Monday, October 8, 2007

By Faith... Or Not? Israel's Exodus and Conquest, Part 38 of 41

TEXT: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments" (Exodus 20:4-5).

IDEA: Idolatry was appealing because it seemed reasonable.

PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that reason is based on presuppositions that may be wrong.

Do you put much stock in “common sense”? What is it?

Common sense produced the assurance that the earth was flat and was the center of the universe.

We have been discussing why idolatry had such a pull on God’s people throughout ancient history. Idolatry seemed very logical to people in the ancient world.

I. Idolatry seemed to be common sense. A multiplicity of gods could meet all the needs of the people far better than a single god.

The Hebrew people didn’t abandon Jehovah. He was regarded as a general practitioner. It wasn’t logical that he would be expected to bother with little things that came up.

Other gods or goddesses were “specialists.” They each had a particular area in which they were powerful. For example,

if you were concerned about having a baby, you might turn to the goddess of fertility.

if you wanted a crop to grow, you would turn to the god who was in charge of grain.

II. Their presuppositions were wrong about God.

Everyone is logical if you know his or her presuppositions.

When people talk about God today, they often start out with wrong presuppositions that ultimately lead to idols in their minds.

God is “Dear old Somebody” who would never punish anyone for anything they ever did. He is like Santa Claus.

God is an accountant who totals your good deeds and bad deeds and He grades on the curve.

Once you have that view of God, the idolatrous system makes perfect sense.