God is truthful in his essence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What God does cannot be misleading. He dislikes dishonesty, considering false gods for real ones to worship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, the Lord said in the First Commandment of the Ten to His people: \u201cYou shall not have other gods beside me\u2026. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God\u201d (Ex 20,3-5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
History of the Jewish people was relentless struggles against idolatry, in order to worship one true God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today the struggles are the same as the Jewish people\u2019s ones. It must be admitted that among people who often claim to be Christians, idolatry is still something to be discussed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You should think hard about the following things: have you ever worship a false god instead of the one true God?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many genuine Buddhists often complain about today\u2019s degradation era of Vietnamese Buddhism. The so-called \u201cDharma promotion\u201d is done by building magnificent pagodas, worth millions of dollars to set the Guinness Asia or world records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The so-called \u201cspiritual tourism\u201d only means phenomenal gatherings of a multitude of people who prostrate themselves in front of Buddha statues with empty minds, without any Buddha\u2019s teachings, and even do the opposite. Their minds do not belong to Buddha, but contain dark secret plans. Without exaggeration they simply take advantage of their gods. They are being misled and driven by business people for the money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many believers have such an envious mentality and think that building great splendid monumental works s is a good way to glorify God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think God created a much more beautiful universe: \u201cLearn from the way the wild flowers grow, and remain for a short time\u2026. not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them\u201d (Mt 6:28-29). How could the Lord of Heaven be satisfied with our works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the contrary our bodies are the real places where God lives. Saint Paul said: \u201cDo you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?\u201d (1 Co 6:19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us return to our heart and convert it into golden temples of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus recognized the great power of money and reminded his disciples: \u201cYou cannot serve God and mammon\u201d (Lk 16:13). Although material goods are essential, they are also the golden bull, the sole idol many people worship. Running after the appearance or worshipping material goods are forms of idolatry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is the kind of popular piety that is very common among us, superficial and prone to feeling. It is not simple faith as many people thought it was, but it is confusing, ignorant and childish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Men are superior to animals in their sensible minds which allow us to discern right from wrong, direct us to act or behave consistently with truths. Our faith is based on our sensible minds, not on blind instincts or superstition. Feelings belong to instinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Faith comes from revelation, but it should be enlightened by the sensible mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In several churches pictures and statues of saints are displayed in confusing order, and even with money boxes for prayer intentions beside them. Laypeople whisper to each other about places where one saint or another is very easy to ask for things. These people only look for and believe in miracles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is very dangerous. False prophets can perform many miraculous things. Who will they place their faith in, when God is often silent? Saint Paul mentioned it in his Second Letter to Thessalonians: \u201cThe one whose coming springs from the power of Satan in every mighty deed and in signs and wonders that lie \u2026\u201d (2 Th 2, 4-10).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do they not worship evil goods while they think they are good sheep?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t turn religion into illusory lulling opium, as Karl Marx once criticized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Idolatry turn human beings into slaves and it can take many different forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its raw form idolatry is to take advantage of god as an earthly judge to satisfy the greed of power and profit. God can be bribed with material goods in the form of compensatory offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God even plays the bailiff role to execute someone\u2019s orders or becomes narcissistic and revengeful with gossips about behaviors he dislikes. This god is very happy when people make sacrifices for him, or grateful because his name is protected despite deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its subtle form, god is moved when people pray to him in tears, or prone to the love of fame, admiration or flattery. He gives grace only to someone who urges him to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Those are no more than idolatry and blasphemy against the truthful God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Satanism: results of counter-action against Christian values. Satan reveals itself as the power of evil and death. This idolatry aims at satisfaction of personal lust and personal freedom. An individual can do whatever he desires: release his sexual instincts, live up to animal instincts, satisfy his passion and addictive habits. Regrettably some people lead hedonistic life, selling their souls to the devil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This kind of idolatry hides itself under the cover of piety and entices many people, causing widespread abuses in the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They thought God is pleased with self-torture. Some promote the waking up in the middle of the night with corporal abstinence and prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saint \u201cLittle-Rose\u201d Teresa of Lisieux commented: \u201cDevils often mislead generous souls by pushing them into extreme sacrifices, which harm their health, prevent them from fulfilling their duties and cause them to be complacent\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are really false prophets which Jesus warned of: \u201cBeware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing\u201d (Mt 7, 15) and \u201cFalse messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect\u201d (Mt 24, 24).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today there are may false prophets, known as private revelation; for example, the movement \u201cMessages from Heaven\u201d by Maria Divine Mercy is successfully convincing many clergypersons and laypeople to stand against the pope and destroy the union in the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You should be ready for the coming fierce battle to snatch back souls, primarily your offsprings\u2019 souls, who are worshipping false idols instead of the true God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These terrifying false idols are not something faraway, but right in front of you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
