The word "god" is a title. It is a role to be filled, and a non-negotiable role at that. There is a god in every system, whether that system is a sports team, a company, a nation, or a universe.

The only real question is who or what will occupy that role.

Whose will is sought? Who is above critique? To whom are costly sacrifices rendered? To whom do knees bow, and whose name do tongues praise? Who has their heart? Where do they run when they are afraid? Who do they love and trust? What is the source of their joy?

Answer those questions, and you will find the god of a system, whether they’re worthy of it or not.

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"The human heart is a factory of idols. Every one of us is, from his mother's womb, expert in inventing idols." - John Calvin

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“God is a concept by which we measure our pain”

John Lennon

As Luther says in the Large Catechism about the 1st Commandment: “What does “to have a god” mean, or what is God? Answer: A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart. As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one. Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God. For these two belong together, faith and God. Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God.”

A god is something or someone you trust to give you good things.