iWitness: is the God of the Bible God?
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This is the third sermon in the iWitness series. The first four topics are lumped together as "pre-evangelism." Before gaining agreement on the Bible's reliability and authority, quoting Bible verses may not prove persuasive. This sermon is a more logical and philosophical argument seeking to answer the question, is it logical to conclude that the God who exists is the God revealed in the Bible?
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iWitness: is the God of the Bible God?
- 1. The new challenges we face in sharing the good news
- 2. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Is the God who exists the God of the Bible?
- 3. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” Is the “God of the Bible” God? Stephen F. Roberts
- 4. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are as sinful and flawed as we are. Is the “God of the Bible” God?
- 5. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Zeus and the Greek/Roma n gods
- 6. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Europe is named after Europa who was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and carried away to Crete on his back.
- 7. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? The Rape of Persephone
- 8. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? High priest Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and fellow members of the Asatru Association
- 9. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Odinist Temple in Reykjavik, Iceland Construction began in February of this year.
- 10. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “I can make my god say anything I want him to.”
- 11. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “God wants Joe Theismann to be happy.”
- 12. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden '?"
- 13. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are impersonal and dispassionate. Is the “God of the Bible” God?
- 14. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Baruch Spinoza’s God “God is the indwelling, and not the transient cause of all things.”
- 15. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God?
- 16. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Eastern Religions and God My sweet lord (hallelujah) Hm, my lord (hallelujah) My sweet lord (hallelujah) I really want to see you Really want to be with you Really want to see you lord But it takes so long, my lord…
- 17. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? What about Allah? •Is Allah just another name for the God of Christians and Jews? •What is the nature of the God of Islam? •Is Allah a loving and personal God?
- 18. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? •Amongst the Yoruba people in Nigeria there has been an attempt to syncretize Christianity and Islam into a single faith. •This has also been popular amongst liberal theologians.
- 19. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? •Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the Triune nature of God.
- 20. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? •Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the cross.
- 21. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? •Allah is a powerful, but dispassionate God.
- 22. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “Nowhere in the Qur’an do we find the idea that God loves mankind. God’s love is conditional.”Pastor Ben Edwards
- 23. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are limited in power. Is the “God of the Bible” God?
- 24. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “God and I came to an accommodation with each other a couple of decades ago, where he's gotten used to the things that I'm not capable of and I've come to terms with things he's not capable of...and we care very much about each other.” Rabbi Harold S. Kushner
- 25. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods and religions that provide no hope. Is the “God of the Bible” God?
- 26. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
- 27. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “Since I have come into this world, I must live. If living means drinking poison, I have to drink it.”
- 28. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Buddhism’s First Noble Truth All existence is suffering (dukkha)
- 29. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” Is the “God of the Bible” God? Stephen F. Roberts
- 30. The new challenges we face in sharing the good news
- 31. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 1. A God who is greater than we are.
- 32. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Isaiah 45:12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
- 33. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 2. A God who can be known personally.
- 34. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? John 17 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
- 35. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 3. A God who can relate to the human experience.
- 36. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? John 1 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 37. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
- 38. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 4. A God who really cares about us.
- 39. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- 40. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 5. A God who has things completely under control.
- 41. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 6. A God who gives meaning and purpose to life.
- 42. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
- 43. Making the Case for God: Is the “God of the Bible” God? 7. A God who offers true fulfillment.
- 44. The new challenges we face in sharing the good news
Editor's Notes
- In the past, our assumption was that once we proved God’s existence, we could move on… we had established a common theistic ground. However, just as there are many brands of atheists today, there are many brands of theists. Proving that the God who exists is the God of the Bible is a separate step for many today.
- I came across an interesting quote. It is quoted by several of the anti-theists, especially Richard Dawkins. Stephen F. Roberts says: “I contend we are both atheists, I just believe in one less god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” There is an element of truth in this statement and a critically wrong assumption. Let me start with the truth. Roberts is correct in asserting that we all reject numerous other gods. Let’s spend a few minutes and focus on this.
- God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are as sinful and flawed as we are.
- Zeus was a usurper. He killed his father Cronus in order to become the god of Olympus. Zeus was a serial adulterer. His constant flings with earthly women led to a dysfunctional marriage with his wife Hera.
- Europe is named after Europa who was seduced by the god Zeus in the form of a bull and carried away to Crete on his back.
- Another example of the sinful character of the Greek gods is the account of the rape of Persephone by Hades, the god of the underworld. This may not seem like a major apologetical accomplishment… to disprove gods whom almost nobody believes in today. However, not so fast. These flawed mythological gods may be gaining a new following.
- Reuters printed this picture in a story about the resurgence of paganism in Scandinavia. This is a pagan ritual being celebrated by High priest Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson and fellow members of the Asatru Association.