False idols that are formed from \u201cthings in the sky, on earth and in water\u201d as mentioned in the Old Bible are of very old style and can mislead nobody because they have been clearly recognized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In place of them are very weird idols. I was extremely shocked when some teenagers knelt down and kissed the chair their music idols had just sat on. Millions of young people are so crazy about their music, sports and movie idols that they forget to go to church, worship God, and get away from the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition are technological attractive sexual robots and all kinds of human intelligence idols. They often hide themselves under cover of justified tricks like human rights, liberation, democracy, progresses, but in fact they aim at satisfying instincts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These false idols are formed mainly on pragmatic mindsets and existential lifestyles: \u201cThere\u2019s no way to happiness but happiness is the way itself\u201d, life without purposes and without the final destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why do you try hard to afford your offsprings with perishable things if you cannot save their souls?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God is benevolent <\/strong>and righteous.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No language can be used to display the true image of God. Jesus used parables as metaphors to help his disciples form general ideas about God. Parables go into real life for practice, not a source of scientific knowledge. God\u2019s character is the clearest in the image of the father in the story of a lost son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A family had two sons. The younger brother refused to work. One day he asked his father for his share of heritage, went away and wasted his money for prostitutes. Out of money he had to go to a farm to tend the swine. Without anything to eat, he went back home, apologized to his father and asked to be a servant. However, the father loved him, forgave all his sins, took him in his arms, and had parties because his son had come back home. The elder brother was not happy because he had been working hard for a long time. The father softly explained to him that his brother had returned to life from death, had been found from loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course the earthly father cannot be the same as the heavenly father.., but through the story the disciples might figure out God and his characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God\u2019s countless mercy is often cited to justify the lazy corruptible life style: God is very generous and he does not want to punish anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Lord of Heaven is extremely mercy but also righteous by nature. He is a God of uprightness and integrity, in complete opposite and detestation of evil and sins. God is Holy. Almost all the Old Testament is about the greatness and holiness of Yaveh, the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The human condition is fragile and weak, and God \u201cwills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth\u201d (1 Ti 2:4). However, in the first place, we need penitence and cooperation with the salvation plan, as what Saint Augustine said: God who created us without our help will not save us without our consent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CONCLUSION:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n God is spirit and truth, completely not an inanimate object to prostrate and ask for things in front of it. Nor he is a philosophical masterpiece to discuss and deduce from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is the incomparable Creator. He is transcendent over all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He actively came to human beings, the creature He loved, and revealed his love to us in Jesus who died and resurrected, as Saint Paul wrote in his Letter to Jewish believers: \u201cIn times past, God spoke in partial and various ways to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he spoke to us through a son, whom he made heir of all things and through whom he created the universe\u201d (He 1:1-2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul even had stronger conviction: \u201cI have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ\u201d (Phil 3:8). The only and essential criteria to distinguish between the truthful God and false idols is \u201cConfess Christ as the only savior, the center of mankind and universe\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I wonder: Do you and I ever get the shock of life that we have brought in some false idols, distorted unreal gods as analyzed and recognized above, and proclaimed these gods to everybody, especially the young generation? We are mad because they refuse to pray or go to church to worship God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One God they reject as \u201cfalse\u201d. Let listen to what they say: God cannot be like that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" God is truthful in his essence. What God does cannot be misleading. He dislikes dishonesty, considering false gods for real ones to worship. Therefore, the Lord said in the First Commandment of the Ten to His people: \u201cYou shall not have other gods beside me\u2026. For I, the LORD, your God, am a jealous God\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shouldchristianismbepractised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4251"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4747,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4251\/revisions\/4747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/daochuaconen.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}