Dear Gary and Purl--
Raise your hand if you identified with anything that Donald talked about in the first three chapters. (my hand is raised) I think that many of us as children view God as a "slot machine God." If we are good little children, we will be rewarded. If we are bad little children, we could go to HELL!!! Or, we can just turn to God to push the reset button and all is forgiven.
My favorite chapter this week was Chapter 2. I love this passage:
"I believe the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God."
I think we are often distracted by religion. We focus so much on the practice and the ritual that we lose sight of the spirituality. I have seen so many churches torn about by people disagreeing on certain ritual aspects of their church and forgetting about the real reason why they are there. There are lots of other things to distract us in everyday life as well. Some people may say that alcohol, drugs, sex, television and other secular pursuits are evil. I'm not sure I believe those things are inherently evil. (after all, even Jesus enjoyed wine!) But when they distract us and cause us to waste time, THAT is when they are a problem.
I also like how Miller explores the idea that we have to LEARN to be good. It doesn't come naturally to us. And it is something we have to work on every single day. As Miller says, WE are the problem. We have to start any good work with ourselves before moving on to anything or anyone else.
I hope you are enjoying the book so far!!!
-Malady
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Yes, Malady, I am enjoying the book. I am so glad you suggested it. The slot machine comment rang true for me, too. I reminded me why I had so many problems with religion when I was younger. Our paster described it as a "tit for tat God." If you do X, God will love you. But God loves you no matter what.
So true! I think we fall into a trap as children of looking at God as a "get out of jail free" card. It takes time to develop a mature relationship with God.
Post a Comment