What if the Bible is not true?

There are many people in this world that deny the truth of God's word. There are many that believe none of it is true. There are others that choose that some accounts are true and that other accounts are not true.  So what does one believe? Just because many people believe the Bible is not true does not invalidate its truth. And just because someone believes something is true when it is not will never make it objectively true.

We have many people today making the declaration that, "Truth is relative. There is no absolute truth!" Those that make that bold unwise claim have not taken the time to consider that that is a self-refuting statement - a strawman. Let me prove what I mean. For one to say that there is no absolute truth is to deny their own statement is absolutely true. Let me explain further: To say there is no absolute truth means that one cannot say there is no absolute truth. To do so is to contradict oneself. 

Wait a minute! What? 

Alright, let me hit it again okay? To say there is no such thing as absolute truth is an absolutely true statement in the sense that the statement was uttered even though the statement itself is not true. 

Uhhh....come again?!

Still confused? I'm still not making sense? Let me break it down.

Its absolutely true the statement there is no absolute truth was made, but the statement, in essence, is a lie. Why? Because two plus two equals four right? That is an absolutely true statement without a doubt.  No one will deny that equation. Let me provide another example of the reality of a statement being true and false at the same time. In Matthew 11:19 we read, "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, behold a man glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners...

Now it is absolutely true that these accusations were hurled at Jesus, but the part about Him being a glutton and a drunk is not true at all. So truth can never be relative or subjective. Because if they can, then each person can manufacture and concoct any story they want and it would be accepted as truth. Fake news would not be fake news anymore in a truth-is-relative universe. Why? The truth would subjectively be in the eyes of the beholder.

What would be the ramifications of our world and existence if the Bible, God's Word is not true? Absolutely nothing in this world would matter. Absolutely nothing would make sense. We might as well be living in a dream world, a virtual reality like the Matrix. We would not know the difference between reality and fantasy. It would not matter anyway because nothing we experience would be true except in each individual's mind. Oh...wait a minute - If one does not exist you can never have a mind to even think! You wouldn't know if you really existed or not. Your parents would not be your parents. There wouldn't be any such things as parents. There would be no falling in love, sharing a kiss, no sunshine, no moonlight, no holding of hands, walking along the beach. No sweet music, no laughter. No awareness of right and wrong. 

You get the idea. Life, as we know it now, could never exist. 

Yet all these things do exist and so much more because the Bible is a reality and it is true! God's Word explains the meaning of our existence: Genesis 1:1, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Verse 26 of the same chapter tells us God made man in His own image. It is astounding to me how haters of God and His Word continue to attack that central truth. They rather us believe that a force called evolution caused this vast universe to come into being. Nonsense! Evil men would rather believe an impersonal force created all things instead of a personal being named God so that they do not have to answer to Him. 

An attack on the Bible is a personal attack on Almighty God Himself. He is synonymous with His written word (Psalm 138:2). So if you who are reading this article, or someone you know makes the foolish statement that the Bible is not true should read the aforementioned argument in this brief diatribe. If one believes the Bible is not absolute truth, you have proven that you are utterly deceived. The fact you are reading this article proves the Bible is true. How do I know? Simple, you exist. 

To subscribe to the "truth is relative" lie is a reasoning of deconstruction. Its a house of cards on sinking sand with the wind blowing through them. The result, it is absolutely true that sorry foundation will fall and will be blown away.

Can we lose the assurance of our salvation?

This is a very important question. It is also important the reader understand the entire question. If one is truly saved, they cannot lose their salvation. God is the one that grants salvation to all those who believe, and He is the one that secures salvation forever. The scripture says, "He that began a good work in you will complete until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). God is and will always be faithful to His word and to us. From the divine side, God assures and insures our salvation.

But, can we lose the assurance of our salvation? Yes. What does that mean? It means what it says. We lose confidence in the reality that we are saved. What causes this lack of assurance? I would say mainly two things: 1) doubt and 2) sin.

Doubt arises as a result of our lack of knowledge on what the Bible teaches about salvation. When a person's ignorance of the truth of salvation is high, then doubt will also be at a high level. This lack of assurance also produces fear in one's mind and heart. Salvation is still there, but for the one going through the aforementioned trauma, there is no real joy for them.

