native spirituality

²²But Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are rather superstitious. ²³For as I was passing by and noticing your idols, I also found an altar, on which was written: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this is what I am preaching to you:

¹⁹For what is known about God is manifest in them. For God has manifested it to them. ²⁰For unseen things about him have been made conspicuous, since the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made; likewise his everlasting virtue and divinity, so much so that they have no excuse.

¹⁴For when the Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature those things which are of the law, such persons, not having the law, are a law unto themselves. ¹⁵For they reveal the work of the law written in their hearts, while their conscience renders testimony about them, and their thoughts within themselves also accuse or even defend them,

¹⁵In previous generations, he permitted all nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁶But certainly, he did not leave himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁷And by saying these things, they were barely able to restrain the crowds from immolating to them.

²The heavens describe the glory of God, and the firmament announces the work of his hands. ³Day proclaims the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge. ⁴There are no speeches or conversations, where their voices are not being heard. ⁵Their sound has gone forth through all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

⁵For all the gods of the Gentiles are demons, but the Lord made the heavens.

⁹When you will have entered into the land which the Lord your God will give to you, be careful that you are not willing to imitate the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰Do not let there be found among you one who would purify his son or daughter by leading them through fire, nor one who consults seers, nor one who observes dreams or omens. Do not let there be found among you one who practices the occult, ¹¹nor one who uses spells, nor one who consults demonic spirits, nor a diviner, nor one who seeks the truth from the dead. ¹²For the Lord abominates all these things. And, because of these wicked ways, he will destroy them at your arrival.

⁴But as to the foods that are immolated to idols, we know that an idol in the world is nothing, and that no one is God, except One. ⁵For although there are things that are called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, (if one even considers there to be many gods and many lords) ⁶yet we know that there is only one God, the Father, from whom all things are, and in whom we are, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and by whom we are.

³You shall not have strange gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth. ⁵You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

¹⁹Otherwise, perhaps lifting up your eyes to heaven, you might look upon the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error, you might adore and worship these things, which the Lord your God created for the service of all the nations, which are under heaven.

⁵I am the Lord, and there is no one else. There is no god beside me. I girded you, and you have not known me.

²Thus says the Lord: “Do not choose to learn according to the ways of the Gentiles. And do not be willing to dread the signs of heaven, which the Gentiles fear. ³For the laws of the people are empty. For the work of the hand of the craftsman has cut a tree from the forest with an axe. ⁴He has adorned it with silver and gold. He has put it together with nail and hammer, so that it will not fall apart. ⁵They have been fabricated in the likeness of a palm tree, and they will not speak. They must be carried to be moved, because they do not have the ability to walk. Therefore, do not be willing to fear them, for they can do neither evil nor good.”

⁹All of those who create idols are nothing, and their most beloved things will not benefit them. These are their witnesses, for they do not see, and they do not understand, so that they might be confounded. ¹⁰Who has formed a god or cast a molten image, which is useful for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all those who partake in this will be confounded. For these makers are men. They will all assemble together. They will stand and be terrified. And they will be confounded together. ¹²The maker of iron has wrought with his file. With coals and hammers, he has formed it, and he has wrought with the strength of his arm. He will hunger and grow faint. He will not drink water, and he will become weary. ¹³The maker of wood has extended his ruler. He has formed it with a plane. He has made it with corners, and he has smoothed its curves. And he has made the image of a man, a seemingly beautiful man, dwelling in a house. ¹⁴He has cut down cedars; he has taken the evergreen oak, and the oak that stood among the trees of the forest. He has planted the pine tree, which the rain has nourished.

³You shall not have strange gods before me. ⁴You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth.

²⁹When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land, ³⁰be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’ ³¹You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

²²But Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are rather superstitious. ²³For as I was passing by and noticing your idols, I also found an altar, on which was written: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this is what I am preaching to you: ²⁴the God who made the world and all that is in it, the One who is the Lord of heaven and earth, who does not live in temples made with hands. ²⁵Neither is he served by the hands of men, as if in need of anything, since it is he who gives to all things life and breath and all else. ²⁶And he has made, out of one, every family of man: to live upon the face of the entire earth, determining the appointed seasons and the limits of their habitation, ²⁷so as to seek God, if perhaps they may consider him or find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

¹⁶But certainly, he did not leave himself without testimony, doing good from heaven, giving rains and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁷And by saying these things, they were barely able to restrain the crowds from immolating to them.

²⁰For unseen things about him have been made conspicuous, since the creation of the world, being understood by the things that were made; likewise his everlasting virtue and divinity, so much so that they have no excuse.