...but what do you say?
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It is highly likely that the main thing that keeps people from belief in God is their pride of life, which is inherent in the natural man, who is born spiritually dead to God and is fundamentally hostile in his mind toward Him. So yes, that person, the natural man, elevates their intellect above what they characterize as brainwashing and lack of rational thought on the part of believers and people of faith. In this way they have most definitely made an idol of their intelligence, which they use to deny the very God Who gave it. We also know that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit of God that one can truly acknowledge Who Jesus Christ is...
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I'm in the process of reading the Bible through again, and my reading yesterday was of the death of King Saul and his sons.
Your post made me think of how Saul started out very zealous for the Lord, but eventually started making his own decisions -- including conducting a sacrifice without Samuel when he was told to wait -- and because of this, God left him, and his fate was sealed.
Saul tried to protest to Samuel, "But I did the things the Lord told me to do," but Samuel reminded him that it was not done in the way the Lord had instructed, and that, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." (1 Samuel 15:22.)
We all have some pet thing we want to hang on to in some way. Maybe it's a vice, maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's things we shouldn't be reading, watching, or saying, etc. And most of us, myself included, will say, "But God. I'm doing everything else you've told me to do!" We might even try to convince Him that we're doing our best with our pet sins as well.
But to be a Christian means that God will put His finger on some very personal things in our life that He wants us to change or completely give up.
(I view obedience as an integral part of worship; perhaps others have a different perspective.)
I can only speak for myself, but I know for a fact that for my own life, even if I'm doing all the outward things but refusing to do the things He's pointed out, I am in disobedience and therefore, not worshiping Him as He wants me to.
If I have an area of my life where I'm making my own decisions and He's saying no, like Saul, the rest of my "worship" is not true -- and falls short.
One of the most heart-piercing sermons I ever heard was that, "Delayed obedience is disobedience." I have a tendency to tell God, "I'll do that later!" -- and I've felt convicted every time I'm faced with it again ever since.
Your post made me think of how Saul started out very zealous for the Lord, but eventually started making his own decisions -- including conducting a sacrifice without Samuel when he was told to wait -- and because of this, God left him, and his fate was sealed.
Saul tried to protest to Samuel, "But I did the things the Lord told me to do," but Samuel reminded him that it was not done in the way the Lord had instructed, and that, "Obedience is better than sacrifice." (1 Samuel 15:22.)
We all have some pet thing we want to hang on to in some way. Maybe it's a vice, maybe it's a relationship, maybe it's things we shouldn't be reading, watching, or saying, etc. And most of us, myself included, will say, "But God. I'm doing everything else you've told me to do!" We might even try to convince Him that we're doing our best with our pet sins as well.
But to be a Christian means that God will put His finger on some very personal things in our life that He wants us to change or completely give up.
(I view obedience as an integral part of worship; perhaps others have a different perspective.)
I can only speak for myself, but I know for a fact that for my own life, even if I'm doing all the outward things but refusing to do the things He's pointed out, I am in disobedience and therefore, not worshiping Him as He wants me to.
If I have an area of my life where I'm making my own decisions and He's saying no, like Saul, the rest of my "worship" is not true -- and falls short.
One of the most heart-piercing sermons I ever heard was that, "Delayed obedience is disobedience." I have a tendency to tell God, "I'll do that later!" -- and I've felt convicted every time I'm faced with it again ever since.
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John 4:23-24 gives us some insight into what God expects in worship. We are to worship in both spirit and truth.
Truth means we are to worship as God has prescribed. God has given direction for the manner in which we are to worship throughout the Bible, and has even killed some who approached Him in ways He deemed blasphemous.
Spirit in the passage isn't capitalized, so it is our spirit that is in view. This means our worship isn't to be simply following a ritualistic religious format, but that true worship comes from the depth of our being. The psalmist understood this. Psalm 103:1 is a good example...
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Truth means we are to worship as God has prescribed. God has given direction for the manner in which we are to worship throughout the Bible, and has even killed some who approached Him in ways He deemed blasphemous.
Spirit in the passage isn't capitalized, so it is our spirit that is in view. This means our worship isn't to be simply following a ritualistic religious format, but that true worship comes from the depth of our being. The psalmist understood this. Psalm 103:1 is a good example...
Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name.
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I'm reminded of a place called Perez-Uzzah, where David was trying to bring the ark of the covenant home on an ox cart and Uzzah died because of it.
(Side note: My maternal grandmother went to her grave believing the ark of the covenant was a lightning rod because of the Uzzah incident.)
On the other hand I'm curious what the man who made that statement was making it in reference to. A lot of people object to a LOT of new things... Mostly musical... because they are not customary, but the objections have no biblical basis. TV/projector screens, entire styles of music, serving coffee in the foyer, padded pews - shoot, some probably objected when air conditioning became customary. "Well bless God, WE didn't need that junk just to go to church!" So I gotta wonder what caused that unknown man to make that statement about worshipping God the way God told us.
(Side note: My maternal grandmother went to her grave believing the ark of the covenant was a lightning rod because of the Uzzah incident.)
On the other hand I'm curious what the man who made that statement was making it in reference to. A lot of people object to a LOT of new things... Mostly musical... because they are not customary, but the objections have no biblical basis. TV/projector screens, entire styles of music, serving coffee in the foyer, padded pews - shoot, some probably objected when air conditioning became customary. "Well bless God, WE didn't need that junk just to go to church!" So I gotta wonder what caused that unknown man to make that statement about worshipping God the way God told us.