Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Why We Must Think Rightly About God by A.W. Tozer

"Without doubt, the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God. Thought and speech are God’s gifts to creatures made in His image; these are intimately associated with Him and impossible apart from Him. It is highly significant that the first word was the Word: ”And the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We may speak because God spoke. In Him word and idea are indivisible."
"That our idea of God correspond as nearly as possible to the true being of God is of immense importance to us. Compared with our actual thoughts about Him, our creedal statements are of little consequence. Our real idea of God may lie buried under the rubbish of conventional religious notions and may require an intelligent and vigorous search before it is finally unearthed and exposed for what it is. Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God."
"A right conception of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical Christian living as well. It is to worship what the foundation is to the temple; where it is inadequate or out of plumb the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. I believe there is scarcely an error in doctrine or a failure in applying Christian ethics that cannot be traced finally to imperfect and ignoble thoughts about God."
"It is my opinion that the Christian conception of God current in the twenty-first century is so decadent as to be utterly beneath the dignity of the Most High God and actually to constitute for professed believers something amounting to a moral calamity."
"All the problems of heaven and earth, though they were to confront us together and at once, would be nothing compared with the overwhelming problem of God: That He is; what He is like; and what we as moral beings must do about Him."
"The man who comes to a right understanding about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably. And when the man’s laboring conscience tells him that he has done none of these things, but has from childhood been guilty of foul revolt against the Majesty in the heavens, the inner pressure of self-accusation may become too heavy to bear."
"The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them."
"Among the sins to which the human heart is prone, hardly any other is more hateful to God than idolatry, for idolatry is at bottom a libel on His character. The idolatrous heart assumes that God is other than He is - in itself a monstrous sin - and substitutes for the true God one made after its own likeness. Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and will be base or pure, cruel or kind, according to the moral state of the mind from which it emerges."

So, what do you think? Where do you agree? Where do you disagree? What statement do you most have issue with or challenges your thinking the most?

15 comments:

  1. I thought it was as good article. It was kind of hard for me to follow until I got to the very end, when he said,That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably. And when the man’s laboring conscience tells him that he has done none of these things, but has from childhood been guilty of foul revolt against the Majesty in the heavens, the inner pressure of self-accusation may become too heavy to bear."
    "The gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind, give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them." I thought this was as good quote because it is true. It is difficult to know that you haven't been following God your whole life the way you're supposed to, but it is an amazing feeling to realize that God will still forgive you and that He has the power to make you clean as snow. Thats really what I got the most out of.

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  2. i thought that the article was really insightful about mant things about God. i feel that the author really explained God in a way that I ususally dont think of. So it was good to see another veiw and aspect of God completely. At some points I found it hard to really understand what Tozer's point exactly was but re-reading, of course, helped tremendously. One line imparticular that stood out to me was " the gospel can lift this destroying burden from the mind,give beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirirt of heaviness." this quote i feel is almost poetic in some ways. along with poetic, it is also very true. lifting up God can simply just send all of our worries and fears away and just make you completely focus on the worshiping God.
    -Tarah Barton

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  3. Reading this article I was almost lost at first because it is kind of difficult to understand, but once I tried to understand what was being said, the last part really grabbed me. The last quote is what really got me to thinking about how we, as a culture, really do make idols and make God who we want Him to be and what makes the religion thing easier for us. Idoletry is really always about conveniance for the person who is making this idol in their head. Sometimes people think religion should be easy, yet nobody ever said that religion is. In fact, Christians are all trying to be more like God, that is the goal, but are we all really to lazy to want to work for something that is so valuable?

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  5. Like others have said it is kind of hard to read, but the way Tozer uses the engligh language to really make his point is amazing. Eventually you understand what he is trying to say, though. Tozer makes the point, "We may speak because God spoke." We are here because of God yet many people, Christians, try to make Him less of who He is. But you can't do that. God is who He is, and its's not our place to try shape Him into how we would like Him to be. Do we, as Christians, really view God as The Almighty, or do we just try and forget He's there most of the time? Shouldn't how we live reflect what we believe about God?
    Also, I think Tozer's main point was well made. The Christian life "includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably," but we as humans can never possibly love God as much as He loves us. When we realize we can never love God enough, "the gospel lifts this destroying burden from the mind" because we are saved by God's grace, not our own works.

    -Jacob Fitch

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  6. I had to read this article a couple of times to comprehend it. It is saying that by simply worshipping God, all of our troubles will be lifted off of our shoulders. Also, we have to work for the things we want.

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  7. I agree with Matt, this was a pretty hard article to comprehend. I agree with his first paragraph. Everything around us on in us has to do with God; he is everywhere. "...the mightiest thought the mind can entertain is the thought of God, and the weightiest word in any language is its word for God." That is what Tozer is saying here.

    The one statement I am trying to wrap my head around is this one right here: "Only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God."

    Could you clarify this?

    Overall, good read.

    --John Burgdorf

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  8. The main thought I got from this article was that the main problem with religion in general today is that deep down inside us, we are often mistaken about God, no matter what we say we believe. Though it is difficult for us to find out what we honestly believe to be true about God, this is a necessary process. Once we’ve discovered what we believe about God, we can then see if our beliefs line up with scripture or if they only line up with the conventional Christian thoughts of our society, church, or culture in general. Only after our understanding of God is corrected can we truly begin to live for Him. The statements that I felt summed up the meaning of the article best were “But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man; and until he sees a vision of God high and lifted up, there will be no woe and no burden. Low views of God destroy the gospel for all who hold them.”

