You might be thinking, “How is this relevant to me? I’m not sacrificing my children to pagan deities.” We are all prone to imagine a god that is more like our culture—and its gods—than who He truly is. If we’re not careful, the culture will shape our view of God.

When we ignore God’s Word, we cut ourselves off from the primary source of truth about what God is like. As a result, we open ourselves up to false beliefs about God. One of the most influential sources shaping our view of God is the culture.

This isn’t new. It’s been happening for millennia. Even the Israelites, who had a special relationship with God, neglected His word and took their cues about God from the culture.

You shall say, “Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind.” (Jeremiah 19:3–5)

God never commanded the people of Israel to sacrifice their sons and daughters as burnt offerings. The text says that it didn’t even enter His mind. So, how did the idea originate?

The people of Israel were influenced by the surrounding cultures. As a result, they assumed God must be like all of the other gods of the surrounding cultures. The sad irony is that God actually warned against this very thing.

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