Shattering the God's Within Chapter Two "The Creation of a Pseudo God" "Whatever we consider our ultimate concern is what we worship" "Given the fact that life is wounded, all of us live with hurt feelings. True faith is moving beyond our hurt feelings and anger to trust in God--the ultimate meaning of life." Job manifested that kind of faith "Though he slay me, I will hope in Him (Job 13:15)." That kind of faith does not come easily. The Evolution of a False God involves the following steps: STEP 1: Feelings of Inadequacy We have learned that life is wounded. As a result all of us have a deep sense of our own pain, hurt, and inadequacy. Of course we have adequate parts, too, and when we say that life is wounded it does not mean there are not positive aspects to our existence. "When we are hurt in childhood, we protect ourselves by repressing our hurt self; we cover it up with a false or "coping self," The goal of the false self is to hide and protect the real self. Aware of the chronic sense of inadequacy flowing from our real, hurt self, we seek to assuage our pain and to create a greater sense of adequacy. The false self goes all out to seek anything that promises a sense of adequacy. As the split between false and real selves occurs, we become a house divided against itself." God seeks truth in the innermost part of the self (Psalm 51:6). God is always with our real, hurt self. Hence, it is our false self that creates pseudo gods to provide a sense of adequacy. These idols grant us feelings of empowerment, allowing us to further cover up our weaknesses and inadequacies. Generally we find some severe inadequacy or wounded part of ourselves too difficult to face. Pseudo-god formation is a psychological defense to deal with inadequacy and pain, but it fails to deal adequately with a persons spiritual needs. STEP 2 - A Sense of Satisfaction Naturally, a greater sense of adequacy feels good. So, we make our pseudo gods into an end in themselves. We develop a powerful fixation. We project our inadequacies onto our idol and receive into ourselves the sense of adequacy we want to believe that it will, in turn, provide. Our false god becomes part of us. That sense of fusion is reminiscent of the early mother-child fusion. We become fused with our pseudo god, which creates a sensation of oneness and total involvement. By now, our pseudo god is our central passion. Now we feel adequate, more complete. Our false god has become our ultimate meaning, modus operandi, and hope. We have begun to restructure reality--we see our whole lives through the metaphoric eyes of the pseudo god. STEP 3 - A Time of Seduction We may be seduced by the hope that our pseudo god will give us ultimate fulfillment. As a result, we subject all aspects of our lives to that idol. That leads to a constriction of reality. The pseudo god reigns omnipotent in our narrow, little world. In psychological terms constriction of reality involves denial and rationalization. (Comment - Boy, does this describe where a lot of us were in WCG!) Denial is a psychological defense; it is the ignoring or avoiding of particular aspects of a situation. Rationalization is choosing a cognitively acceptable and legitimate excuse to participate in a particular behavior. It does not take into consideration the actual or underlying reasons for the behavior. Both denial and rationalization are strategic to the creation of false gods. During the seduction phase every aspect of the individual is subjected to the pseudo god. The person internalizes the pseudo god and is absorbed by it. Through denial and rationalization, the person surrenders his or her entire being to his or her idol. STEP 4 - Personal Exploitation When we reach the exploitation state, our meaning, dignity, identity, and value are tied up with the pseudo god. This is extremely important. Human beings are made in the image of God, and God confers on each of us meaning, dignity, identity, and value, or an "Authority Card" or "MDIV Card" At the exploitation point, we have surrendered our Authority Card to the pseudo god, and our sense of self is diminished or destroyed. STEP 5 - Shattering and Abandonment As the power of the false god increases, it robs us of our essential self, leading to a subtle self-destructive process. A sudden confrontation with reality shatters our false gods. That may be caused by overwork, disappointment, failure, illness, or some other personal tragedy. The false god abandons us, leaving us deeply hurt, angry, and wasted. The illusion of a fantasy world is broken, and we feel totally lost. We react in anger, or in severe depression manifesting itself in self destruction. The more connected a person is to his pseudo god, the more vulnerable he is to abandonment when the god shatters. It is very easy for us to look to things, places, activities, people, or events to compensate for our feelings of inadequacy. As we find satisfaction in those things, we give ourselves over to them, and they begin to control us. Finally, when the house of mirrors shatters, we are forced to admit to, and to let go of, the false self we thought we had become and we feel abandoned and destroyed. In reality, God has started the process of healing us. ------A pseudo god can be made of a problem we are facing, or of a goal we are trying to achieve. The dynamic is always the same. Human beings, made in the image of God, have the ability to confer god-like status upon anything with which we are involved.