Creating Gods

Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Reader: What do think of this sentence, “If people use their own minds, even to a small degree, they would wonder why they are bowing down to stone idols, and deifying man like Jesus.”

Rabbi: I agree fully. But I would add a quote from Jeremiah 19:20, “Shall a man make unto himself gods? But they are not gods.”

Meaning, it is contradictory to create a god. This notion means man “causes his own cause." That is, a god is defined as the cause of one’s existence. If man then attempts to create his god, he is in fact contradicting himself. How can man cause his own cause? I believe this to be Jeremiah’s profound lesson in his few choice words.