Self Made Self

Col 2:20-23

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all {refer to} things destined to perish with the using)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, {but are} of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Some people say, "I have a personal relationship with a personal God", but you will hear others say, "I have a god of my own understanding". Both statements have a religious overtone, but the god in each is a different god. The first statement is about God who has a personality and can relate to us personally. The speaker is not claiming any rights over God. In the second statement the god is the speaker, as if he, by words or thoughts can create god, as if a god is a concoction of the mind. The mind becomes god. It is like the cake baking the cook. It is astounding how today such a statement can be made and pass unnoticed or unexamined. But that is not the only thing left unexamined. In a world where each person makes their own god and their own religion, what is missing is an objective truth. People want freedom. Sometimes we covet it so much that we become willing to cast out truth, and once truth is disposed of, all of us can change gods like fashion accessories. The world is infiltrated with self-made religion.

We have a new creed to follow too, and it goes something like this:

I have been abused and manipulated by the perpetrators of my childhood and have submitted to more of the same in my adult life. I have survived due to the power inside of me, and with that power I can create a new life out of the ruins. I seek to find out what I really want. Other people’s approval is unnecessary and thus not allowed. I will surround myself with others who support my choices. Anyone who does not accept me as I am shut out. I am not interested with being corrupted by the opinions of others.

At least the declaration that god is dead acknowledges the idea of god. You don’t see the word "god" anywhere in this new creed because this it is about the individual who professes it alone, and alone he will be when he follows it. This is a religion about and a worship of self. To the extent that others mirror the almighty self, they are acceptable. All others are poison. Growth is developing a deeper relationship with self, because self is the new god, but there is the problem with this religion. It assumes that deep inside we are perfect. Faith is that once the onion is peeled, the center is perfect, but that is not the way onions are. They are just as odorous in the center as they are just under the skin, and that is the way people are too. Under the good works and polite rhetoric are the twisted motives, and that convoluted mix of hopeful altruism and deceptive hedonism lives as deep as you can examine without going insane.

The Christian is not in denial of the wretchedness of the bowels of the human personality, and does not profess to know what to do in every situation on a hunch. The Christian does not stand on the absurd profession that the human mind has somehow evolved enough to size up the details of any situation and the result of every possible action, then present the winning answer to the conscious as a gut feeling. The Christian admits that this game is profoundly more complex than chess. There is no possibility of predicting even two moves ahead. Without the word of God and the proddings of the Holy Spirit, the Christian is left without information The opinion of others is important because they are made with the word of God written in their hearts, and especially if they cherish His word, their opinion to some extent contains that word. The Christian does not self-heal, but is instead the recipient of healing.

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