April 7, 2008

• Oprah Rant

  Here is an interesting video.  I disagree totally with Oprah's ideas, but did not find any logical objections presented.  Granted, Oprah runs her show and did not allow any real intelligent discussion.  There is no time for serious thought in a sound bite world.  I agree with the people who say Jesus is the only way, but did not see any explanations being offered as to why.  We really need to study up to find serious answers to these questions, folks!!  Just standing up and yelling that "Jesus is the only way" doesn't cut it.

  First off, Oprah's assumption that God was "jealous of her" is totally misinterpreting the context of scripture and misrepresenting God.  The beginning of her "search" was an unbelievably stupid twisting of Scripture.  I cannot believe she sat in church all those years and would come up with such a totally mistaken question.  Why would God have reason to be jealous of a human?  God is jealous when we give the glory that belongs to Him and Him alone to something else.  God is angry when we make something of Him that He is not.  This is the heart of idol worship, to make for ourselves a god in our own image that is easier for us to "handle."  God is not in a box, and He clearly defines Himself to the best of our limited understanding.  We are not allowed to redefine the Creator.  He has no reason to be jealous of us.  His jealousy is aroused when we pursue lovers other than Him, the same as a husband's jealousy would be aroused if his wife worked as a prostitute.

  She makes broad, critical swipes at the Baptist Church that she attended, but there are really no solid grounds for criticism.  What "rules" didn't she like and why?  What is wrong with having to get to church early to get a seat?  What is wrong with a good preacher?  She portrays the church in a negative light without giving any evidence for her dissatisfaction other than her own twisting of Scripture.

  Oprah's assumption that all ways can lead to God is also logically flawed.  How can there be many contradictory definitions of truth?  If what Oprah says it true, than it is impossible to discuss anything.  Perhaps that is her aim, to throw up so much smoke that no one can say that anything is true.  The result can only be a relativistic cloud of confusion. What if my "inner voice" tells me that the way to God is through theft and murder?  She could not say that I was wrong.  She has destroyed the basis for denying anyone anything.  I cannot have a car in the driveway and claim that it is red and blue at the same time.  A woman cannot claim to be pregnant and not pregnant at the same time.  Oprah's "system" is internally contradictory.  There are no alternate states of reality.  (Thank you, Ravi Z)

  And the fellow on the video with her has no worries about the afterlife?  He will eventually begin to worry when reality catches up with him, but it will be too late.

  God is a "feeling experience" and not about belief?  How shallow is that?  It is much easier to sit and practice deep breathing by the ocean than to dig into the Bible.  With all of the image-oriented sound bite media that we are exposed to nowadays, this must sound pretty simple and attractive.  How dare we think that we can impress God with our good works and lazy "spirituality?"

  Oprah is telling us that we are free to decide everything for ourselves, and that God did not really say anything that He said.  She invites us each of us to be God.  This is very, very old, folks, and goes back to Genesis 3, where Satan told Eve that she could be like God.  It has to do with the Pride of Life, where we think that we run our own universe and can turn our back on the Creator and redefine everything ourselves.  We call God a liar.

  People complain about the exclusivity of the Bible.  The fact is that all men have sinned.  All men know that there is a moral law and that they have not lived up to it.  All men are deserving of Hell, but God provided a way out that satisfied both his holiness and his love.  Through the death of Christ on the cross we receive forgiveness and eternal life!  And we are turning up our noses and complaining about it??

  If anyone honestly claims to be seeking the truth, let him or her get on their knees and ask God to reveal it in all of its aspects.

  • 21:48
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