- This February ground was broken for a pagan temple to Odin, Frigg and Thor in Reykjavik, Iceland. It is the first pagan temple built for the worship of the Norse gods in 1000 years. What is the draw of paganism? It provides the option of religion that is not burdened with Christian morality. These gods do not impose limitations on sexual expression. These gods do not challenge you to love your enemies. It involves earth worship and the pursuit of pleasure and power. The worship of such gods leads us to deny sin, but does not lead to true freedom from sin. It is a celebration of darkness and death, but there is no true light. Now perhaps you’re thinking, “Isn’t this a pretty small part of the population?” “Seriously, how many Odin worshippers are there?” These are good questions. But I think that there is a much larger and more common problem at stake here.
- This boy and his god puppet set up an important discussion. He likes his god puppet because he can make his god say anything he wants him to. He can speak for god and put words in his mouth. Here is the fastest growing religion of the 21st century. Let me give you a few examples.
- During his divorce proceedings following an affair, NFL star Joe Theismann was challenged by his wife’s attorney about his decision to break the vows he had made before God. Theismann replied, “God wants Joe Theismann to be happy.” I could cite numerous examples of this, but let me share just one more… the oldest example of putting words in God’s mouth.
- I could cite numerous examples of this, but let me share just one more… the oldest example of putting words in God’s mouth. Satan makes God’s statement a question, thereby undercutting it. He exaggerates God’s command not to eat of the one tree to make it sound as if God’s expectations are excessive. He puts words in God’s mouth and Adam and Eve allowed Satan to reshape God into a god who would not stand in the way of their independence or limit them in any way. Here is the true danger of the designer God. He or she is really just an internal dialogue. Your god agrees with you. Your god approves of your moral choices and assures you that you are not capable of immoral choices… just different choices. This is a god we do well to reject, but this is the most difficult deity to dethrone because this god is you.
- God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are impersonal and dispassionate.
- Spinoza asserted that for a concept of god to make any sense at all, it must simply be nature. That is, god cannot be something outside nature that controls it, but must necessarily be part of it. According to Spinoza, God IS nature. He said, “God is the indwelling, and not the transient cause of all things.” It is a form of pantheism, a belief that God and nature are one. God is not creator… He is embedded in creation itself.
- In 1929 Albert Einstein shared this autobiographical sentiment with Rabbi Herbert Goldstein: “I believe in Spinoza’s God, who reveals Himself in the lawful harmony of the world, not in a God who concerns Himself with the fate and doings of mankind.” This is not theism. It is actually deism. It is the belief in a God who never performs miracles that in any way suspend or go agains the laws of nature. No healings. No resurrections. No interruptions or interventions. This is the god who set the world spinning and dispassionately sits back and watches it spin. Prayer does not reach this god. Worship does not bring him joy. He is more machine or matrix…. a loveless physicist on a cosmic level.
- In Hinduism and many of the religions of the east, God is conceived of as an impersonal force. Hinduism is pantheistic. God does not sustain creation from without. God permeates the material world. God is the tree and the tree is God. I have always found the song “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison of the Beatles an interesting example of the clash of worldviews. Harrison became very enamored with Hinduism. The song begins with references to “My Sweet Lord” and the western thinker naturally assumes he is singing about the God of the Bible. The hallelujahs intentionally draw us to this thought. However, by the end of the song, there are references to Hindu gods and gurus. But take notice of the repeating refrain throughout the song. I really want to see you Really want to be with you Really want to see you lord But it takes so long, my lord… Do you hear the struggle? It is, in actuality, the struggle of a western thinker trying and failing to understand the religions of the east. Harrison is looking for connection. He expresses a desire to see the divine and have fellowship. But this is not the nature of Hindu theology. You can’t rightly sing, “What a friend we have in Brahma” or “Krishna loves me this I know for the Vedas tell me so”. This is not how the gods of Hinduism roll. They are not personal. This song demonstrates the may ways that impersonal deities disappoint. Some scientists embrace intelligent design but, like Einstein, stop short of embracing the God of the Bible. They can’t deny the mathematical and scientific evidence of design, but shrink back from embracing all of this beauty and wonder as the product of an intelligent and caring creator. However, some have seen the limit of this. Why does an impersonal god create? What is the motivation? Mathematician William Dembski asks the next logical question.
- What about Allah? Is Allah just another name for the God of Christians and Jews? What is the nature of the God of Islam? Is Allah a loving and personal God? The easiest of these questions to answer is the first question. Many approach this from a semantic standpoint. Hebrew and Arabic are similar languages with a lot of shared vocabulary. Vowel shifts from “E” to “A” are common. So, many look at “El” in the Hebrew and “Allah” in Arabic and assume they are speaking of the same God. However, historically Allah is very different. Allah was one of many deities worshipped on the Arabian peninsula before Muhammad. Allah was believed to have three daughters. Muhammad rejected this and stated that Allah is one in nature.
