While proofreading the final draft of “The Omnipotence of Man” I recognized that I reference the following concept frequently: “it is always bad to let the world set the discussion parameters, the vocabulary and the definitions of that vocabulary and then believe you will move their position.” I mention it frequently enough that it deserves a little more attention. I have defined it in part through my different references like secular morality, social secular religion and others. Most posts include some clarification or resetting of the vocabulary using reference sources like Webster’s 1828 dictionary and Greek and Hebrew dictionaries. The reason being, if we allow the world as it degrades to rewrite the meaning of the words we use, we will lose the ability to communicate God, His morality, His character, and His offer to that world and each other. In the same way, allowing this same degrading, unbelieving world to define the Scriptures and put words in God’s mouth is putting the world above God.
Christians do two major things wrong. First, you allow the “adversary” (saw-tawn’ H7854) Satan, through his proxies, to define your position and beliefs for you. Second, you allow them to dishonestly state their positions and do not require them to factually defend them.
First, after having your beliefs stated for you, you proceed to try and defend the beliefs you are given. For example, I touched on this in the above mentioned post: We don’t actually argue “creation,” we allow the adversary to draw us into defending “6 Days.” Worse we get caught defending their definition of 6 Days rather than God’s.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2. The earth (land) was empty and without form, and darkness was over the surface of the abyss, and the spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters. 3. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4. God saw that the light was good; and God separated (divided) the light from the darkness. 5. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. (end day one) 6. Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7. God made the expanse, and separated the waters which were below the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so. 8. God called the expanse sky (heaven). And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. (end day two) 9. Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be collected (gathered) into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10. God called the dry land earth and the collection of waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout grass: herbs bearing seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12. Out of the earth came grass, herbs bearing seeds of their species, and trees bearing fruit with seeds of their species, and God saw that it was good. 13. There was evening and there was morning, a third day. (end day three) 14. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky (heavens) to separate (divide) the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for hours (appointed times) and for days and for years; 15. and let them be light in the expanse of the sky (heavens) to shine light on the earth”; and it was so. 16. God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light dominion over the night; He also made the stars. 17. God placed them in the sky (heavens) to shine on the earth, 18. and to rule the day and the night, and to separate (divide) the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19. There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. (end day four)
We debate six 24 hour days. We defend rotations around a sun that wasn’t even created until the “4th day.” As you can see, God decided when the “light” began and when it ended and “darkness” began. God called the lighted period “Day” and the period of “Darkness” night. On the 4th day “God made the two great lights” and, as He would later create man in His image, He created day and night in the image of the day and night of the first day. He created the construct of time for man on the 4th day. Clearly, God mandates time, not the other way around.
I don’t know how long God kept the light on during His days of creation and I don’t care. If it had value for us to know He would have told us. So, why do we get trapped into defending things He didn’t tell us rather than the things He did? He told us He created what was seen from what was unseen. Did He tell us if the “unseen” existed in some other form or how He created the seen? No. He told us that “dry land” didn’t appear until the 3rd Day; before that there was only water. Did He tell us why? No. He told us God “created” man and woman and that He created man from the dust and woman from the man’s rib. Did He tell us how? No.
I can go on verse by verse, but you get the point. God told us what He did, not how He did it. This is consistent through the entire Scriptures. God tells some of what He has done, some of what He will do and often even why it is relevant to us. He never tells us how! So why do Christians allow themselves to be tricked into discussing the Bible from a perspective they were not given? Christians will find themselves cornered when asked to explain how Daniel could survive the lions’ den, rather than discussing why he was in the den and why he did survive. I’ve seen Christians get excited that the parting of the Red Sea could be explained by wind and shallow waters when they should say, so what?! Why did the wind then blow and stop blowing at the exact right times to save the Israelites and destroy the soldiers? How was the sea bottom passable immediately after the waters parted? What did God require of Moses before parting the waters? Finally, if God required Moses to have the Faith that God could part the waters at will, why wouldn’t He require the same of us?
