{"id":1627116,"date":"2022-08-30T14:49:48","date_gmt":"2022-08-30T18:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1627116"},"modified":"2022-08-30T14:50:49","modified_gmt":"2022-08-30T18:50:49","slug":"creating-a-god-in-our-own-image","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/creating-a-god-in-our-own-image\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating A God In Our Own Image"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcreating-a-god-in-our-own-image%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1627116&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Did you know that the Nazis created a non-Jewish, Aryan Jesus? As Susannah Heschel <a href=\"https:\/\/smile.amazon.com\/Aryan-Jesus-Christian-Theologians-Germany-ebook\/dp\/B09JJNHXM7\/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1SD1N2DFLJGGB&amp;keywords=the+aryan+jesus&amp;qid=1661488640&amp;sprefix=the+aryan+%2Caps%2C92&amp;sr=8-1\">explained<\/a>, Nazi theologians \u201credefined Christianity as a Germanic religion whose founder, Jesus, was no Jew but rather had fought valiantly to destroy Judaism, falling as victim to that struggle. Germans were now called upon to be the victors in Jesus\u2019s own struggle against the Jews, who were said to be seeking Germany\u2019s destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Talk about rewriting the Bible and creating a savior in our own image.<\/p>\n<p>But that\u2019s what many of us also do. We make a god who is like us \u2014 affirming, agreeing, confirming, empowering \u2014 rather than acknowledge the one true God, the God who transforms us, the God to whom we give account, the God who often makes us uncomfortable. We create a God who is here to serve us rather than us being here to serve Him.<\/p>\n<p>Let me give you a few striking examples, some of which you\u2019ve seen on TV.<\/p>\n<p>A boxer lays prone on the ground in a corner of the ring, surrounded by concerned doctors and trainers. On the other side of the ring, his triumphant opponent says to the interviewer, \u201cFirst, I want to give all the glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him, I could not have done this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In other words, without Jesus, I could not have landed such a vicious knockout punch, a punch that has endangered the health of my opponent. Is there something wrong with this picture?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m always glad to hear an athlete acknowledge the Lord. And it\u2019s good to recognize that, without Him, we can do nothing (meaning, nothing truly good).<\/p>\n<p>But thanking God for a violent victory? Really? Isn\u2019t this another way that we create a god in our own image, a god who helps us win our every preference and desire, and defeat those whom we see as our enemies? God is always with the winner (that is, as long as we\u2019re the ones winning).<\/p>\n<p>I recently saw a boxer praying with his team before a fight. He was passionate, crying out like someone who truly knew the Lord. He sounded like the real deal.<\/p>\n<p>Then he said, \u201cAnd Lord, help me to show no mercy tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Seriously? He asked the God of mercy to help him show no mercy to his opponent in the boxing ring?<\/p>\n<p>To paraphrase the prayer, \u201cMerciful Savior, You who shower me with mercy every day, You who said, \u2018Blessed are the merciful,\u2019 help me to show no mercy in the ring. In Your name, amen!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This same boxer is known for his free use of expletives during his interviews, adding another curious touch to his open and unashamed proclamation of Jesus as Lord. It looks like he has some growing to do.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen this in other violent sports, too, where an injury leaves an opponent quivering on the mat, blood gushing from his head, while the victor points to the sky with gratitude, mouthing the words, \u201cThank You Jesus!\u201d To paraphrase, \u201cYou were the one who put that special power in my kick. I could not be so violent on my own!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Again, I\u2019m all for athletes thanking God for His protection. Or saying that it\u2019s only by His grace they made it to where they are. Or acknowledging His help in being a successful athlete.<\/p>\n<p>And I recognize that there are many boxers and mixed martial artists who are known to have strong Christian testimonies, some of them sharing their stories about how their sport got them out of a life of crime. For them, while it is a tough sport, a combat sport, it is also a sport of honor, discipline, and hard work, and they wish no harm to their fellow combatants.<\/p>\n<p>But does that mean that they should thank God for the skill to pulverize their opponents, leaving some of them brain damaged for life?<\/p>\n<p>Yet this kind of thinking is all too common here in America, where the Lord exists to make us bigger and better, to empower us rather than change us.<\/p>\n<p>This reminds me of an old friend of the family who used to give 10% of her gambling winnings to two of her favorite TV preachers. It was the Lord, she reasoned, who enabled her to beat the casinos, and so she owed him her tithe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve heard of a \u201cChristian\u201d strip club owner who was a regular at his local gospel church, giving from his earnings to support the ministry.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m familiar with a \u201cChristian\u201d abortion doctor in North Carolina who tithed out of her income to her local church. (In this case, the doctor actually believed she was doing God\u2019s will. I\u2019m not so sure even the strip club owner is quite that deceived.)<\/p>\n<p>I saw another boxer give an interview after his victory, and he too was quick to glorify the Lord before he said anything else.<\/p>\n<p>He<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did you know that the Nazis created a non-Jewish, Aryan Jesus? As Susannah Heschel explained, Nazi theologians \u201credefined Christianity as a Germanic religion whose founder, Jesus, was no Jew but rather had fought valiantly to destroy Judaism, falling as victim to that struggle. Germans were now called upon to be the victors in Jesus\u2019s own &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1627119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1627116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1627119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}