Hi all,

The pastor at the church where I fellowship said something that caught my attention Sunday. He said that we were created "to know God, to give Him glory and to love Him." Knowing and loving resonated with me, but "to give Him glory" reminded me of a quote from PoD:


Yet we do give glory to Yahweh. It occurred to me that while we weren't created to be praise machines, we give Yahweh glory as a side effect of being relationship with Him. When we love Him and love our neighbors as a result of our love for Him, glory is brought to the name of Yahweh. It's that same as how eternal life is just a side effect of being in a relationship with the source of life. Getting into Heaven is not the goal of knowing Yahweh; we want to know Him for the sake of knowing Him. In the same way, bringing glory to Yahweh is not the reason He wants us to love Him; He wants us to love Him for the sake of loving each other.

So I say glory be to Yahweh! May He perfect our love, teaching us to love Him and to love our neighbors!

yup I second that :)

Does anybody but me remember the third Star Wars movie, Return of the Jedi? At one point, the little furry guys decided C3PO was a god, so they all bowed down and chanted their little mantras, but when they decided to have Han Solo for dinner (literally) in his honor and he told them to let him go, they wouldn't do it. Their religion far outweighed the "relationship" they had with their shiny new god. How sad it is when we treat Yahweh like that: how often do we go through the motions of giving glory to Him, but it's all baloney---we're bowing down and acting all pious, but in reality we're flat out dishonoring God by refusing to do what He's actually asked us to do. May we never dishonor God through the practice of our religious traditions.

kp

There are a lot of great points that were made on this topic..and I almost feel like it's pointless to say anything else....almost. Religion is always putting the means before the ends, making the side effects the goals, and puttting the cart before the horse...That we all know. But Glory in and of itself means nothing. That is what a g o d like Allah wants...plain and simple goal. Yahuweh uses his glory as a means to an end...a manifestation of who He is and what He desires...and what He wants to give....all answered with one word...love. Glory has a purpose...to bring more of his wayward children back into the fold and in relationship with Him. A simple means to an end...not the end in and of itself...

I don't know why but sometimes an image of Allah pops into my head. There were these statues in China of Taoist g o d s. They were always using these little men as footstools...the adversary usually manifests himself as the bully g o d...a little snot that goes around and preys on the weak and powerless and surrounds himself with an entourage of minians that get a rush from the crumbs of power they get from him, who kiss his rear and inflate his ego to hold on to whatever token he has allowed them to have...Allah (the adversary's manifestation of choice) is a wizard of oz...a weakling behind a curtain.

Here is an Elohim with a name so unpresuming, so devoid of pride, completely empty of airs...a name stated with self assurance and love...Yahuweh...I am.