Don't Check Your Brains at the Door - The Vending Machine God

Chapter Three: Exposing the Father Christmas Myth

My Interpretation of Chapter 3:

As we read the Bible, we find God doing miracles and providing needy people with the supplies they need to make it through their hard times. We often forget that God knows what is best for us. Though we may pray for something or wish something to happen for us, that does not mean it is what God wants for us.

God is not a vending machine. We can not make a wish, deposit a prayer and expect for it to be granted in a timely fashion. God expects for us to follow his guidance and obey his word. He provides us with the tools we need to do his work as we need them.

Workout:

Humbled people who follow God will be forgiven and their lands restored here in 2 Chronicles

2 Chronicles 7:14 (New International Version)

¹⁴ if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Seek and find God in Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:13 (New International Version)

¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Believe and receive in Mark.

Mark 11:24 (New International Version)

²⁴Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Confess your sins and be powerful and effective in James.

James 5:16 (New International Version)

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Ask God in 1 John.

1 John 5:14 (New International Version)

¹⁴This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

Summary:

God's miracles are amazing; he grants the impossible. However, everything he does has a purpose, it fits in his master plan. More importantly it is only if the recipient has fully devoted themselves to God and has done what he has asked.

Don't Check Your Brains at the Door - The Luke Skywalker God

Chapter Two: Exposing the Impersonal Force Myth

My Interpretation of Chapter 2:

God in Spirit is omnipresent. He surrounds the world and all of us in it. God is also a person. He is God the Father, and God the Son. He has a name. He has seeks relationships and love. These qualities give God a personality.

Workout:

In Jeremiah, God is continually referred to as me and I.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 (New International Version)

¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Jeremiah 1:5 (New International Version)

⁵ "Before I formed you in the womb I knew ^[a]you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

In verse 6 of Exodus 3 God refers to himself as "the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." In verse 14 he names himself "I am who I am."

Exodus 3:1-15 (New International Version) Moses and the Burning Bush

¹ Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.² There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, "I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up."

⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!"
And Moses said, "Here I am."

⁵ "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." ⁶ Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

¹¹ But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"

¹² And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you ^[a] will worship God on this mountain."

¹³ Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"

¹⁴ God said to Moses, "I am who I am . ^[b] This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' "

¹⁵ God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, ^[c] the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Summary:

This is pretty simple. God is a person. He has wants and needs and these are very similar to ours. He created us in his image. To make him seem impersonal or a being - a force - is to lessen his greatness. Perhaps the reason is because we only see his works rather than his being. We must continually remind ourselves God is a being.

Don't Check Your Brains at the Door - The Cosmic Cop

Chapter One: Exposing the Killjoy Myth

My Interpretation of Chapter 1:

We tend to believe the fantasy where God is on one shoulder and the Devil is on the another. God is speaking in our ear telling us all the ways to behave and do good and the Devil is on the other shoulder telling us all of the ways we could have fun and get wild. We portray the Devil as our fun-loving buddy who helps us get in touch with our wildest dreams, and God as the officer and hall monitor who slows us down and prosecutes our bad decisions.

The Bible tells us a different story. Actually, God is trying to protect us and the Devil is trying to corrupt and steal or devour us. Yes, God does have guidelines for us to follow. He wants us to live happily and near him. This doesn't make him a cop. It makes him a parent. He created us and he loves us. As we grow in our faith we follow a path very close to how we grow physically and mentally. Once we grow past our "childlike" faith stage and our "teenage" rebellion stage, we grow into an adult stage that allows us to look at God and his guidelines with a new respect and see the value in following them.

Workout:

In Peter, we find the devil portrayed as a lion devouring us when we are off guard and unsuspecting.
1 Peter 5:8 (New International Version)
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

In Job, Satan is tortures Job so the he loses his faith in God. Job has done nothing to provoke him. Satan simply wishes Job ill because of the relationship he has with God.

Job 2:1-8 (New International Version) Job's Second Test

1 On another day the angels [a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"
Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."
3 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason."

4 "Skin for skin!" Satan replied. "A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face."

6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head. 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

Satan is ready to "throw Zechariah under the bus" in this verse.
Zechariah 3:1 (New International Version)

1 Then he showed me Joshua [a] the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan [b] standing at his right side to accuse him.

Here again we see a repeat of Satan ready to accuse us (our brothers or those who follow God) day and night.
Revelation 12:10 (New International Version)

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
"Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.

Summary:

I can see Satan or "the Devil" playing some kind of Godfather figure, a mob boss or a gang leader, who is ready to use everyone that follows them to their own advantage. Satan is more than willing to bend any rule or help you in anyway to "buy" you. He will also feel need to spare your life after he has put his stamp on you. He is so good at appearing to help you in the beginning and then after you become a liability you are cut off and in more danger than you started.