Denial of God
The first commandment tells us that we have to love God above all else. If the premise comes from such belief, then if we give unqualified boundless love to ourselves or to any creature more than God, then we are violating the first commandment. We must give our glory, adoration, and service only to God.
The holy scriptures tell us that “You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourself.. you shall not bow before them or worship them. For I the Lord your God, am a jealous God.” (Ex. 20, 3-5)
Idolatry does not have to mean worshiping idols. Anything we do that does not put God at the top of our lives is idolatry. Even our good deeds such as being dedicated to our family or our profession could be perverted if they become the main purpose of our lives. It does not matter how lofty they are or how intrinsically good they might be but if we place them on top of our lives other than God, then we are committing a sin.
The three theological virtues are faith, hope, and charity. When practiced, they enrich and strengthen our relationship and love of God. However, when we commit mortal sin, we violate the first commandment which makes us reject God. In particular, the sins against faith, hope, and charity are opposed to the love of God. When we deny the truth of our faith or when we willingly doubt our faith we commit sin against faith. However, temptation might set in but we must counter this by praying for an increase in faith.
It is also necessary that we protect our faith. For instance, if we want to take care of our body, we try to avoid certain drinks and food which are bad for our health. In the same manner, we also have to take care not to put our faith at risk.
There are many popular books by atheist writers these days. These authors deny God’s existence. It could be argued that it is good to read their books if only to gain a perspective of their views and to counter them. However, unless one has a strong formation and faith, it would be better for an ordinary Christian to abandon reading them. We may put our faith at risk if we gladly read books that are contrary to faith. We run the risk as well if we engage in activities which can harm our faith.
The sin against hope may come in two forms: despair and presumption. Despair occurs when we abandon all hopes and even deny the possibility of God’s will and mercy. Some people also lose hope in God by believing that heaven can be created on earth. Presumption also is sin against hope when we presume that God will save us even if we do not do our part in saving our souls.
Hatred of God is the worst sin against charity just like the sin of the devil. Indifference to God is also a grave sin and happens when we lose that supernatural understanding of the need to struggle to do God’s will. When we let ourselves be led by our desires, love of comfort, and laziness, then we may become lukewarm.
The bible tells us that: “I know your works; I know you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev 3, 15) and “To those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent” (Rev 3, 19)
Reflection:
Have we placed our faith in danger by going to certain places or going with groups that are harmful to faith and morals?
Have we been lukewarm in our faith, hope, and love of God?
Related Articles
- Love of God (faithreflected.wordpress.com)
- Trust In The Lord (thethirdcross.wordpress.com)
- Consumer “Big Church” Mentality and Old School Community (benwhite29.wordpress.com)
- Archbishop Chaput: Luke Warm Christianity Is A Convient Form Of Paganism! (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
- California Catholic Daily – “An inoffensive, vanilla Christianity” (deaconjohnspace.wordpress.com)
- The Bible is like an Instruction Manual (idkh.org)
- Why Not Me?: Rethinking How and Why We Suffer | Part 1 (thereformedwesleyan.wordpress.com)
- The Rule of Faith (denimdevotion.wordpress.com)
- If I Die Today(collosians 3:23-25) (micharia.wordpress.com)
Another great message and a wonderful reminder that we must love our God and hate our sin! As a writer once said in essence: we should hate even the clothes that cover our corrupt flesh. To have a new relationship with Christ, we must first have a new relationship with sin! Any sin that we hold onto will be the foothold the devil uses to take us down.
Thank you Marianne. Sin is dreadful indeed.
Good- straight to the point and concise. Thanks for the link and add brother!
Thanks bro!
First of all thank you for the link to my post. I will be continuing this series for a couple of weeks! So keep checking it out.
Thank you for your clarification that idolatry is more than just a carved image sitting in our living room. It is amazing how many people don’t even know that idolatry is less about the image “out there,” but the image in our own hearts. What we worship is a reflection of what we value. If God is our greatest treasure, that will be seen in what we prioritize and what we emphasize.
Keep up the good work.
Victor Scott
The Reformed Wesleyan
Great article Jed.
But which God do we place our trust in? The scientists that you mentioned in the article are also saying the same thing: They deny “God” because they think he is the idol that organized religion has created. They propose the real”God” to be “Science” . How do we address this question? The reason why I think they fail is because they take the stance of Atheism rather than some new form of “Scientism”. But I guess they do this because that way they will get more critical mass of people on their side. Personally, I do not think there is any absolute atheist.
Thanks for the article.
Sam
Hi Sam,
Science is not God but science allows us to discover God’s creation. Organised religion has its advantages and disadvantages. The Church remains holy as it is created by Christ. However, with humility we can see that it is imperfect because of human weakness, sin and imperfections.
If we allow the holy spirit to guide us, we will be able to find the absolute truth. The Christian attitude to atheist is to show them love (charity) and pray for them. God in his mercy takes care of all his children, “Gentiles or Jews”. Christ’s example should guide us.
Good answer, Jed!
Thanks Marianne. I’m praying for your intentions.