The Louisiana Quaker eLetter

ISSN 1523-4924—Vol. 1, No. 7

"HOUSEHOLD GODS"

There was a time when household gods were commonplace. Household gods are personal idols, usually represented by a unique, tangible icon, that were kept in the home for protection, blessings, propitiation, worship, etc. I have yet to meet anyone with such an object about the house, but I have come across the household god's contemporary equivalent—and so have you, I suspect. I encountered these recently in two different scenarios.

First scenario: I am discussing with a Christian philosopher the experience of the Holy Spirit in my life and the relevance of scriptural testimony on God's revelation, and the subject moves over into the Old Testament and how God made himself known to the Hebrews. My friend goes on to deny that God was responsible for the slaying of men, women, and children, as depicted in the Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the killing of Uzzah, the slaughter of the Canaanites, and so forth. The Old Testament record is simply wrong. Such deeds, says my friend, could not be performed by a loving God, as he is represented in the New Testament.

Second scenario: A letter writer is bothered by Quaker concerns over the issue of homosexuality, and says that he simply cannot reconcile the God of the New Testament with Old Testament material that appears to condemn homosexuality. He rejects the story of Sodom and Gomorrah as a condemnation of homosexuality and gives a competing interpretation to other scriptural references on the subject.

We could probably conjure up other scenarios such as these—or find them in similar personal encounters—but what concerns me most is that the people in my scenarios are Christians who worship household gods (or the equivalent). What has happened here is that, instead of being faithful to the biblical record of God's words, his behavior, and commands, these persons have instead replaced God with a personal surrogate of their own making. Such are household gods.

What has happened also is that they have succumbed to our modern tendency to treat God as a loving and personal friend, a pal, a good buddy. We know of God's love, his patience, his mercy, and we can speak of his loving presence in our lives. But what happens when we make God our chum (at the same time forgetting that he is our creator and Lord) is that we cease to fear him and thus cease to maintain true reverence for him. We begin to lose sight of the awesome holiness of God, and in our blindness we also lose sight of our own need to work on our own holiness. God's love for us should not distract us from the need, the urgency, to anticipate God's judgment, for God will finally judge any Christian who does not pursue holiness [Matt 7:21-23] and "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" [Heb. 10:31].

Paul speaks of our need to work on our own perfection when he says: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship" [Rom. 12:1]. Through God's grace we are made righteous and set apart for his special purpose. God calls us to a life of holy living, and has sent the Holy Spirit to teach us and to assist us in the process of our transformation. When Paul says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind," he is speaking of our need to partner with the Holy Spirit in the ongoing process of our sanctification. The result is that we "will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will" [Rom. 12:2]. And we want to know God's will, because we avoid God's judgment when we do his will [Matt. 7:21].

It is therefore an error to cast aside the scriptural record as somehow misguided in the revelation of God's character. The Father Jesus prayed to was the God of the Hebrews, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of the New Testament is the God of the Old Testament. By the same token, Quakers should never take leadings and personal experience of the Holy Spirit as the whole experience of God, for then it becomes possible to create out of that experience a being that does not in the end resemble God—the experience becomes instead a household god, an idol of our own making. In seeking to anchor our understanding of God in Scripture, what we are doing is not engaging in a kind of Bible worship; what we are doing is accepting the testimony of Spirit-led believers within our own tradition. This testimony comes with a price, and the price is that God is holy and his spoken words are to be treated with due care and reverence. When God says "I hate divorce" [Mal. 2:16] or that to "lie with a man as one lies with a woman" is "detestable" [Lev. 18:22] or "Do not make any gods to be alongside me" [Ex. 20:23], we should not somehow interpret this to mean that God favors such behavior. To do so is to engage in a form of idolatry.

—Merle Harton, Jr., The Louisiana Quaker

All biblical references are NIV unless otherwise noted.

BOOK for the month:

How to Succeed at Being Yourself.  By Joyce Meyer. Harrison House, 1999. ISBN 1-57794-164-0.

I have to confess that I am an ardent fan of Joyce Meyer, and those who are familiar with her as a teacher will, like me, find this book to be one of her best. As a text that seems to fall into the "self help" category, this has to rank near the top of its class as a Christian guide to self improvement. It is scripturally sound, full of practical wisdom, and will for many be a transforming experience.

The main question Meyer wants each of us to ask ourselves is this: Are we all that God wants us to be? She does not hazard an answer to the question—that is our task. What she wants to do is help us get on the right path for our affirmation. In the process, she takes us on a journey of self-discovery, with a road map drawn meticulously from Scripture. She also shares with us her own experiences, her mistakes and triumphs, examples from the lives of friends and family, lessons from biblical study and from the Spirit, and teaches us how to be sensitive to God's living word for us.

At the heart of her message is a deep truth hidden in the division between who we are and what we do—or, as she puts it, knowing the difference between your "Who" and your "Do." God can love us for who we are, even if he cannot approve of what we do. But in order to appreciate his love to the fullest measure, we have to free our selves finally from our fallen carcass, learn to remain confident in the face of condemnation, step out in faith, and regularly dedicate ourselves to God. The results will be astonishing, as we learn to look beyond our weaknesses to our real God-enabled strengths, as we learn greater success in prayer, as we learn true boldness in following the leadings of the Holy Spirit.

Paul reminds us that "The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" [Gal. 5:14]. Meyer wants us to overcome obstacles to fulfilling this command by coming to terms with an authentic love for ourselves, for God wants us to accept his love, to accept a balanced love for one's self, and to love all those who come into our lives. We get closer to these objectives when we do not despise our weaknesses, but learn to live beyond them through a perfecting of God's strength. As Meyer teaches, this will mean an aggressiveness about keeping sin out of our lives, a commitment to using our God-given gifts and talents, and stepping out boldly in faith—often with small steps only.

Meyer's book is a finely crafted prescription for finding and following the destiny God has planned for us. It is also good Christian literature. If you read only one book by this prolific teacher and minister, let it be this one. - MCH

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Copyright © 1999 by Merle Harton, Jr.