and well said!
Rob
 Rob
June 07, 2008

Growing,

I had a conversation with a church of Christ preacher back when I was first saved (again).  He said something that took me aback.  He said that people who have never heard of Jesus but who obey the rules of their religion are going to heaven.  He used as his "proof" Romans chapter 2.

Obviously, I rejected his assertion.  No one who knows the bible would ever say that a person could be saved without Jesus.  In fact, if you take his logic to the extreme, it would have been better for mankind if Jesus had never come.  And, after coming, Jesus was very foolish to tell his followers, "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations..."

If all we have to do is "obey the rules" of our religion then any religion will do and Jesus' teachings are superfluous.  What this "preacher" fails to uinderstand is that salvation means more than merely "going to heaven" when we die.  Jesus came to give us an abundant life (see John 10:10).  Abundance doesn't happen automatically or by accident.  The abundant life speaks of the quality of life that Jesus and the Father experience.

I asked this preacher later on if we need the Holy Spirit in order to be saved.  He just sat there and smiled at me.  He has never answered that direct question.

8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

If the preacher understood the bible, he would understand how important the Holy Spirit is to us.  The preacher may have the Holy Spirit but he certainly is not walking in that Spirit.

MichaelATL is absolutely correct - the message of the gospel is so simple that we need help to misunderstand it.  That "help" usually comes in the form of the clergy.

Rob