One and Only One

July 26, 2008

I have a confession to make. For my whole life, I’ve been……well…… monotheistic.

That’s right. I believe that there is only one God. To some, that may not seem to be an unusual statement, but to many in our society, it’s an outrage to hear such words of intolerance. Our culture has an aversion to mono-anything. Words beginning with “mono” are usually associated with something negative – monopoly, monolithic, or even monogamy. It’s almost as if we have forgotten the actual definition of the words themselves, but are trained to bristle when we hear the utterance of the prefix.

Let’s be clear. Monotheism is right! There can only be one God. If we allow the divinity and supremacy of God to be watered down by the acceptance of other “gods”, then we deny his omnipotence. To be all-powerful, He must be placed above all. And to place Him above all, we must be willing to say that other gods are not divine or supreme in any way, but are falsehoods propagated by deluded men. We cannot allow other gods to hold even a minor position in the hierarchy – there is no spectrum of divinity. There is God, and there is man. All else comes from Satan in an effort to undermine God’s authority.

Here’s a test. Go back and read the last two sentences of the last paragraph. Are you able to say them out loud without reservation? Could you repeat those words to a neighbor or co-worker and be prepared to defend them fully, with no temptation to compromise? Chances are, even the most dedicated Christians in our society today have an internal struggle to utter a statement as black-and-white as this. Why?

Our culture in this beloved United States of America has allowed itself to be swayed by outside influences that would mitigate against the divinity of the one, true God. A quick read of the quotes of our founding fathers would show that these great men admitted to only one God, and would be appalled at the foothold that we have given to other competing viewpoints. Their idea of education was to use the Bible and Christian writings as the basis for child-rearing. They had no intention to allow a multitude of religions to be offered and promoted in the school setting. And they could not conceive of a culture where the concept of monotheism was deemed as intolerant. Benjamin Franklin said, “Whoever will introduce into public affairs the principles of Christianity will change the face of the world.” Unlike the politicians of the present, He did not water this down by saying that the world would be changed by a system that professed tolerance to all competing beliefs as long as we had the freedom to exercise them in harmony. He was very specific – Christianity has the power to change the world. And the world was indeed changed by this nation.

When Alexis de Tocqueville sought to understand what it was that made America great, he wrote, "I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors, and it was not there; in her fertile fields and boundless forests, and it was not there; in her rich mines and vast world commerce, and it was not there; in her public school system and institutions of learning, and it was not there. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution, and it was not there. Not until I went in to the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if she ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great."

Do we truly live and preach as if there is only one God and one immutable faith? Do we give in to culture on this point? Have we been trained to feel accepting of other beliefs – to the point that we are willing to compromise our own, and thus deny the supreme lordship of God in our lives?

I’ll write more on this topic, when I discuss the “COEXIST” bumper sticker.

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