11/06/2021
TODAY'S DIET, FRI JUNE 11, 2021
AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD
". . . choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15 NKJV)
Joshua had it right. A choice must be made. A choice must be made as to what is taken to be divine. For the Israelites, the choice was between the pagan divinities of the area of the world they lived in, or the Lord. For us the choice is similar, but we have more options. Our choice is between the various pagan and pantheistic deities of the world as a whole, or the Lord. This choice must be made. It cannot be avoided.
But why, you might ask? Why must a choice be made? Can we not just take a secular position on the matter and not serve anything as being divine? The reason a choice must be made is that people cannot live apart from some belief in something as the ultimate source of everything. The universe we live in demands an answer. We see the various realities of the universe come into being and go out of being and the question arises: what is the unchanging source of this ever-changing system?
Even the secularist who wants nothing more than to escape from the religious options must make a choice. Something must fill in the void. Something must be taken as ultimate. For most secularists these days physical matter is taken as the ultimate source of all things. The trouble with this choice, however, is that it now seems clear to most scientists that physical matter had an origin. And anything that has come into existence cannot serve as the ultimate source of all things.
The secular option, therefore, runs into the same problem as do all non-Christian options. They all elevate something that is merely a creature to divine status. They all try to make something that has an origin into something that doesn't have an origin. Whether it is the pagan option of sun, moon, stars, animals, etc., or the pantheistic option of the universe as a whole, or the secular option of physical matter, each option has an origin.
Only the Lord, the God of Joshua, is the truly non-dependent divine reality upon which everything else depends for existence.
Shalom
