iFaith

In this modern savvy iPod era, how do you decide what to believe about God?

Maybe you’ve noticed the iPods and iPhones that are so popular. The touch screen versions are really pocket-sized computers. One is also a cell phone. Both run applications or computer programs that entertain and organize your life.

Why the lowercase letter “i” at the beginning of the name? Because it’s all about self! Me, myself and I. Life is easier and more fun when it’s all about me and what I want.

You can even customize your experience with this type of gadget in many different ways. They become an extension of your personality. Some you can load up with thousands of your favorite songs, creating your own personal playlist.

That reminds me of the way many people approach matters of faith.

“Now hold on for just a minute! What does an iPod or iPhone have to do with belief?”

In the latest Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, researchers found that, when it comes to religion, many Americans prefer a mix-and-match, build-your-own approach. In fact many people seem to have no problem blending Christianity with Eastern and new Age beliefs.

Michael Lindsay, a Rice University sociologist of religion said the results illustrate what he calls the “playlist effect” in contemporary American religious practice. “The way we personalize our iPhones, we also personalize our religious lives,” he said.

As Americans, our belief systems could really be called “iFaith.” Because what we believe is all about what we want. Amazingly the Bible predicted just such a religious state of mind!

“For the time will come,” the Bible says, “when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

Are you a truth seeker? Do you tire of the old clichés and empty platitudes of most religious systems? Then listen to Jesus. He revealed a God who loved us enough to suffer in our place.

If you pursue an “iFaith” instead, picking and choosing what you like as if you were at a buffet, you end up with an imaginary god. One of your own design.

Wouldn’t you rather have a God that you can know personally? With whom you could have a living, loving relationship? If you do, then the God of the Bible is your only alternative.

Someone will say, “But I don’t agree with everything the Bible says!”

Fair enough. But that’s how you know Jesus is a real, personal God. If you want a personal relationship with someone, the other person has to be able to challenge and correct you. Or say things that bother you. Otherwise, all you have is a robot that can never disagree with you.

In his book, “The Reason for God,” Timothy Keller writes, “Only if your God can say things that outrage you and make you struggle (as in a real friendship or marriage!) will you know you have gotten hold of a real God and not a figment of your imagination. So an authoritative Bible is not the enemy of a personal relationship with God. It is the pre-condition for it.”

So when Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” and “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” – we would do well to listen to him, find out what he taught and then obey him.

If we will do that, then Jesus said “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So the choice is between “iFaith” or “I follow Jesus.” Will you follow him? It’s your call.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!