Sin also will produce a lack of assurance. If one is living in habitual sin, then it is an open door for Satan to interfere and create doubt. That is the time to run to God humbly and repent so you can be restored (1 John 1:9). The Bible commands us to make our calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).
That is divine wisdom because we are frail so God provides us with clear instruction on how to have individual assurance. This is what the apostle Peter instructs us to do: "Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue knowledge, and knowledge with self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins (2 Peter 1:5-9).

That is why we are to make our calling and election sure. This is the beauty of the Word of God, it instructs on how we are to obey its commands specifically and then gives us the marching orders to do it - totally and perfectly unambiguous. God's word is totally opposite of the often inept communication we deal with every day. I believe we are in the poorest communication era of all time despite all our fancy overpriced communication technology.

Getting back to the subject at hand, Christians lose the assurance of their salvation every day. So much so that many believe losing their assurance is equal to losing actual salvation and going to hell.
See why it is important to lean on the immutable Word of God and not our own understanding?

Our feelings often betray us. Child of God you cannot allow that to happen. Here is another command of God we must employ: "Do not be conformed to this world (i.e. the world's evil system), but be transformed by the renewing of your mind (emphasis added) that you may prove what is good, acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

Practical assurance is something we must do. God will not do that for us for He has already provided eternal positional assurance. If one desires a victorious Christian life then you must throw off the distractions that are holding you down - mainly our sin and lack of the knowledge of God's Word. When we have gotten rid of every encumbrance, we can live bold, confident, assured lives in Christ.  Our light will shine before God and men so that they can be drawn by God's power and we can give glory to Him.

Goal Planning or Presumption?

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this and that."

                                                                                                                                       -James 4:13-15

I believe it is a fair supposition that most people in the world do not heed the above admonition. Why? Because they presume on their lives - that they are going to be around to fulfill all their dreams and desires. Please do not get me wrong, I realize everyone is not arrogant when it comes to planning their lives for the future and how they desire for it to go, but I am talking about those that believe that just because they "spoke positivity into the universe" that the universe will return that "positivity" back to them. There is no such thing. Others refer to this as good and bad karma; a brainchild of Hindus and Buddhists. 

Anything anybody does whether they realize it or not is 1) a gift from God or 2) an allowance by God. Anything that is good is a gift from above (James 1:17). God provides good gifts to all despite our sinfulness.

So, back to the idea of goals. Goals are good because it allows us to challenge ourselves so we can work hard to meet certain benchmarks we have set for ourselves. It is wise to plan for the future even though we do not know what the future holds. For me personally, the best type of goals are short term goals not long term. The writer James is warning all against arrogance and presumption on our lives because we do not know what the day will bring. That is why he said we should say, "If the Lord wills we will do this or that."  The opposite of that is arrogance which is evil.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

That question irritates me. Why? Because I do not know what is going to happen an hour from now let alone five years! To me, this is boasting even if it is not with malicious intent. God says this type of boasting is evil. So, how would one answer it? I would answer it this way, "Lord willing If I am fortunate to still be around, hopefully, I will be doing..."

For me, that would be the best reply - it submits our wills to the will of the Father. To ignore God in what we do is once again is presumptuous and evil.

For those of you that believe you can of your own corrupt will plan your life are in for a divine reckoning from God. While it is never wrong to plan ahead, it is indeed evil to do so ignoring the Lord in the process. We are not the ones that cause the night and day to come, so who are we to determine how long we are going to be here? If the Lord will we will do this or that.

The sovereignty of God and the sovereignty of Man - A second look.

This subject will always be full of tension. Unfortunately, the tension is usually negative. Why? Because of man's distorted worldview of both matters. That is why I want to analyze it again. You may recall that I wrote an article entitled, "The will of God vs. the will of Man" some time ago. This will be an addendum to that article. This matter is so crucial to the nature of God and man that it deserves more treatment. My goal is to get you closer to the nature of God and the nature of man through this article - to provide Biblical insight so the tension we feel can become a positive instead of a negative. 

Is that possible? Can tension become positive? With clear Biblical explanation, I believe it can.

So, let us start with man since that is who we are. 

