Do people today worship other "gods?"
Posted on May 25, 2011 by Pastor Tom
We have seen how each day of creation dismissed the pagan gods. But does this really speak to us today?
And we say, “oh well, that was for those people who were confused about the reality and believed in nature gods. We aren’t so deluded. We have no issue with worshipping other gods.” Well we don’t call those gods by personal names. But our culture worships other gods that come from a profoundly different worldview.
Our culture worships materialism. It believes that matter and materials make up the universe and there is nothing beyond them. So going to the mall and gathering more materials can actually be an act of pagan worship. People today believe in determinism where reality is mechanical. The origin of life and the nature of our humanity is just a result of natural causes.
Our culture worships secularism which is a philosophy that rejects all forms of religious faith and worship in the public sphere. Has anyone here heard any of the federal leaders campaigning for the election talk about God or their faith in God or their party’s platform on faith? No. Canadians expect their political leaders to keep their faith private. They would suffer immense political damage for advocating a faith or mentioning their faith. That’s how secular our society has become. You probably know people who worship the god of secular humanism. They do not acknowledge God and God’s ownership of the created order. And now we have post-modernism or new agism. The New Age was/is – old fashioned paganism with a modern twist. It incorporates Eastern religions with their multiple gods and reshapes them in some North American lingo. So we see people turning to astrology and horoscopes for guidance or Transcendental Meditation. Even post-modernism elevates personal spirituality above any objective God. So before we dismiss Moses’ concerns that God’s people not slide into pagan worship, we must seriously look at ourselves and our own culture.
Then look at Genesis 1 which flies in the face of all of today’s gods. This is a foundational chapter for the Christian worldview. It goes against worldviews that claim the universe just happened to exist or has always existed. It is contrary to a worldview that claims humans randomly came into being by some incredible chance of nature. It declares God as the creator and originator of life. It declares there is no other God.
(Next time – what about the length of creation days?)
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