    ,,sarah smith

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  9. There was one thing inparticular that really caught my attention while reading this, and it's becasue I have just recently found it to be true: "But unless the weight of the burden is felt the gospel can mean nothing to the man." If you don't actually feel the weight on your shoulders, then you won't really get anything out of reading the Bible. Until I realised the burdens on my back, the Bible stories and lessons wouldn't really get through to me - I didn't feel like they applied to me. Now I see that they do impact me a lot.

    Parker Kennedy

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  10. humans think all the time, yet the most powerful thought one can think, is to think of God. Who is God? What is His purpose? What is He like? in the bible it says "in the beginning there was the word, and the word was with God, and the word WAS God." so what is the most powerful word? God? Jesus? Yaweh? all of the above. God is the most powerful word through out the world.
    Sometimes our knowlege and perception of God can be distorted by what other religions believe. Is God all powerful, all knowing, and cruel? to some He is. and some He isnt. So who is God? What is He like? Tozer says "only after an ordeal of painful self-probing are we likely to discover what we actually believe about God. so do our own beliefs make our perception of God change? Do our actions change our perception? i think so. does that mean we act and react on behalf of who God is to us? yeah, we kinda do. if we serve the perception of the all knowing powerful cruel God, then we are mostlikely to live a life of fear and obligation. If we are to serve the all knowing all powerful loving God, we will serve Him and obey Him through gratitude because of His EMMENSE love for us and for the life He gave us. yes? make sense? perhaps. this was alittle confusing.
    for some odd reason, the way we "serve" God has changed slightly... perhaps even more than slightly! Being righteous and forbidding yourself to do the Unrightous things has seemed to have left us. it is no longer moral. so what is "moral" now? Now, being moral is all about freakin compromise. REALLY? compromise? YES!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO BEING MORAL AND DOING THE RIGHT THING ALL THE TIME WITHOUT (WITHOUT) WITHOUT COMPROMISE?!?!? i dont know. why are we so concerned with the materialistic things and the people who surround us that we decide to "comprise morally"? what does that even mean? is that even possible? i dont know.
    to some it is even harder to "deal" with God. to "live" with God. to be "obligated" to God. even loving God. really? i dont understand this. is it because of their past? the past of sinning against God and now living for Him? do their memories haunt and torment the mind to where the obligation comes into play? i dont really understand that. do they know who God is? do they know what He did for them? (i think it had somthing to do with dying on the cross for us to forgive our past... maybe)
    on top of that siginificant piece of history the whole gospel shows how God gives "beauty for ashes, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." the gospel means more once that heaviness and haunting is felt.
    Lastly this quote really really got my attention. "Always this God will conform to the image of the one who created it and be will base or pure, curel or kind, according to the MORAL state of the MIND from which it emerges." this is one of the most hated sins to God. Idolatry. do i do this? i hope not. i think i need to definitley evaluate my life and go through the "ordeal of painful self-probing " questions to discover God. The Real God.

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  11. As a ton of people stated before myself, this was quite difficult to read. However, I did take some things out of it. One thing I agree with is the fact that "The man who comes to a right understanding about God is relieved of 10,000 temporal problems." This is right on so many levels. God can help us find solace after a loss or other tragedy. It's definitely easier for me to believe a lost loved one is in heaven praising God rather than the alternative.

    -Zach

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  12. What I got out of this passage is that it is very important for need to have the right conception of God. Our conception of God is critical, it is the foundation for all our beliefs in God. As Tozer said, without a solid foundation the whole structure must sooner or later collapse. The foundation is how we view God and the whole structure is our faith in Him. I agree that our world view of God is declining rapidly and we do not see Him as powerful as He really is. As a result of this low view of God, the gospel is becoming less and less prominent in the world as well. It is vital that we view God as high and almighty because only then will have this burden to love and obey God wholeheartedly and when we turn to the gospel this burden is lifted from our shoulders. We have to feel this burden of the lifelong duty to love God and be perfect when we obey Him because only when we have felt this the gospel will actually mean something to us.

    -Ryan-

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  13. Although we are christian, we sometimes confuse about where God came who is God.
    Also, i thought about these in many time.
    Sometimes i decided to just receive Bible.Sometimes my friend gave me advice.
    God is not visible or tangible. But we can feel God. we can know God's love through the Bible. Also, when we worshiped him, we can feel that he was alive, is alive and will alive. In this article, conception of God is not all from the doctrine or theoric argument.
    we can meet him anywhere and antime. It can be practical. Reason of God isnt explained only theology or argument. God is not science. Also, God is not argument.we can explained God from our heart and mind. because God is always in our heart. And then it just can be reason.

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  14. God's love is mightier in everyway than the temporary pains and obligations in our lives. Once we can sustain an idea of a most high God we become crushed under our obligation to him. He demands alot from us for the short amount of time we are on this earth. Because it is so great a burden, rarely do people seek it out. Thus because of the "universal" low view point of God, the doctrines of the bible become meaningless to them.

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  15. This essay does a good job at showing how important our personal perceptions of God are the most important perceptions we will ever have of anything. I can honestly say that I do not really ponder enough all that God has done for me and all I ought to do for him. If I did, I would probably have a happier life and a better understanding of it.

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