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Podcast: The Bible as Literature
Episode: True Worship
Description: When human beings think of worship, our natural inclination is to understand prayer as a bargain with God: if I praise you, Lord, this will happen for me. If we praise you correctly, we will prosper. If we praise you, our “righteous” goals will be achieved. From this idolatrous and self-serving fundamentalism proceeds all manner of evil: People who engage in wickedness imagine that they are pure; they approach God in prayer thinking not of their sins but of others; by way of a delusional self-portrait of cultic purity, such worshippers impose their will on their neighbor, often with viol...