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Transforming God's Image: The Jefferson Bible Dilemma · Reborn w/ Antonio Boutros

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you live in the U.S., you've probably heard of Thomas Jefferson.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: But what you may not know is Thomas Jefferson reconstructed the Holy Bible into what we now call the Jefferson Bible.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: In essence, what Jefferson did is he manipulated God's image to be what he wanted him to be like, similar to what Thomas himself was like.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you might be like, oh wow, that's terrible.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's scary.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's scary to manipulate God's image because then it becomes our image.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: We we we almost become the God ourselves.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it is scary.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: You're absolutely right.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: But it the truth is, I believe, in my opinion, so many of us do this.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're not creating a whole new Bible, but we do this on a daily basis.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: We think, when, for example, let's say my God, right?
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: My God doesn't do that, or my God doesn't do this, or my God does this.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: Those type of sentences, it's not my God.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have my God, I have the God, it's one God, it's the same for me, it's the same for someone living in Tokyo, it's the same for someone living in Africa.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: My God.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's the the God.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so what we do to God when we do this is we create a consumer image of ourselves.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: We essentially create ourselves as if we were a better version of ourselves, but ourselves that we can see us actually attaining.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: When in reality, we can never be on the same level as God.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: We can never be that good, that merciful, that graceful, that all-knowing, that all-powerful.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: We can never be there.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we do this, what happens is just like in business, just like in you know what I think of is a restaurant, right?
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: The customer is always right, the customer is always king.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we when we do this, we become king, we become the center of the universe rather than God becoming the center, center of the universe, or God being the center of the universe.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Another scary thing to think about with this is when you have this train of thought, when you have this perspective, what ends up happening is God inherently only has transactional value.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you think of God, do you think of heaven and hell?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: I want to have a relationship with God so that I can get to heaven, or so I can get away from hell, or do you think I want to have a relationship with God because I am so grateful for what God and Jesus did for me and did for the world, right?
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's two different perspectives.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and by the way, via having a relationship with God and with Jesus, you will end up going to heaven, but that should not be the goal.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Heaven should not be the goal, right?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so when we think of God only having transactional value, we think of God is only here to satisfy my needs and my desires.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: And when he's not here, or when he's when he's not satisfying my desires, and I don't need him.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Boom, done, period.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_00: End of story.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: I don't need him, right?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me as an entrepreneur, right?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know, God, I want to make, I don't know, let's say a million dollars this year.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: I want to make a million dollars.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh December 31st, 2024 comes around.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: God, I made uh$200,000 this year.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: What's up?
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: You were supposed to you were supposed to do this for me.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, that's not God's purpose.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's not what God is here for.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what He does.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, what I've heard from this perspective, uh, what I've heard it called is in essence, God becomes a divine therapist.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Now think about that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's someone who you can come to, who's supposed to help your needs and your desires, and that's it.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: So he's a God, but for my needs and my desires, so he's a therapist, right?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And we have the train of thought, we have the perspective, right?
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: That God exists set to help me with my problems and to help me achieve my dreams and my desires, right?
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So again, God has no other purpose other than to ex He to help me achieve my dreams and my desires, as well as help me with my problems.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are you starting to see how this perspective can really, really, really get twisted, can really be like, wow, like I I am, I am God.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You are here to serve me, not not not the other way around.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: That that's what it is, and that's really that's what that perspective is.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so as as we were talking about, it can get it can get really really scary.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: And um one of the one of the verses that was brought up was James 1:17, which is every good gift in every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation, a shadow due to change.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from our father who created all the lights in heaven.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: So to me, when I read that verse, what I think of is ego, right?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so, again, as an entrepreneur, let's say I had a set a goal for a million, and not only did I make a million, I made, I don't know, 17 million, right?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easy to be like, oh man, I'm so great, I am awesome, I'm extraordinary man, I am all of this and that.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: But ultimately, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there's no variation or shadow due to change.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't achieve this, or at least I did not achieve it alone, I achieved it while serving, and I achieved it while with Jesus Christ our Savior.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Right, and so it's a lot, it's a lot to take in.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing: God is here to help you achieve your dreams, your desires.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: He is here to help you with your problems, conflicting, right?
