You may have heard people proclaim that there are many ways to God. Even followers of some religious beliefs, such as voodoo, see nothing inconsistent in mixing their practices with other religions, including Christianity. But what does the Bible say about itself? Are there many ways to God?
We often think of the Americas as being settled by people who were seeking for freedom of religion and freedom from tyranny. While this was true of many, most of the earliest explorers and settlers came for less noble reasons-mainly, to get rich quickly. The explorers in Central and South America, especially, found enough gold and silver to tantalize them and to draw them on to further discoveries.
“The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered… All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land died” (Genesis 7:19, 22).
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
In a debate, an atheist appealed to a claimed impossibility of finding an unseen, spiritual God in a totally naturalistic world. In contrast, his Christian counterpart made repeated reference to his own rebirth as evidence for God and Christianity. Did either one get the point? I wonder.
These are days when exclusive Christian claims don’t go over well. First of all, religious experience is cheap because religious authority is an easy invention in the human mind. So why shouldn’t every individual have the right to his own religious ideas? Besides, who would you be to suggest your religion is better than mine? I encounter an ongoing flow of people with a mixed religious bag, assembled out of a personal wish list of what God should be like.(Reminds me of the charms that a witch doctor would assemble.)
But why not just come down to the obvious? If God is concocted in the minds and experiences of men and women, then God is not God at all. The god-maker is of necessity greater than his god. Such a god dies when his maker dies, since he never existed except in the mind of his maker. From such a beginning, is there any difference whether one puts his faith in a door knob, in the full moon, or in some vague “man upstairs”? Any “gods” in this range are simply bogus. There is no truth in them now, and they will not save in the end. A lot of thinking people intuitively know this, and quickly dismiss all religious experiences out of hand.
If Christianity is just one more of these invented “isms,” then the debater’s claimed spiritual rebirth is yet another disgusting tool to persuade people of that which is not. The question then is not whether the Christian debater is or was saved. It must rather be in definable, unchanging, historically grounded evidence that such a salvation is even possible.
In one single objective assessment lies the answer — who is Jesus Christ?
I was in a place of busines waiting in line for service. Partway up in the long line stood a young man who frequently shifted back and forth on his feet, frequently turning and talking animatedly to the people around him. Finally, when I was able to better see him, I noticed the bold letters on his T-shirt which proclaimed: THERE ARE NO RULES!
A few minutes of seeing and hearing his raucous, obnoxious behavior convinced me that he was trying in earnest not to obey any more rules than he had to. He was fed up with rules.
The rest of the day I pondered those word, “There are no rules!” and and how typical it is of our society. People imagine that freedom and fun come by ignoring rules, doing your own thing, and having your own way.
The longer I thought about that T-shirt, the more I began to realize the incongruity, yes, the inconsistency of such a statement. How could anyone really declare, “I don’t obey any rules”? I dare say that the young T-shirt where did not realize how dependent he was on rules. The trip through town that morning would have been exceedingly difficult without traffic rules. Life would be precarious if lawlessness and disorder reigned in society. If pressed on the point, I imagine the young man would confess to appreciation for some rules.
In the last issue, we concluded saying, parents should prioritize on character and attitude that ensure emotional stability. Attentiveness, honesty and contentment were given consideration. In this issue we will consider reverence and respect, gratitude, trust and forgiveness.
Reverence is worship. It is a profound respect mixed with love, adoration, devotion, deep affection and honor. Parents, who reverence God, hold Him to be above everything seen and unseen. He is esteemed as creator and preserver of the universe. He is worshipped as the loving Father who provides for our salvation in a day by day experience.
Naturally we think of reverence as teaching children how to pray, sing and sit quietly during a worship service. It begins with helping them recite simple prayers, to participate in family devotions, and regularly attend church services.
True reverence is both ethical and practical. Not only is God esteemed in worship, He is esteemed to mean more than money, business, friends, personal ambitions, human love and self. As children see parents exalt God above everything, in all the details and circumstances of life, they have a basis to anchor their faith and trust.
In this time of economic fears and lost morals, we encourage every reader to give attention to reverencing the Almighty God. Give Him first place in all you do, and you will be rewarded. God has promised to honor them who honor Him (1 Samuel 2:30).
Closely related to reverence for God is the respect we give to our fellow humans. The Bible narrows it down to loving our neighbor as ourselves, or to make it more meaningful, we voluntarily esteem them better than ourselves (Romans 12:10, Philippians 2:3) Esteeming others better than ourselves is a sure way to build lasting friendships and binding relationships. The old adage, “A friend in need is a friend indeed” is so true in securing emotional stability. What we give to others will come back to us. Parents and children benefit when they reverence God and respect those around them.
Adam and Eve disobeyed what seemed a minor regulation and brought death upon themselves and our race (Genesis 3). Ananias and Sapphira lied, and for their cunning fell dead on the spot (Acts 5:1-10).
What do we learn from these examples? That God is absolute, and that He holds truth to be inviolable. Men do well to doubt their own opinions, respect each other’s points of view, and seek consensuses on non-moral issues. However, with God there is no room for debate. He does not change. Truth cannot be reinterpreted. To lie, to disobey God, or to sin otherwise inevitably leads to death.
God is sovereign. He answers to no one. He needed no one’s counsel when He brought the worlds into existence. (Job 38) When mankind became wicked, God overthrew the first world with a flood (Genesis 6-8). He brought His Son into the world to die as our Saviour. He decreed that there can be no salvation but by faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12). He has set a day in which He will bring the world, as we know it, to a fiery end. He will judge every human being that ever lived, and will seal our eternal destiny (Acts 17:31).
God is just. He has given us His Word in black and white. The Bible that is so available to you is His infallible Book. Every effort to contradict or eradicate it has, in the end, discredited its opponents and validated its claims. You may read it, understand it, and stake you eternal salvation upon its most obvious meaning.
Neither Adam and Eve, nor yet Ananias and Sapphira would have had to die. But they chose to test the absolute. They tried to bend the unmovable.