{"id":89361,"date":"2021-02-23T18:37:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=89361"},"modified":"2021-02-23T18:37:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T16:37:31","slug":"monotheism-vs-egocentrism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/monotheism-vs-egocentrism\/","title":{"rendered":"Monotheism Vs. Egocentrism"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"89361","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":36535,"related_cahpter":"685","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"On the limitations of a personal G\/god\r\n\r\n","content":"

From 1979 to 2018, there was a relative 3689% increase in usage of the phrase \u201crelationship with God\u201d in books, according to the Google Books Ngram Viewer. I write \u201crelative\u201d because in addition to the increase in frequency in books, there was an increase in books published. Which is just to say that over the past 40 years, writers have been increasingly referring to a personal relationship with God.<\/p>\n

While many books of the Bible portray individuals who had a relationship with God, from Adam to Moses to Jonah to Job, Psalms is filled with descriptors of different sorts of relationships with God.<\/p>\n

Reading Psalm 118 conveys a very personal relationship with God, echoing some previous psalms. And while I\u2019m not an expert on relationships, it seems to me that this is a very different meaning than is conveyed in Psalm 23, \u201cThe Lord is my Shepherd\u201d. Even though 118:6 \u201c[When] God is for me, I have no fear\u201d sounds a lot like 23:3 \u201cI fear no evil, for You are with me\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Psalm 23, God is represented as shepherd of a flock of sheep, and as a member of the flock the psalmist feels safe. In Psalm 118, the psalmist self-isolates, and doesn\u2019t trust in any humans (118:8), even the people who others consider to be great (118:9).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a one-on-one relationship; the word \u201cli\u201d in 118:6-7 is almost possessive, to the exclusion of others: God is mine, not yours. \u201cI was pushed down, but God helped me.\u201d (118:13) \u201cGod is my strength\u2026 and my deliverance.\u201d (118:14) God is his true and only \u201cpartner in crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

The psalmist isn\u2019t unaware that other people feel a connection to God: in 118:1-4, he writes how others feel His kindness. (I\u2019m informed that it feels great when other people recognize how amazing your partner is.)<\/p>\n

But they don\u2019t share the same relationship as him. In the psalmist\u2019s words, even they describe him as \u201cGod\u2019s right hand.\u201d (118:15-16) The psalmist seeks to become important in the eyes of all those that he does not trust.<\/p>\n

During the same period of 1979 to 2018, there was a relative 141% increase in writers describing their \u201cpersonal god\u201d, a percentage that had been rising consistently for centuries.<\/p>\n

While it could be a beautiful description of a relationship to describe a \u201cpersonal god\u201d, it could also lead to the sort of the violent, destructive behavior written by the psalmist in 118:10-12, where he \u201ccuts [everyone] down\u201d in the name of God.<\/p>\n

Perhaps we should remember, that the phrase \u201cmy God\u201d isn\u2019t monotheistic, it\u2019s egocentric.<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":89362,"id":89362,"title":"ps118-e butler","filename":"ps118-e-butler.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/monotheism-vs-egocentrism\/ps118-e-butler\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps118-e-butler","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":89361,"date":"2021-02-23 16:37:13","modified":"2021-02-23 16:37:25","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":2048,"height":2048,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-768x768.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-1024x1024.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler.png","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-1200x1200.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/ps118-e-butler-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Monotheism Vs. 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