The First Commandment

The First Commandment “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

(I am currently team-teaching a series on the Ten Commandments and have decided to share a few thoughts on each of them here in my blog.)

A stir was created in the media last week when it was announced that a flashy new billboard was being erected along a major freeway in San Diego. The message: “Atheism-A  personal relationship with reality”. The local sign is merely the latest evidence of a growing effort among some atheists to promote their particular belief (to which they certainly have every right here in America.)

This public advocacy is also in line with latest studies which show that atheism in America is growing at a significant rate, something like 1% of the US population per year so that now more than 5% of American citizens self-identify as atheist.

That atheism is now a more commonly accepted belief is even evident in the Retirement Community in which I live. Our community has an active organization called Atheists Anonymous. However, in the contrast to Alcoholics Anonymous which assists people to overcome their alcoholism, this organization features speakers who promote atheism and other presenters who point to perceived weaknesses and evils of organized religions and deistic belief systems.

In contrast to atheism is the continued belief many in multitudes of gods. I always recall a weeks-long negotiation that I carried on while building a Lutheran School in Hong Kong some nearly 50 years ago. A sacred stone idol was on the property on which we were to build and when we put a fence around our construction site we blocked access to that god. This greatly disturbed those for whom worship at that stone was vital. We negotiated a mutually satisfying solution (but that is a story for another day.)

The term “idol” and the worship of idols is very much alive in the USA, especially also noticeable in this week of Super Bowl. It is very obvious that American idols include sports figures and entertainment idols like Beyonce and Bieber at whose feet millions get into a worshipful frenzy. Of course, even some Christians have been found to make church leaders like charismatic preachers and other church leaders into idols.

My concept of God surely keeps changing and I continue to learn from my AA friends that “there is only one God – and it’s not me!” The God whom I cannot fathom becomes ever more unknowable in God’s “otherness”. God’s being is beyond names, attributes, and finite descriptions. And then I contradict that by still asserting that the God I worship chose to dwell among us, empty Himself and even die and be resurrected.

So while listening to and taking seriously my growing number f atheist acquaintances and friends I end up with my simple and yet profound statement of faith: “I believe in God.”