--------- The story of the golden calf is a classic example of pseudo god. Read the story and see how the people became restless and afraid when Moses had been gone for an extended period of time. The past became obscured, the present felt uncertain, and the future was totally unpredictable. Feeling inadequate and insecure, the people cried out for a god. Like us, they wanted a god to give them a tangible connection to a transcendent reality; they wanted something they could see and touch to make sense out of their journey. When Moses came down he was enraged and as a result many people died as the camp was purged of idolatry. When the gods shatter there is always much pain, disillusionment and often despair. Here, the camp was purged by Moses to enhance the healing of the heart. Then the goal was to rebuild the real altar in order to worship the holy God. How do we know when we are serving a pseudo god? Worshipping the real God should provide an enrichment of life produced by a sense of transcendence, respect for the inestimable value of persons, and the development of community. As a result there is a balance, a harmony between inner reality (faith) and outward expression (action). Pseudo gods impoverish life. Transcendence is lacking, the person is cheated of meaning, dignity, identity, and value, and true community development is impeded. False Gods Pervert Worship True faith based on the worship of God involves openness in relating to the attributes of God. Pseudo god formation skews worship and seeks to make ultimate what is not ultimate. False Gods Leave No Place for Forgiveness In true worship of God there is forgiveness. Holiness is not being "goody-goody" or feeling that you have to do everything. It is being grasped by the goodness and the grace of God. In other words, to know God is to know what it means to be forgiven. Pseudo god formation requires a total submission of the self so that the pseudo god is able to define the person. There is no space for the true person. There is no mercy because the false god demands total obedience. False God Remove Our Freedom The worship of God is totally free choice. There is no compulsion. Knowing God is free and freeing. It is a relationship. The worship of pseudo god involves compulsion. And that compulsion takes over the life and controls the individual. False Gods can Impersonate True Worship we can create a pseudo god out of being religious. Religion becomes an end in itself. Consequently, people are used as a means to that end. Instead of true worship leading to the flowering of the human spirit, and the development of community, religion becomes a narcissistic returning to the self to provide gratification. The bible warns to avoid idols (I John 5:21), emphasizing that it is possible to have a superficial knowledge of God without true commitment. Although we have faith in God, we often refuse to bow to Him. Instead we develop narcissistic tendencies to worship projected images of ourselves. It is as if we were putting God into a box saying, "If I'm going to bow to you, You have to work within this little box. When our self made religion shatters our little boxes are broken and we feel abandoned. At that point we have to bow in humility and open ourselves to the true God. Then, and only then, can He truly met with us to heal us. QUESTIONS 1. Can you identify your inadequate parts? Areas you are insecure? 2. Are there areas in your life that are too difficult to face? How do you cope with these areas? 3. Have you ever experienced the shattering of an idol in your life? A time when you were so hurt, devastated, and lost that you actually felt "broken" or "shattered"? Can you identify the "idol" involved in that experience? (comment: I was shattered when my marriage failed, I realize now how much marriage was an idol to me) 4. Have you ever felt the loss of meaning in your life? the loss of dignity? the loss of identity? The loss of value? (MDIV Card taken away). (Comment, the realization of this has produced in me a real recognition now of any time I feel a sense of "being less than", I no longer easily give up my MDIV card!)