Recently the Christian worship song "Shout to the Lord" was performed twice on the popular TV show American Idol. The first time the lyrics were changed to remove Jesus' name for the song, while the second time the song was performed as it was originally written. See the performance below:

I do not usually watch the show, but other blogs suggest that the majority of the eight finalists are not Christians, although there have been many overtly Christian participants in the past (including winners Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, and Jordin Sparks).

What do you think about performing Christian songs on a secular TV show? Was the move to perform the song (censored and/or uncensored) by the show's producers appropriate? There seems to be something at least a little ironic about performing a worship song on a show dedicated to making an "idol" out of someone …

Are there ways in which God is like us?
Yes. God loves, hates, plans, creates, thinks, builds, achieves, expresses Himself, takes pleasure in beauty and diversity, is disgusted by cruelty and evil.
God communicates.
God enters into relationships. (Source: Pastor Steve's Beliefs)

In a sense, the author is correct. God, according to the Bible, is and does all of those things. But I think the author is a bit sloppy: He has the direction backwards.

No, God is not like us. We are like God. Not in the New Age sense of being gods or even "god-like", but instead being made in God's image so we reflect a portion (albeit sometimes a tiny portion) of His glory. If we were to say that God is like us, we would be anthropomorphizing God, making Him like us. We should try to think in the right direction (top-down rather than bottom-up) regarding God.

For example, when we refer to God as "Father" we have a tenancy to apply our conceptions of our own father to God … which of course is quite backwards. To use Platonic terms (hopefully correctly) God is the Form, and our fathers are the forms. Or to put it another way, God is the mold, and our own fathers (as wonderful or as miserable as they may be) are the clay, which imperfectly represent facets of the original.

Of course, such similarities of God are marred (but not erased) by sin, which causes us to feel separated but not entirely estranged from our heavenly Father.

Related: How does sin estrange us from God? And what is God's answer to the problem?

Courtesy Mission Bay Community Church

Get beyond the eggs and rabbits this Easter:

• Is Good Friday really good? How is the death of a man on a cross "good"?
• Did the resurrection actually happen? Dr Gary Habermas' minimal facts argument.
• Good People What does it mean to be 'essentially good'? And do you qualify?

So, does Christianity rob you of your freedom? Yes and no.

This question is emotionally charged because Westerners typically value personal freedom above all else. However, maybe before we can really talk about "freedom" we should think a bit about what it means to "be free".

Dr Victor Shepherd comments regarding freedom:

Most people think that freedom is having several alternatives to choose from. A young person goes to an ice cream parlor and finds that there are twenty-seven flavors available … "What freedom," she thinks, meaning, "How fortunate I am to have so many choices." … What the child calls "freedom" – one choice among twenty-seven – is really indeterminism … that is, no power external to her is coercing her [to choose a particular flavor].

Consider the paradox of anarchy. Anarchy is sort of the most extreme version of this common conception of freedom (an extreme version of indeterminism): No rules. The paradox of anarchy is that a total lack of rules will often result in less personal freedom, not more. Think of most of the freedoms that you cherish: To be treated fairly, to have the right to speak and vote, to own possessions without constant fear of having them taken, to living a life of liberty "in pursuit of happiness". All of these are guaranteed and facilitated by having rules which restrict certain "freedoms" (like being free to steal other peoples' property or to silence others from speaking) in favor of others (like the right to own property or have free speech).

So then, while we can all agree that a dictatorship will encroach on a person's freedoms, going to the other extreme of anarchy will similarly result in loss of freedom. This freedom that is lost in both cases is just the type of freedom that Jesus promised. Dr Shepherd continues:

When the Bible speaks of freedom, however, it means something entirely different; it means the absence of any impediment to acting in accord with our true nature … The free person is simply the person for whom there is no impediment (inner or outer), no obstacle to her living as the child of God that she is by faith. (Victor Shepherd, Do you love me? And other questions Jesus asks, 35-36)

When Jesus said "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32) he wasn't talking about indeterminism or anarchy. He was referring to how knowing the truth about God and His creation allows us to become truly free to become everything we were meant to be. Without knowing where we came from, where we are going, and who we are, we cannot achieve our full potential as human beings, and thus remain chained, unable to achieve full freedom.

If this makes sense, maybe it's time, right now, today, to reconsider the claims of Jesus and learn how the truth can set you free?