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the thing the issue is not that we think he's here to help us, but the issue is that when we make that all that Jesus is here, all that God is for, then it becomes again, what can I get from God?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not I want a relationship with God.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: We need to make God the goal, not following him in order to achieve our goals.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Let me let me repeat that.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: We need to make God God the goal instead of following him in order to achieve our goals, right?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was another verse, John 6 54.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: It says, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you know this story, it was a story where everyone left, because every there were so many people with Jesus, and all but 12 of them left, and they left because they were there to fulfill or to achieve, to retrieve their uh worldly desires, and God wouldn't give it to them, so ultimately they all left.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: 12 disciples stayed, and he gave them their his uh flesh and blood, and said, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: In essence, saying, Whoever drinks my blood, whoever eats my flesh, whoever believes will go to heaven.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: Another verse that brought up, excuse me, another verse I was brought up was John 6 68, and that is Simon Peter answered to him, Lord, to whom shall we go?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: You have the words of eternal life.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: John 6 69 says, We have come to believe and to know that you are the one holy one of God, and it's powerful when we realize God may not give us our worldly desires, he might not give us the woman we want, he might not give us the money we want, he might not give us uh the body or the health we want, even though those are all great things.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's all it's great to have a you know a beautiful wife, it's great to have you know an abundance of wealth, it's great to have uh a health be you know, be in good health, but ultimately ultimately, if we believe, if we are faithful, God may not provide those things, but he will provide eternal life, and that's when you really have to start thinking about the fact that while we just mentioned Jesus in this perspective has transactional value, we always all we also have to not be ignorant of Jesus' intrinsic value, and so one of the biggest things again is my God, my God versus the God.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because something that's brought up in social media a lot is oh, he's the main character, and dude, that's what you become.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you become when you make it your God.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you become when you see God as only someone who can help you, only someone who can help you with your challenges, your problems, and uh help you achieve your goals, your desires, your dreams.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: You become the guy who's the main character, main character syndrome, uh as they call it.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: The world begins to revolve around you.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And there was a there was a great, great, great example brought up by by a brother of mine in that group, and he said, Imagine you are in an airplane and they give you, only you, a parachute.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the parachute's open, right?
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's it's it's in everyone's way.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um maybe it knocked over your coffee, right?
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like, man, I don't want this parachute, dude.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's in my way, it's messing me up.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like, why do I have this?
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then the plane goes down, and none of these other people had a parachute, but you did.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: God is that parachute, God is the one that'll save you when all goes down.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: God is your savior, and he's everyone's savior, but in that scenario, God is literally your savior in your life, you can actually experience it, right?
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think that's in a way, I mean, that's still transactional because like I believe in God because you know I want to not die, I want to, you know, have that parachute, right?
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Another very, very, very, very, very strong thing was needs and wants because ultimately we all want everything, right?
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: We all want to be the best at anything we do.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: But what do we need?
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: What do we need?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, do we need a roof over our head?
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need food?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need water?
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need all this?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: And and and that's very, very, very basic.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need a mansion?
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need uh 20 luxury uh sports cars?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need uh a private jet?
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need uh a billion-dollar business?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do we need any of these things?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what to answer.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not God, I'm not you, you know?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's for you to decide.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you need it?
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and and another question I would pose to you is okay, I do need it, but what am I gonna do with it?
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Am I gonna make a billion dollars so that I can help give back to the world with that money?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: I can help uh cure cancer, I can help uh feed starving children, I can help underserved communities.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_00: What am I gonna do with it?
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: What do you need from God right now?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: And the last thing that was brought up as as part of that um conversation, it was a little bit unrelated, in my opinion.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I just didn't see the correlation, but uh it was four pillars of marriage, right?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so four pillars of marriage finances, kids, religion, and stepparents, right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're getting married, you have to think about your relationship with God.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Does my wife have the same relationship with God?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: Does my husband have the same relationship with God?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, do we have the same perspective on finances?
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: Do we have the same perspective on children?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do we want to have children?
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: Do we not want to have children?
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Do we does the wife want to be a stay-at-home mom?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Does she want to be a nine-to-five worker?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Does she want to be an entrepreneur?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do stepparents, do we have a good relationship with each other's parents?
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: How does that look?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Right, and I think I think that's a pretty common one.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: It is relatively poor relationships with the step parents, right?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so ultimately, we need to look at God as having intrinsic value, actually having the goal as I want a relationship with God.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Again, rather than I want a relationship with God in order to X, Y, and Z, in order to make a million dollars, in order to, in order to, in order to, right?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever, fill in a blank, whatever that might look like for you.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: The goal is to have a relationship with God, not to have a relationship with Him in order to.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys all enjoyed this episode.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys truly took something from it.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you did, just if you could do one thing for me, just share this episode.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Share this episode with someone that you know that can take value, that can possibly change their lives by listening to a powerful message like this.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: I would appreciate it so much, and honestly, you might change someone else's life.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so, my key, my my phrase is your network is your net worth.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Be a valuable part of someone else's network.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you guys have a blessed week.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for watching.