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deceiving evidence

Deuteronomy 12:32-13:3 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 12:32 Be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it.
Deuteronomy 13:1 “If a prophet or someone who has dreams arises among you and proclaims a sign or wonder to you,
Deuteronomy 13:2 and that sign or wonder he has promised you comes about, but he speaks to you, and this is what he says: ‘Let us follow other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us worship them,’
Deuteronomy 13:3 do not listen to that prophet’s words or to that dreamer. You see, Yahveh your God is testing you to know whether you care about Yahveh your God with all your heart and all your throat.

deceiving evidence

There are people in this generation who are fed up with the supernatural, and would not believe anything, even if they see proof. But there are others who are seeking for something more, and are liable to lock on to any new thing, with the slightest hint of evidence.

Apparently the Israelites in Moses’ time were more like the latter group. So Moses warns them that if they are looking for proof of the veracity of idol worship, they will find it. God will allow false prophets to appear and deceive them with evidence.

What God wants is a people who care enough about him to stay loyal to him in spite of what anyone else says or does. Can we be people like that? If others find perfect happiness in their religion, does that mean we should seek plurality?

What I am getting at today is that there seems to be two major reactions to the religious mix in many current cultures. Either it leads to agnosticism/apathy and the lack of any strong religious beliefs or it leads to championing all religious experiences as equally valid and somehow a good thing in pluralistic societies. Either nothing is real or everything is equally real.

Both of these reactions miss the point of today’s text. All religious experiences are not equal. But God allows them to test us. He wants us to choose him because of who he is.

Lord, help us to love those who have not yet found you, but not to ever forget that they are lost until they do.