- Amongst the Yoruba people in Nigeria there has been an attempt to syncretize Christianity and Islam into a single faith. This has also been popular amongst liberal theologians. The mainstream has begun to buy the argument that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. However, the differences are truly insurmountable.
- Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the Triune nature of God. In Islam the belief that Allah has a son or any counterpart is called “Shirk”. It is not like our word for avoiding or neglecting something, as in shirking responsibility. Shirk is an Arabic word and it means “filth.” Shirk is the greatest sin in Islam. However, the triune nature of God is not up for debate. It is an essential Christian doctrine.
- Muslims and Christians disagree concerning the cross. In Islam, Jesus did not die on the cross, nor did he rise from the dead. He is simply a prophet and a lesser prophet than Muhammad.
- Allah is a powerful, but dispassionate God. Islam does not have the same balance of attributes within their view of God. For the Jew and Christian, God is All-Powerful, All-knowing, loving and kind. However, in Islam, Allah’s power is emphasized over all other attributes. For example, Allah’s will is all powerful, but this manifests itself in capriciousness. Allah can do whatever he wills, even if it is cruel and unloving. Nowhere in the Qur’an do we find the idea that God loves mankind. God’s love is conditional
- Nowhere in the Qur’an do we find the idea that God loves mankind. God’s love is conditional. The Qur’an never enjoins love for God. This is because God Himself loves only the strictly pious.
- God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods who are limited in power.
- You probably don’t recognize the name of this rabbi, Harold Kushner. However, you probably heard of his book, “When Bad Things Happen to good people.” Kushner wrote that book to describe his crisis of faith after the death of his 14 year old son Aaron in 1977. Aaron died from the horrible genetic disease, Progeria. That is the disease where an 8 year old can look like an 80 year old. The aging system runs amok. Kushner struggled with the nature of a God who allows such things. He rejected the notion that God was not good. Such a conclusion left no basis for faith. However, Kushner came to reject the notion that God is omnipotent or All-Powerful. He solved the problem of evil by redefining God and limiting his power. Decades after that best-selling book, he still holds this stance. I came across this quote: “God and I came to an accommodation with each other a couple of decades ago, where he's gotten used to the things that I'm not capable of and I've come to terms with things he's not capable of...and we care very much about each other.” According to Kushner, God is powerful, but he needs our help. He does what he can, but He can’t do it all. It is understandable how Kushner’s tragedy led him to this particular theology. But we must ask, “How can we explain a God who can create a universe, but needs our help?” is such a god God, or at best some kind of a demi-god… a Herculean god, but not one who is fully God? To create a God who needs our assistance is to shrink God and thereby lose the God of Wonders.
- God’s we do well to reject: We reject gods religions that provide no hope.
- Proverbs 13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
- Hinduism and Buddhism portray life with little sense of hope. In Ravi Zacharias’ address to the United Nations he quoted from a 1957 Indian movie which sums up the Hindu philosophy concerning life. The main character says: “Since I have come into this world, I must live. If living means drinking poison, I have to drink it.” Life is viewed as a trap. We are caught in Samsara, the Wheel of Life. It is an endless cycle of life, death and rebirth. Hinduism does not really have a concept of true salvation. The closest concept is called “moksha” which means release. It is the point where the wheel of life is finally broken and one is not born. Nirvana is not heaven. It is not a place of joy and fulfillment, but rather a state of emptiness.
- The First Noble Truth of Buddhism is that “All existence is suffering.” The Buddha’s insight was that our lives are a struggle, and we do not find ultimate happiness or satisfaction in anything we experience. This is the problem of existence. Now, you could easily suggest that Christianity begins at the same sad point, only we begin with sin, Romans 3:23: “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Romans 6:23: The wages of sin is death. However, the difference is in the destination. The central belief of Christianity is that Jesus came to remedy our sin and provide us with real hope. The Buddhist solution is the elimination of craving. By purging ourselves of desire we exist without suffering. The end is much like that of Hinduism, ultimate release from the wheel of life.
- Now let me return to this quote by atheist Stephen F. Roberts who said that the only difference between us and the atheist is that he has rejected one more god than we have. Over the course of the last several minutes we have affirmed part of his thesis. We have rejected many gods. Roberts was half right. But there is a logical fallacy to his reasoning. He assumes that there is no distinction between the God of the Bible and all other gods. Rejecting our God is, for him, a logical extension of a process we already have affirmed. Let me state this mathematically and the fallacy becomes crystal clear. Following Foster’s logic rejecting the equation "2+2=5" and "2+2=3" ought to lead to an understanding of the dismissal of "2+2=4.“ The obvious problem is what do you do if one of the explanations you reject is true?
