Did God actually say . . . ?

Posted on February 14, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment

From the first, our rebellion against God has taken the form of questioning the wisdom of His statements and prohibitions.

We see this today as popular atheists are lining up to ridicule God and the Bible. To do so requires that the atheist sets himself up as the authority as to what is right and proper. Sound familiar? This is exactly what happened in Genesis 3. Adam had the choice between listening to his wife or believing God. He chose the former and we’ve been choosing badly ever since.

Recently I saw two blog posts, one by Doug Geivett and the other by Chad Missildine, about Christians behaving like atheists. If I am honest (or attempting to be), I will admit that at times I choose my own way over God’s and in that moment, I am a functional atheist. I do not always act as if I believe that God is always with me. I do not always act as though God is the most important relationship in my life. I sometimes act as if I am the final authority and can stand in judgment of God and his word.

The point of this is that before we go on a verbal seek and destroy mission against atheists, we should look inside and see that the “did God say?” virus is still in our system and will not be completely eradicated until we are with Jesus. This reflection should put is in a better position to present truth in a loving way. It is easier to be loving when we realize that the atheist is living out what we would be without the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.

The first atheist to conquer is the one in the mirror.

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

On the Kindness of God

In the same way, we need to present God as the loving father who is waiting for all of us to turn to him. But our turning to him is initiated by our repentance. With proper understanding of the kindness and the hoss of God, repentance is the only reasonable response.

What is sin?

It seems to me that even those who would not acknowledge the idea of sin still have feelings that they should be better than they are. Almost any sentence that begins with the words, “I ought . . .” would give evidence in support of this assertion.

Bars of wood to bars of iron

But are we any happier as a society? Have the new-found freedoms brought personal peace? Based on the angry rhetoric from those who most loudly proclaim freedom from limits, I struggle to see that we are indeed happier.

With humility comes wisdom

The lack of humility that we see displayed might be blamed on the nature of the process. One does not win debates, and sadly, perhaps does not win votes by deferring to others. The whole process is dependent upon self-promotion and defamation of one’s opponent.

Internally focused and off track

When the world los at the church and sees something different than the Christ we claim to worship they have a legitimate reason to criticize us. Neither our theology nor our practice should prevent us from emulating the Christ we see in the Gospels.

What are the decrees of God?

There is nothing that happens in the world that takes God by surprise. When our first parents rebelled against God by eating the fruit, God had a plan already in place to send Jesus to fix the resulting mess.