RECONCILE: to bring to acquiescence; to content." Webster. "The atonement of Jesus, reconciles man to God, not God to man." Science and Health. "We pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." Paul. " First, be reconciled to your brother." Jesus.
Mortal man has ever cried out," I need, I want a God," but he has wanted that God to be according to his own ideal; consequently, he has ever "stoned the prophets" through whom came the revelation of the true God he was ignorantly seeking; in other words, "the Christ (Truth of God) has been slain from the foundation of the world." Since mortal man is himself a respecter of persons, his ideal god is a respecter of persons: a god that can be persuaded, flattered; one whose favor can be purchased, or who can be moved to anger and revenge; one who is tyrannical because he has the power to make his subjects afraid. In fact, mortal man's ideal god is like himself. Still, strange as it may seem, unrest, because of his inherent instability, compels man to seek for some immutable power upon which to rest.
The conflicting desires that demanded a persuadable god, yet one unchanging, led to the" gods many" of heathen religions, each with a special office in meeting the needs of man. Mortal man with his god that is a respecter of persons, is, in turn, himself a respecter of gods; and one god or another has at different times been most popular, that is, has had the greatest number of worshipers.
