Is the "Universe" replacing God?

[This Vale Of Tears]

It's an alarming thing in our culture. I see people saying "universe" in place of where people used to speak of God, even those who weren't believers. "The Universe has a plan" and "The Universe will take care of me". I hear these things so often and I cringe because such godlessness is redolent of Romans chapter 1 that warned a depraved generation would "worship creation rather than the Creator who is forever blessed." (verse 25)

It used to be that God was fully insinuated in American culture to the point where believers and non believers alike would at least be aware of God. But with encroaching Eastern religions and outright pagan earth worship (hyper environmentalism) as a culture Americans are pushing God out even to the degree of eliminating all references to their Creator and ceding all homage to creation instead.

This really saddens me.

 

[DPMartin]

Well yea, but the western culture as it is today, really starts at Greek/Roman culture and its response to the Lord’s believers in it. The true culture is the Kingdom of God for us, and it is described in the Torah and fulfilled in Christ. Russian culture responds to believers in it differently, same with China or middle east cultures. As Jesus has said:

Lk:17:20: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.


Remember when Moses would have to cover his face because it became radiant or shone, hence within.


But what you say is true, it seems this culture is trying to return to what it was before Christianity came into it with influence. Like a dog that returns to its vomit.

 

[HammerStone]

Pantheism and Panentheism do seem to be growing. I've even seen this Christianized to a degree with an overemphasis on God being in everything or everything being a part of God. It is always intriguing as to how these various errors seem to recycle.

I've personally not heard too many people use the phrases you mentioned, but I see this error made often. It fits into the popular notion of god (little g) and it just sounds safe. I wonder if much of this is a hyper-reaction to materialism?

 

[This Vale Of Tears]

Pantheism and Panentheism do seem to be growing. I've even seen this Christianized to a degree with an overemphasis on God being in everything or everything being a part of God. It is always intriguing as to how these various errors seem to recycle.

I've personally not heard too many people use the phrases you mentioned, but I see this error made often. It fits into the popular notion of god (little g) and it just sounds safe. I wonder if much of this is a hyper-reaction to materialism?

I hope you're referring to "materialism" as described by C.S. Lewis; not obsession with having things but a mistaken belief that reality extends no further than what can be seen, heard, or touched. A lack of belief in the spiritual dimension causes a vacuum that must be filled, for we are created as spiritual beings with a "homing device" to seek out our Creator. If that's what you meant, I can see your point, that it might be a little encouraging that people are rejecting the lies of materialism and acknowledging something greater than themselves. This was the very stepping stone that St. Paul used to convert the Athenians.

 

[clark thompson]

I have heard people who do not look past themselves for things but never looked to anyone else this is more common in my area. It is an issue of pride.

 

[HammerStone]

I hope you're referring to "materialism" as described by C.S. Lewis; not obsession with having things but a mistaken belief that reality extends no further than what can be seen, heard, or touched. A lack of belief in the spiritual dimension causes a vacuum that must be filled, for we are created as spiritual beings with a "homing device" to seek out our Creator. If that's what you meant, I can see your point, that it might be a little encouraging that people are rejecting the lies of materialism and acknowledging something greater than themselves. This was the very stepping stone that St. Paul used to convert the Athenians.

Yes, the former (the desire for things) simply is a cancerous outgrowth of the latter. I'm not sure if you know of him, but Rod Dreher (an Orthodox Christian) blogged on this a good bit lately. He talks about how many cultures across the world see things like demons and supernatural occurrences, while westerners tend to report seeing nothing. A few scientists who have begun to study some of the animalistic cultures of the world have been quite shaken as they have begun to see things and feel things.

Then we have Christianity with reports of seeing heaven, angels, saints, etc. We believe in a supernatural God.

Our culture is highly trained by materialism. We are stuck in the concept of things needing to exist right in front of us and be somehow empirically observable to understand them. This is ironic in that hollywood films and other popular artforms seem to rebel against this with the obsession of the occult and supernatural.

However, this revamp of pantheism and panentheism is just a further mutation of this idea in some ways. Value is still being placed in something that can be [mostly] observed: the universe. We might be unable to see it all, but we have solar systems, mother nature and other things that we know are there. In our search to subvert the truth, we once again ascribe to them godlike qualities.

It would seem that it makes people more open to Christianity on one hand, but I am afraid on the other that it still plays to this idea of the universe surrounding me. It's an often vapid and opaque mysticism that checks the "spiritual but not religious box." IMHO, it's a form of MTD.

 

[Brother James]

There was a time when man walked with God in a garden, had fellowship with Him, conversed with him, and was fully engaged in both the material and the spiritual parts of reality. The spiritual was just as natural to Adam's existence, I believe, as was the material. And then came the fall, which separated God and man. Ever since, men have still possessed an inate drive and desire to know God. Our separation from Him is an uncomfortable existence for us. In Acts 17:23 we read of the inscription the Greeks made to "the unknown god", which was thier vain way of trying to pave a path to God through their own understanding and their admission of failure. Today, such people speak of the material "universe" as being an intelligent force that guides fate somehow. They don't know what to believe in. They know there's something. But what?

Some are ignorant and have never heard the gospel. Some are hurt by the abuses, overzealousness, or excesses of supposedly religious people. But people are lost, and their appeal to the anonymous universe is among the best evidence of just how lost they are. But they are grasping. The gospel is the solution. I think we need to pray for an awakening. The world is in dire straights, and not for the first time either. Loving people through the gospel of Jesus Christ is what we as Christians are called to do. God brings the awakening in His own good time.