God at the beginning of time created man and gave him dominion over everything He created. Man had the absolute power to do anything he wanted within the confines of God's will. In other words. man was the sovereign of the earth. A sovereign is one who has absolute rule, total control. Where man tragically fell was when his sovereignty clashed with Almighty God's authority. We must remember man's rule has limits - meaning we cannot do anything we want without penalty. Our problem is that we do not want limitations. We do not like law and order. Because man is a usurper, he was kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Adam wanted to be like God, in every way. That is the reason he took the devil's lying words over God's and ate the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:6). The reality was Adam and Eve were already like God. I am not saying they were God or little gods, but they were like God in this sense: They had intelligence; they had a moral compass; they had emotions; they had the ability to make choices and reason; they had the gift of communication and relationship. These are some of the things that made them God-like.  

The scripture said, "let us make man in our image after our likeness (Genesis 1:26). So when we see and relate to one another, we are looking at the made-image of God. Here is our problem: because of sin, God's image - that is mankind is ruined and depraved. Man no longer has the perfect beauty and innocence  he once had. That is why there is an ongoing war between God's will and man's will -  God's rule versus man's rule. Man has forgotten that the earth is the Lord's and the fullness of it (Psalm 24:1). God left man as the manager of His world.  We see that has turned out tragically. 

Now, let us look at the sovereignty of God.

As I have mentioned in the past, God's rule is autonomous - meaning His rule is absolute, no limits. God can do whatever He wants to do. Psalm 115:3 says, "our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases." When God created the heavens and earth, He did not ask for permission from anyone - no one was here! When He decided to create man, He did not need anyone's consent. God always fulfills His own will without apology. Unlike us, God has no authority He is accountable to. God is judgment proof - no one can ever successfully accuse God of evil. 

All the things that God is, man covets in an evil way: that complete dominion and total worship. And because he can never obtain "god-hood", he will forever be in conflict with his Maker, losing every time. 

So, how is the tension resolved between God and man? It starts with correctly recognizing the roles of each which I have explained above. See God is perfect so He does not have to adjust to us - we must submit to His Lordship. We are the offenders in the relationship so it is incumbent upon man to repent and humbly bow before the Lord of all the universe.

When one views the relationship of both the right way, then the tension dynamic is positive - Man understands his role, and he understands God's role. While we can never understand God fully, we can praise Him and trust that He is in control of the circumstances in our lives.

Concluding, our sovereignty is a gift and a trust God has granted. Since time began, man has continually abused that trust. We see that in our government and police forces. Since most men do not fear God, sin has run wild - it is the sovereign the world happily serves. This is an affront to God, and for His holiness' sake He must judge it. Like the devil said in Isaiah 14:14, "I will be like the Most High", man in his heart utters the same blasphemy to his own doom. 

The love God hates

”Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. Anyone that loves the world the love of the Father is not him.” 

                                                                                                                                     

                                                                                             - 2 John 2:15

As believers, it is absolutely imperative that we think as much like God as possible. In order for us to do that, we must know God’s word. As His children, it has to be our lifelong pursuit - the practical pursuit of holiness. Only then will we have the knowledge and awareness to conduct ourselves right in a world gone wrong. 

John commands us not to love the world. What does that mean? Does it mean we hate this current life? That we hate the planet and this creation? Are we to hate people? No. Rather we do not love this evil world system. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that to be friends with the world makes one an enemy of God (James 4:4). 

A terrible position for one to be in.

So, we all have to ask ourselves this question, do we want to be a friend of God or an enemy? Tragically there are many in this world who believe God is their friend when He is, in fact, their enemy.

We cannot be conformed to this world but we must be transformed the Bible tells us by the renewing of our minds so that we can prove what is good, acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2).  What it boils down to is that we have to get rid of the sin in our lives that is weighing us down like heavy baggage.

Sin is a master deceiver in that it tricks people (if they allow it) into thinking that what they are doing is not bad, but actually virtuous. Really? Absolutely. How do I know? Well, let's take homosexuality for example. There is now at least one commercial where a young girl is crying with joy that she is gay. Now, in the world's eyes that is a reason for celebration, but in the eyes of God that is reason for condemnation. Homosexuality is sin. It is part of this evil worldly system that He hates. People that celebrate the evil in this world loves the world's system. So guess what? You have made yourself an enemy of God. Only a lunatic wants to be an enemy of God Almighty!

In Isaiah 5:20 we read these words, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

And why are thoughts of the world totally upside down?

Jesus Christ speaking to Nicodemus declared these words, "And this is the judgment: light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19).

