If ‘Four BIG Questions Every Thinking Person Should Ask’, woke you up to the realisation that you may be much more than mere ‘flesh and blood’, then it’s time to consider these five BIG questions.
1. Does God exist?
2. What is God like?
3. Why did God create us?
4. Why did God give us freewill?
5. What is God’s plan for humanity?
Let’s begin.
But be warned, our exploration may take a few unexpected detours to ensure that we address these questions as they deserve.
Question #1. Does God exist?
One, none or many?
Atheists say “No, none.”
Agnostics say “Maybe, the jury is out.”
Polytheists say “Yes, many gods.”
Monotheists say “Yes, only One.”
Logically speaking, if there is a creator of the vast universe, surely there can only be one, ‘Creator of Everything’, God? Wouldn't you agree, that the universe appears to be too finely tuned to be the work of competing creators?
The Bible certainly claims that there is only one God, the God of the Bible.
Know therefore today, and lay it in your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
(Deuteronomy 4:39)
Here is where we part company with atheists and polytheists as we explore the possibility of one God.
A Biblical Perspective.
I am neither a Jew nor a Christian; just a simple human being who believes that, at the very least,
The Bible is the most credible record of God’s dealing with humanity.
Logically speaking, if there is only one “Creator of Everything”, God, we must ask,
Has our Creator communicated with humanity?
While the full extent of this question is beyond the scope of this article, we can ask,
Has God communicated with human beings in a way that is intelligible to human beings in all ages while maintaining the integrity of our freewill?
While modern humans may be more technologically advanced than our ancestors, we are biologically and emotionally exactly the same. For example, thanks to science, when we look at the stars our understanding of the ‘heavens and the earth’ is different to someone living ten thousand years ago, but we may experience the same awe and appreciation of its beauty.
This begs the question;
If God has communicated intelligibly with human beings in the past, does God communicate intelligibly with us, today?
I believe the answer ‘Yes’ in both instances; the first by means of the Bible and the second by means of His Spirit.
The Bible serves as the standard by which one evaluates the authenticity of any direct communication today; the Spirit, providing the inspiration and interpretation of the Bible speaks with one voice, today.
As such, my aim in this article, is to present a clear presentation of why, in the first instance, I believe that the Bible offers the most compelling answers to these, and many other, BIG questions. I hope that this article will inspire you to do your own research and reach your own conclusions.
Can the Bible be trusted?
Isn’t the Bible just a bunch of myths and fables?
Having studied all major religions for over fifty three years, I am personally convinced that the Bible is the most accurate record of God’s dealing with humanity.
While there may be a few myths, fables and errors in the Bible, it may be a good idea to establish the difference between the three. As I understand it;
- Myths are stories to 'make sense' of life.
- Fables are pure fiction or fantasy.
- Errors are mistakes or corruptions.
Learning how to tell the difference is address more fully in my Bible study courses.
While there may be myths, fables and errors in the Bible, there are two ways to validate the veracity of the Bible through both its internal record as well as relevant external evidence.
Internal validation.
The Bible is internally consistent. That is, it has one central, consistent theme, the Messianic Promise. There are literally hundreds of Messianic promises, prophecies and types scattered throughout the Hebrew Bible; these set the Bible apart from all other religious texts.
External validation.
The Bible has proven itself to be an extremely accurate historical record of the ancient history of the Middle East. In fact, the Bible is the world’s only ‘living archaeology’; the Bible is the only ancient, religious text that has consistently provided the only references to people, places, nations and events millennia before modern archaeology discovered the physical evidence in the sands of the Middle East and beyond.
So, don’t speculate, validate!
Check out my article “The Bible More than Myths and Fables” for more on this topic.
Question #2. What is God like.
What do you believe God is like?
Some people consider God to be a disinterested creator while others treat God like a personal genie, only praying to God when they need something?
Some people view God as a wrathful judge (‘love me or I will squash you like a bug’) while others think of Him as a loving and compassionate parent; we are, after all, his creation,
We do well to ask,
Are we created in God’s image or are we creating God in our image?
The Bible tells us that God is loving, compassionate and faithful; when Moses asked God to reveal his glory the Lord passed before him and proclaimed,
“The Lord, the Lord God compassionate, gracious and patient, abounding in steadfast love, faithfulness and forgiveness.”
(Exodus 34:6)
I think that’s petty specific, don’t you?
But is it true?, you may ask.
Looking for Love in other Religions.
Consider a quick comparison between the Bible, the Quran and the Buddha’s teaching, on love.