Christians allow themselves to get caught up in straw man arguments about the temporary physical world when the eternal spiritual world is what it is all about. The secular world says, “If God loves us, why is there death?” and other faux points like that. These questions or statements show either blatant dishonesty or a complete lack of understanding of all the Bible teaches. A Christian who entertains such positions shows the same. When I am done with this post I am going to publish a thought I wrote in 2004, “God’s Greatest Gift.” This is “Just A Thought” that answers such distractions.
Does God tell us what existed before us or how? Yes and No. He tells us He existed before but not how. He tells us angels existed before and after but not how. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The very first thing God has Moses record is this. Obviously, God, angels and the spiritual world already existed. This Book was to document and instruct man from “the beginning” of the physical world, from the beginning of our existence. What God tells us about Himself is only how it pertains to us. Christians allow the adversary to demand an explanation of How God is God. Ridiculous! Boyle said that whispering lies was such an effective weapon against Adam for the adversary, why wouldn’t he continue to use it to get man to deny all God has for us? Do you imagine that if God did explain how He brought light from nothing or man from dirt that we could understand it or that it would fit in an entire library much less one small book? Yet Christians accept the premise that the Bible is about God and should explain God’s existence, God’s thoughts, God’s actions, God’s power, etc. Again, Ridiculous! The Bible is and does no such thing. The Bible, as you’ve heard me say, is a manual. The Bible isn’t to tell us how and why God does what He does (other than His Love for us), but how and why we should do what we do. It tells us where we came from, where we are and where we are headed. It tells us what we’ve done wrong and what right is. It explains and demonstrates “Truth” from perspectives we can understand. It instructs us how to live by that Truth. Like any good manual, it tells us how to maintain a healthy existence and what happens if we don’t. As the “Improve Life” sermon states, this manual gives us the rules for our “probation” here in the physical world. It guides us in preparation for entering the spiritual world that existed before creation. It explains the choice we must make and gives us time to make it. When we enter the world beyond time, will we be in the presence of God or the adversary?
In no other situation do we assume, much less ask, the manual to explain everything that goes into the final creation. We get a new TV. The manual tells us about “Getting Started,” it shows us basic operation, cautions and maintenance. Therefore, the manual is only an 1/8 inch thick at most. If it told us how all the components on every circuit board worked and how they were made, it would be volumes. If it did give us this information, most of us would not understand it. We could not understand because we do not possess the knowledge and skill (power) necessary to create it.
Another illustration. When you buy a new car, much more complicated than a TV, you again get a manual. This manual will be a little thicker than the TV’s, but the library necessary to contain every detail of its creation would be huge. What I discovered in my 2008 Saturn is that, not only are we not given the library, the manual itself will tell us when we are crossing into the creator’s world. When we bought this vehicle used, I wanted to insure that all the fluids were at the proper levels. When, even after my years of training in auto-mechanics, I couldn’t locate the Trans “dipstick,” I went to the manual; this is what I found.
Overlooking the shortsightedness of the creator in this situation that there might actually be a reason for the vehicle owner to check the fluid level, the point is still valid. We accept from men who create our luxuries in life the premise that they possess a knowledge and power that is beyond us. We, without offense, allow them to withhold the “how” of what they create for us. We even comply when they tell us this is better left to the “creators.” But, in our arrogance, with God we expect our 2 inch thick manual to explain All He is, All He’s done, and exactly How He did it. When it doesn’t, many declare the manual incomplete, or, worse, inaccurate.
This Book tells us God Created us, Christ Saved us, the Holy Spirit sustains us, and Christ will return for us! If you require to know more about the inner workings of God and the spiritual world, don’t worry… actually do worry… the time will come. In your time, an unknown number of revolutions around the sun. In God’s time, the blink of an eye. How will your story end?