This is why Jesus had to come, to bring the light of the gospel of truth so that He could expose the darkness of evil men's hearts, reveal to all their true sinful nature. Give them the ability to repent and believe the gospel truth and be saved.

So we all need to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). Are we truly in the faith, or are we deceived? Do we love the world's system of evil? Because if we do, the love of the Father is not in us. Are we living just for the now, or are we laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21)? Hopefully, this article is a good litmus test for all of us to see where our affections lie.

Bottom line, we are NOT to love this world's system, but rather we should have compassion for it, pray for it, and share the truth of the gospel with it.

God's Steadfast Love

Podcast originally recorded April 13th, 2018


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wpu8Jz0DfFacDTk5iSPaut28gGT3UElV/view?usp=sharing

The unfairness of God

The word unfair is an adjective. It means: not based on or behaving according to the principles of equality and justice.  Also means to be unkind, inconsiderate, or unreasonable. I would add that being disrespectful is also unfair - we can not expect to receive respect if we are unwilling to give it. 

The writer would be fair in saying many in this world believe God is unfair in His dealings with man.

Why is that so? Because in man's perception, when things go wrong in our lives or in the lives of others that we know and love, and even sometimes those we do not know, we make a judgment. In our minds, that person or that group of people did not deserve to have their house burn down. Or for the young child to die of cancer who never harmed anyone, or that family to end up homeless on the street - that honest hardworking man to lose his job, etc. 

So based on the definitions I mentioned above, is God, any one of those things: unkind, inconsiderate, unreasonable? For anyone to even hint of God being any of these is actually unfair, inconsiderate and most disrespectful. 

It is utter foolishness and irreverent to charge God with any wrongdoing. What one is saying is that God is no better than any sinner walking this earth. Why else would sinful man have the audacity to put God in a sinful tribunal and levy charges of injustice against Him. 

Man's view of God is too low at best, and non-existent at worst. What man has to remember is God is NEVER accountable to us! Rather, we are accountable to Him. Romans 9:20 says, "But who are you O man to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to the molder why have you made me like this?"

This is the problem with all of mankind: We do not understand the holiness of God, nor do we fully understand the depth of the wickedness of man. They are eternally mutually exclusive. What all men need to do is for the rest of our natural lives is to study both subjects in depth to at least get an inkling of both to an understandable degree. Once a person does that, then they are on the path to understanding the dynamics of the utter holiness of our Creator versus the utter depravity and the hopelessness of man. 

The writer also understands that a sinful man will never do that without divine intervention. Man is too proud to humble himself and admit he is a wretched sinner headed for hell.

You see, we all know that we are not perfect - we all do wrong. The problem is man sees himself as good as well which is a universal misdiagnosis. Because we do not see our wrong as sinful and an affront to God, we minimize it. For the natural man, our wrong does not fit the punishment God is giving us - God is too harsh. Jesus told the rich young ruler, no one is good but God alone (Matt 19:17; Luke18:19).  David said in Psalm 51:5, "Behold I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." 

This is what that means. At the moment of conception, God sees the embryo as a living person. As a living person although not fully developed is a sinner. Why and how? The why is due to the fact we have a sin nature. The how is because of original sin. Scholars say original sin is not the first act of sin, but rather the result of the first act of sin by Adam and Eve. When they sinned they inherited a sin nature which has been passed down to each of their descendants right up to today. 

Man is a sinner not because he sins, but because of his nature - that is why we sin. In other words, man did not sin (with the exception of Adam and Eve), to become a sinner, rather man sins because he is a sinner. I hope the explanations are clear.

Due to the universal curse of sin, all of us will die for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). That is an appointment none of us can escape (Hebrews 9:27). What bothers us I believe the most is we have no control over when and how we will die. That is a sovereign decision determined by God. What is our responsibility then? Repent of your sins and believe the gospel so that you can be saved. That way you will be adopted into the family of God and escape His wrath and enter into His eternal rest. 

So, is God unfair? No. Man's evil has blinded his perception so that instead of acknowledging his sin, he wants to shift the blame for this world's evil on the one he hates, God Almighty.  Not realizing that by accusing God of unfairness he is being unfair himself toward God. The universal curse of sin in the world is an unforgiving global judge on us all. Guess what? It's our fault. What would be unjust of God is if He never punished evil doers - God would be unfair unto Himself.