{"id":6674,"date":"2014-02-23T01:00:57","date_gmt":"2014-02-23T06:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/allandouglas.dougbittinger.com\/blog\/?p=6674"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:40","slug":"god-of-our-imagination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/god-of-our-imagination\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GOD OF OUR IMAGINATION"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Calvin<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do we worship\u00a0a god, sometimes, who is the figment of our imagination?\u00a0 Do we create a god in our image rather than conform to the image of God created within us?\u00a0 Do we set our own agenda or do we seriously search for the will of God?\u00a0 False gods do not have to be made out of gold or silver.\u00a0 They can be the products of our speculation.\u00a0 Idols are formed in our minds long before they are created by our hands.\u00a0 Our most common human heresy is to make up our own set of rules.\u00a0 We pray to a god who permits.\u00a0 We serve a god who satisfies our carnal desires.\u00a0 Our religion is egocentric rather than theocentric.\u00a0 We invent ways to satisfy our thirst for heaven which fall short of heaven’s expectations.\u00a0 We are never at peace with God because the gods we create instigate chaos.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sooner or later our house of religious cards will tumble.\u00a0 The bubble of synthetic spirituality will burst.\u00a0 The charade of pretentious Christianity will end.\u00a0 We cannot go on serving a god who does not exist.\u00a0 There comes a time when the issues of life demand a quality commitment to reality.\u00a0 Whenever sickness and death sting us with the tentacles of despair, we need an eternal hope.\u00a0 Whenever temptation lurks at the door and sin creates an uneasy conscience, we need more than a silly system of self approval.\u00a0 Whenever friends turn against us and we feel alone, we need the deeper friendship of divine devotion.\u00a0 Whenever crises come, as surely they will, we need more than human resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Simply stated, there\u00a0comes a time when we cannot make it with a faith based only on convenience.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What, then, shall we do to cultivate an authentic attachment to our Lord and all that adds substance to the living of our days?\u00a0 We need to take God at His word and follow His guidelines for godly living.\u00a0 We must evaluate our tendencies to be less than honest with ourselves about God.\u00a0 We cannot serve a god who exists only in our imaginations.\u00a0 The altar of our own ego is a poor place to find the peace that passes all understanding.\u00a0 We need to confront our risen Savior and in the fellowship of His suffering find meaning in whatever penalties and blessings life presents us.\u00a0 We are never nearer to God than when we denounce our idols and make Him the primary focus of our lives.<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

     Do we worship a god, sometimes, who is the figment of our imagination?  Do we create a god in our image rather than conform to the image of God created within us?  Do we set our own agenda or do we seriously search for the will of God?  False gods do not have to be … Continue reading “THE GOD OF OUR IMAGINATION”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[45,57],"class_list":["post-6674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-matters-of-faith","tag-imagination","tag-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6674"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19149,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6674\/revisions\/19149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}