“Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.”
Romans 1:21-25 NLT Instinctively, there is a recognition of God. Practically, however, man has a tendency to develop his own ideas about who, or what, God is. This is how religion is started. Someone has an idea and puts that idea in motion. The result is a sect that becomes acquainted with a certain philosophical mindset and observance. As time passes, the tradition is passed down to succeeding generations. The next thing you know, a whole way of life is formed simply by a religious ideology (someone's idea). The result is bondage and enslavement to a system of regulations and restrictions or the opposite - complete disregard for regulations and restrictions. False Religion can range from worship of self, animals, statues, or someone's imaginary, mythological ideas. Correspondingly, mankind finds himself wandering in a cesspool of his own stinking thinking. One of two things happen. Either we get wrapped up in legalisms to the point we become spiritual Pharisees, or we descend into corruption, lawlessness, perversion, and utter wickedness. Without proper understanding of God, or man's unwillingness to submit to the truth about God, life comes unraveled and self destruction and eternal damnation become the destination. Here in the text, of Romans chapter one, we see the results of lawlessness because of sinful, arrogant man's unwillingness to submit to God. Although we know there is a God, we arrogantly disregard Him and attempt to fulfill our desires. We, then, stoop to the vile passions of our sinful nature. This reminds me of a lot of our "so called" entertainment on television. Daily, we are bombarded by the senseless garbage of perverted minds. We are being fed a consistent diet of ungodliness. The more we accept this way of life, the more corrupt we become. Shows like "Skin Wars" and "Steampunked" stand out as illustrations of this. We use our bodies to depict our wicked, dark minds. Fornication, adultery, and other sexual perversions, such as homosexuality, are now flaunted in our faces. All of this results from our unwillingness to recognize the God of creation. O that we would repent of our ungodliness and turn back to the One True God, the God of the Bible - Jehovah (Yahweh). He has manifested Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus by definition means "Yahweh is Salvation". There is no other God. All of the others are false and will be proven as such when Jesus Christ returns. Even so, come Lord Jesus!(Revelation 22:20).
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March 2020
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