“Did God Really Say?”—When the Bible is not enough.
For the first time I am attempting to put into words my lifelong observations of the most repeated pattern in all human history—man’s response to Satan’s first recorded words.
All people have a built-in need to relate to God. Everyone falls into one of two categories in response to that need, and in response to the question, “Did God Really Say?”
First Category: When the Bible Is Not Enough (four groups within this)
Atheists attempt to avoid the question by avoiding God altogether. The only way to do that is to claim He doesn’t exist. But that nagging universal need inside to relate to God, forces the atheists to prove there is no God. Man can neither create the existence of God nor eliminate the existence of God–all we can do is talk and respond to what God said, including: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” It is impossible for God to exist for some people and not exist for other people. So, for atheists:
Q: DGRS? A: What God?
– Two – Alter the Bible (religions)
All people in all human history create religions to try to reach God and get on His good side. Parallels and counterfeits to the Bible make some believe all religions will end up in the same place because they try, and seem to say the same thing. Any basic, honest study of world religions gives crystal clear conclusions to the title question above. All religions reject the Bible when they do not accept it in its entirety and in its exclusivity. So, for religions:
Q: DGRS? A: We made our own God.
– Three – Add to the Bible (cults)
These people are compelled to complicate the simple message from God in the Bible, by adding rules or teachings or leaders that make them exclusive. Their followers feel special as part of an elite group with a belief system superior to the Bible alone. So, for cults:
Q: DGRS? A: We know better.
– Four – Amplify the Bible (theologians)
Again, all through history, these learned people who claim to believe the Bible, spend a lifetime explaining the Bible, often eloquently and impressively. Then a strange thing happens, repeatedly with periodic certainty. These “explainers” of God’s book put more weight on their explanations than on the Bible itself, and their followers lose the distinction between God’s Word and man’s word. The cause, and the result, is people not reading their own Bibles. (From time to time, someone comes along and cleans things up—Jesus, Paul, Luther—but soon the pattern repeats) So, for theologians:
Q: DGRS? A: We have to tell people what God really said.
OR:
Second Category: When the Bible Is Enough (only one group here)
– One – Accept the Bible (believers)
Some people believe God did really say the whole Bible. But that is not what makes it true. Just as in the atheists section above, we can do nothing to make the Bible true or untrue. We can only believe it or reject it.
“All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” —Jesus
So, for believers:
Q: DGRS? A: Enough said.
For me personally:
God said it
That settles it.
So I believe it.
Thank You, Jesus.
DID GOD REALLY SAY?
The answer is not a variable that can change from one person to the next.
Putting it another way, “Either you’re on the ark, or you’re off the ark.”
Remember, God closed the door on the ark.
God said it was going to rain.
God made it rain—one time water.
God made it rain—one time fire and brimstone.
Man has invented pretty impressive bombs, and sometimes pretty impressive ideas (he thinks), but God has the last word (and the last bomb when necessary).
His first word was all impressive, “Let there be . . . ” We weren’t there, but we can all see what that first word created. Someday, every one of us will be there for His final word.
Don’t debate Him then.
Don’t doubt Him now.