The short answer is yes, we are pagans. Well, ending there would be a waste of a blog post. We put many ideas and values equal with God. Our political leaders are God Kings instead of politicians. Even the streets of Hollywood are filled with gods and idols. Our culture preaches paganism. Our churches are littered with pagan beliefs. Life is bombarded with concepts not in line with our God. Let’s figure out how to weed this pollution in our culture.
1 Peter 4:3 (NASB):
“For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.”
Let’s not impugn the truth by creating straw men. Every category within the small verse we are living out today. Usually the straw men that gets created is from the category of idolatry. I made a blog post that goes deeper into idolatry then I will here. “Idolaters worship and pray to an image.” This statement is a limited concept from the bigger scope of idolatry. Idols are anything you put in higher value then God. Make a list of potential idols in our culture. The results will be surprising.
Pagans are also described as worshiping many gods. I think our culture has a unique twist to this concept. We add worldly ideas and lusts into our teachings. Our culture doesn’t view God as a jealous God worthy of everything. Also, we view our God as a god who accepts many ideas as his own. A sentence starts, “How can a loving God…” A loving God is a just God. We don’t shape God into ours. Pagans make Gods into specific categories in their life. Are we any different? God doesn’t change based on your circumstances. He is beyond time. A being not constrained to time can’t change.
I have a big problem with the twisting of one statement. This statement is troubling to the destruction of our church. “God is everyone to everybody.” This is scary. Pagans create a god for every human condition while the previous statement changes God to every desire or sin. God doesn’t evolve to our lowest common denominator. We are called to not sin. Holiness is our prime calling. Sinners come to God dirty to be cleaned. If it is wrong to roll around in mud in front of the Alter of God, why is it okay to stay sinning?
The best way to weed out the pagans in our culture is by sticking to the truths in scripture. If we are not looking to the bible for answers we will turn to paganism. Watering down God to fit our livelihood is turning him into multiple gods. Saying he is different for you then for me is a lie. This allows false teachers to come into the church. They tell you their version of who God is. We don’t combat it because we already believe the general premise is true. This premise is that God is everyone to everybody. We worship a transcendent God. He is a beacon of light in a sinful world. Our country and our world need a revival of Truth. The first step is to be self-reflective on this topic.
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