Christians do “…let the world set the discussion parameters, the vocabulary and the definitions of that vocabulary.” Here are only a few examples. If you want more there are plenty in other posts. “Social Justice” is not a Scriptural reference, it’s a political one. “Social Justice” does not appear in Scripture, and just because someone with a collar or special robe says it does not put it there. Social justice does steal vocabulary from Scripture but conveniently leaves God’s definitions behind. The Bible does say to take care of widows and orphans, but also defines how to identify the widows and orphans you are to take care of. God’s definition does not match theirs. If, however, you do not follow their definition, they pull two more words from Scripture: Love and Compassion. Christians cower with the thought of being accused of not Loving their neighbor, forgetting or not recognizing that God defines these terms not man. We dig into God’s definition of these terms and their application in “Pursuit Is,” and it does not match social justice interpretations. As we show in “The Hateful Christian,” contrary to popular opinion, hate is not only in the Bible, we are instructed on what and when to hate. God says “sexual immorality” is bad and He defines it. He defines it as adultery, homosexuality, and bestiality. Again, a collar, a special robe, or political office does not give man the authority to overwrite God. Yet, laws are passed to require their acceptance. Churches include rainbow colors stolen from God to advertise acceptance of what God has condemned. “Christians” march arm-in-arm attacking those who stand with God. Christians, like the world, see monogamy as wishful thinking and adultery as the new normal. God said He created two Genders, Man and Woman, and then He stopped. He didn’t create a couple, a dozen, or eighty more. Yet, communities all over are setting up special recognition for discrimination claims if you believe God (and science).
The Bible is not that big, and it’s not confusing. Christians better start studying and living by its definitions, because the day is coming when those who took on the authority to re-write it and those who chose to live by their re-written definitions will have to explain themselves to the original Author.
On to the second error. You allow them to dishonestly state their positions and do not require them to factually defend them. “They are not babies they are fetuses. I am not for killing babies.” Christians should have multiple responses to these lies. Show me the study that proves they are not babies/human beings. Once born, the government does not sanction the taking of human life unless the need to take that life is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you are not taking a life? If there is even the slightest possibility, we should follow precedent and error on the side of life. Because there will always be this possibility, you are at least OK with the possibility you are killing a baby. To other “Christians” who support the “right to choose,” when God entered Mary’s womb as Christ in the form of a single cell… when was He God? When was He Christ? If all our rights come from God and rule number six says “thou shalt not kill,” by what authority do you support this “right?”
“Carbon Dating proves the earth millions of years old.” Again, where is the proof? As described above, Christians should not get trapped in the 6 day or 6,000 year argument. You should say, “You misrepresent the Bible. It does not tell us how long a creation day was or how old the earth is.” So, let’s discuss this claim. The inventor of Radiocarbon dating, W.F. Libby, himself an old earth believer, discarded that claim. Libby hoped C14 dating would allow dating back 30,000 years but was disappointed. Libby stated that C14 dating is only accurate when based on a known sample (“calibrated”). He found that the oldest confirmed history was Egyptian and only went back 5,000 years. Therefore, dating more than this would be postulation. A Christian should say, “As God does not tell us the age of the Earth, I would be happy to see any proof you could present, should you ever attain any.”
These are just a couple of examples. As I illustrate in The Omnipotence of Man, a Christian should not be threatened by those whose true goal is to deny God. As Boyle said, science and God do not conflict. God is the God of science. Science can only show what God has done. Boyle, who spoke the original languages of the Scriptures and translated them from these languages, said that if science and Scripture did conflict, either the science was wrong, or the translation of the original Scripture was. Evolution, when taken out of the realm of “theory” and tested by actual science, not conjecture and manipulated models, disproves itself. To date, the limits of man’s ability to test our origins and the length of time of those origins are quite extreme. What we are able to show today points to only one possibility… “Creation.” If you truly believe “Truth Is” and that God is the source of that Truth, then you will not be lured into false arguments or fear the world’s beliefs. You will simply denounce them for what they are… Lies of the Adversary.
Christians should know their Bible for what it is and what it is not. We should not let unbelievers define it for us or be able to quote it better. Our benefit of the doubt should always go to God’s representation over man’s. We must understand that God did not give us the Scriptures as a way for God to explain or justify Himself to us. God gave us the Scriptures that we might be “made righteous” (Romans 5:19) before Him. Scripture says that its meaning is only hidden to those who do not believe. (2 Corinthians 4:3) With this “Truth,” why would we look to unbelievers for our understanding? Stop reading the Bible thinking it should provide all of God’s knowledge, as if we could possibly comprehend it, and start studying it for what it is: The Story of Man. It can only be understood when viewed with its intended purpose… an “instruction manual.” Don’t believe the adversary; The Bible is Not The Auto-Biography of God.
© Scott A Caughel 7/3/2018