I did a search for four words related to love;
- Love
- Loves
- Loved
- Loving
Here is what I found;
The Bible delivered 731 results, including
- God as a loving husband
- God as a loving father
- God’s love for the poor,
- God’s love for widows and orphans
- God’s love for the whole world
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
No other religious text comes close!
For example, my search of the Quran delivered 78 results of which 64 were “Allah does not love …”. That doesn’t leave many results for what Allah does love.
And, while loving-kindness and compassion, are two beautiful concepts of the Buddha’s teaching, my search in various sutras delivered very few results for the four words.
While I have loved studying the Buddha’s teaching, I don’t find anything like the intimate, inter-personal relationships that I find in the Bible. Buddha’s love and compassion are somewhat stoic; full of loving-kindness and compassion but somewhat lacking when it comes to the intimacy of loving relationships. That is hardly surprising in a religion that emphasises ‘non-attachment’.
Love is our deepest longing. We all hunger for authentic love and acceptance and the Bible addresses this deepest of human needs in all its forms; you will even find the dysfunctional misuses and abuses of love in the Bible! It is a truly human book.
Question #3. Why did God create us?
The Bible tells us that God created us for loving relationships with himself and with each other.
When Jesus was asked, “What is the greatest commandment of the law?”, he replied,
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and will all your soul and with all your mind.
And then he said “The second is just like it,
“Love your neighbour as yourself.
He then stated that,
All the ‘Law and the prophets’ hang on these two commands.
In other words, love is the foundation of the entire Hebrew scriptures.
In these two greatest commandments of the Bible, we find “God’s Simple Formula for a Perfect World”.
1. Love God who is the source of all love and goodness.
2. Love yourself because perfect love casts out fear.
3. Love your neighbour, even if that neighbour considers you an enemy.
Can you imagine a world in which everyone genuinely loves everyone?
As I see it, God is not the wrathful one, we are!
We are the ones who don’t want to forgive,
We are the ones who want to punish wrong-doers,
We are the ones who created a wrathful God in our image.
It’s called projection!
Love, the love that Jesus defined and demonstrated, must be the lens through which we look when seeking to understand the Bible.
Away with religious dogma, study the Bible with an open heart and mind!
Question #4. Why did God give us freewill?
Quite simply, according to the Bible, God gave us the freedom to accept or reject his love.
Love is the key to abundant life in the Kingdom of God and that’s why God says through Moses,
I set before you life and death, blessing and curse.
Therefore choose life so that you and your offspring may live;
loving the LORD your God,
obeying his voice and
holding fast to him,
for he is your life and length of days.
(Deuteronomy 30:19-20)
Love is to life and blessing what fear is to death and curse.
God earnestly wants us to choose life but no one can be forced to love.
Here is our greatest choice in life.
As I understand it, here is God’s appeal to us …
If you love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul, and with all your mind (1)
and if you love your neighbour as yourself (2),
and if you love your enemies
and pray for those who persecute you (3),
You will enjoy a long life in peace and abundance (4).
All the families of the earth will be blessed through you. ( 5).
Refences: (1) Deuteronomy 6:4, (2) Leviticus 19:18, (3) Matthew 5:44, (4) Deuteronomy 30:16 and (5) Genesis 12:3
That last line was God’s promise to Abraham almost 4,000 years ago.
All the families of the earth will be blessed through you.
It has always been God’s intention, throughout history, that the people who are called by his name should be a blessing, not a curse, to the world. But ...
Israel failed to be a blessing to the world.
Christianity has failed to be a blessing to the world.
But God has not given up, He is the epitome of loving patience!
And now for the final question.
Question #5. What is God’s plan for humanity.
At the heart of the Bible's Messianic Promise is God's plan to restore a loving relationship with us.
The Bible tells us that;
1. God created a perfect universe.
2. He gave human beings dominion over the earth.
3. He gave us freewill; the freedom to obey his divine law.
4. Every human being goes astray and rebels against God’s law.
5. The consequences of our rebellion is death and suffering.
6. God made a way for us to be restored, it’s called repentance.
7. God gives every one of us a choice, repent or rebel.
This is the central theme of the entire Bible from Genesis to Jesus.
When we wake up to the fact that,
by shutting God out of our life,
by rebelling against his perfect law,
we cause misery for ourselves and others.
But God provides a way back into his divine presence; a simple, four-step process of repentance,
I call “God’s Simple Restoration Plan” which you can read more about in my four blogs “God’s Simple Plan for Humanity”;
1. God’s Simple Formula for a Perfect World.
2. The Unforgivable Sin. (only one, not many)
3. God’s Simple Restoration Plan.
4. The Full Gospel in a Single Parable.
Also check out my free online “Bible Study for Truth-Seekers”, hosted weekly from South Africa.