- Can you prove that the God of the Bible is the true God and not quote the Bible? That is the challenge before us? Next week we are going to look at the evidence and make a case for the Bible. One we’ve established the reliability and authority of the Bible we can include what it says about God and Jesus. However, in this earlier stage of discussion we are limited to philosophical discussions. That is why I have called these topics pre-evangelism. On the basis of logic we have rejected a variety of gods and religious philosophies. But can we make a logical argment for the God of the Bible? I believe that we can by probing deep into our minds, hearts and spirits and asking the question, who would a God be like whom we would do well not to reject? A God who would add value and meaning to our lives. I came across an article entitled “Desiring and Finding the Ideal God” on a website called EveryStudent.com. I would like to share these seven characteristics briefly.
- 1. A God who is greater than we are. We rejected the gods of the Greco/Roman myths and the gods of our own fashioning because they reflect or flaws and falleness. A true God worthy of worshipping would have to be greater than us.
- Isaiah 45:12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. A demigod won’t truly inspire our lives, nor will some pagan god whom we describe as unreal but valuable as a life metaphor. I believe that the true God would have to be Almighty, All-Knowing, a God whose ways are higher than our ways… like the one whom the Psalmist calls “The Rock that is Higher than I.”
- 2. A God who can be known personally. When we looked at the gods of deism and pantheism I quipped that one can’t sing, “What a friend we have in Brahma.” Spinoza’s God does not love you. He or it doesn’t maintain the universe in order to sustain you. That is why such deities are unworthy of our worship. They are also incomprehensible. Why would a dispassionate and disinterested God create a universe fine-tuned to support life. Deep down we long for a God who can be known personally. Jesus revealed His Father to us as Abba, the word for Daddy. He told us that our Father gives us good gifts. He taught us to pray with brevity because our Father already knows our needs… we don’t have to wear Him down with many words. And just before going to the cross, Jesus prayed these words in John 17:
- John 17 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
- 3. A God who can relate to the human experience. The gods of pantheism can’t relate. Relating requires and I/Thou relationship. That is why the eastern religions practice meditation, not prayer. Prayer is dialogue. It requires another. Meditation is self-exploration. There is no other to relate to. When I am going through something hard, I seek out someone who cares. That is why I miss my Dad so much. He was both gentle and wise and he believed in me more than I believe in myself. But he also had the ability to bring correction into my life and could did it in such a way that I was better for it and closer to him at the end of the day. There is no more relatable person than Jesus, God’s Son. John described him this way:
- John 1 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
- 4. A God who really cares about us. When we looked at Allah, we saw that his concern was conditional. We’ve all experienced conditional love. Those who grow up being loved on the basis of some performance standard typically spend years in therapy. Deep in our hearts we long for someone who loves us even when we are unlovely. There are many Bible verses that assert God’s love. However, what speaks loudest are actions.
- Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- 5. A God who has things completely under control. We looked at those who would look at suffering and come to a fatalistic worldview… that all life is suffering. We rejected this because it has no hope. And we looked at Rabbi Kushner who stripped God of his omnipotence and created a God who has some stuff under his control. But needs our help. Neither of these is a god who can inspire confidence. Although we all experience suffering, we serve a God who can work all things together to accomplish His good. This week a friend of mine lost his first grandchild after just one day of life. I sent him this message: “So sorry that you will have to wait to get to know Nicole in our Father's Kingdom. Be assured of my prayers.” That message flows out of the precious hope that we have that God is sovereign over everything, including death. The world may appear to be spinning out of control, but Jesus is preparing an eternal place for us!
- 6. A God who gives meaning and purpose to life. We saw a shared characteristic in Hinduism, Buddhism and Deism – a lack of purpose. Endless lives in tedious succession all leading to nothing special. Compare this with the call of Jesus. It begins with a call to follow him and culminates in a Great Commission to go into all the world and preach His good news. God has given us the highest of purposes.
- Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
- 7. A God who offers true fulfillment. Jesus came in order that we might experience an abundant life. David talked about panting for God as a deer pants for water. He ached for the fulfillment that only God can give.
- This is a worthy portrait of a God deserving of our praise and devotion. That is why I believe that the God of the Bible is God. The God described on the pages of the Bible provides the greatest inspiration, offers the greatest hope and stirs the deepest emotions. Once we combine the evidence for the Bible to this portrait we will have a compelling proof that there is only one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob… the Father of Jesus and Heaven’s true King.