2. Getting God Out of the Box! Getting God Out of the Box! 1 Samuel 4 & 5

3. The mystery of American Theism 90 % plus believe in ‘God’ The mystery of American Theism 90 % plus believe in ‘God’

4. Soft Theism “…‘introduced’ and advocated by Miklos Jako argues that there exists ‘a great Intelligence that…

5. Soft Theism …created and sustains the world…[that] does not concern Itself with human affairs at all…[that] wants us…

6. Soft Theism …to behave well and transcends space, time, nature, and logic.’”

7. Soft Theism Eclectic Malleable Individualistic Subjective Utilitarian

8. The God of the Bible & the Battle of Aphek Getting God Out of the Box!

9. The God of the Bible & the Battle of Aphek Israel is Defeated by the Philistines!

10. The God of the Bible & the Battle of Aphek This Loss Creates a Theological Moment of Crises!

11. 1 Samuel 4:1-4 1 “Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. 2 Then the Philistines…

12. …put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field. 3 And when the people had come into the camp…

13. …the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.’

14. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,

15. …were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”

16. Soft Theism Denies His Purpose

17. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 “For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

18. 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

19. Soft Theism Depreciates His Power

20. 1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

21. 1 Chronicles 29:11 …Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

22. Psalm 28:7 “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.”

23. Soft Theism Disregards His Word

24. Jeremiah 10:23 “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.”

25. Psalm 119:10-11 “With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

26. True Believers cry out… “You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.” (Psalm 89:26)

27. Letting God be God! Calls Us In Love! Calls Us to Obedience! Calls Us to Surrender!

28. Getting God Out of the Box! Getting God Out of the Box! 1 Samuel 4 & 5