Blog

by Bill Seng

“Their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.” ~Romans 10:2-3

I once heard the question posed, “Would you rather have a surgeon performing open heart surgery that was full of knowledge but emotionally cold, or one that is super enthusiastic but has no knowledge about what he is doing?” Imagine yourself in that scenario. You are going through pre-surgery prep and your doctor is quiet, snappy, and maybe even rude, but you have heard awesome reviews of his work from friends and family, and he is definitely knowledgeable about what he is doing. Would you trust him? Would you instead trust your doctor if he ran into the room, was friendly, energetic, and cared about you deeply, but when you asked him how many times he's done this before his answer was, “Never. I'm not even a doctor. But I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night.” The answer is obvious.

The Jews, back in the days of Jesus and the apostles, were very excited over God. They studied, prayed, and even lived lives where they avoided some of the most serious of sins. When the Christians started to emerge, the Jews were disgusted that anyone would come along that contradicted what they were taught growing up. Who was this carpenter that they worshiped? Were they not aware that he had been crucified for being a blasphemer? These were very smart people that were well-versed, but when it came to Jesus, they knew nothing.

The ancient Jews, as well as the Muslims that would later follow, could not grasp the idea that God would come to the world to be persecuted and murdered and then forgive those who brought him harm. Jews were expecting a conquering hero, a man who would come in power and judgment and set up a political nation where the Jews would be the most important people. For the Muslims, the thought of Jesus dying as even a great prophet of God warranted Peter's famous Biblical response to Jesus' prediction: “Let this never happen to you, Lord!” The pride of humanity is projected onto an all-powerful God in this way. We would never have written the story where one of us dies in a humiliating fashion for the sake of the world, so they think it sounds nonsensical to believe that God, who is much greater and glorious than us, would lower himself to that level.

Even though many people inside of Christianity do not necessarily deny the death and resurrection of Jesus, they become excited about something they do not know. Some people become so obsessed with miracles, speaking in tongues, good works, righting the wrongs of your past, and so forth, that the knowledge of God escapes them. While all of these things are great, Jesus says that you can do all of these things and never know him, and that worship of him must be accomplished in Spirit and in truth. There are Christians who are fooling themselves because although they might be doing wonderful things, they are not truly submitting to the truth of God.

The other day one of my co-workers told me the story of a pastor that he heard of. This pastor resolved that he would live without God for a year to understand those who do not believe. After the year, this pastor completely walked away from the faith concluding that there was no reason to believe. I would contest he never really knew Jesus. If he knew and understood the Gospel he would know that one cannot live a year without God because God is always there. Paul condemns the act of doing what is wicked, which is what this pastor is essentially saying that he did, for the sake of accomplishing what is good or even great. His biggest complaint was that God did not fulfill his prayers on his own time frame. This is sad, and I truly wonder if this pastor had ever read the Bible to see that God is not bound by human whims and he does not bow to the will of man. His worship had to be accomplished void of true knowledge of God.

It is good to worship God from the depths of our hearts. But I have spoken with people who love a totally different Jesus from the one that I love. We must turn to the source of our knowledge of God for the answers that tell the truth. We do not confirm truth with evangelists, politicians, gurus, parents, friends, angels, or even personal experience. We confirm all truth of God through the words of the Bible. If someone promotes a truth about God that contradicts the Bible, we need to reject it and submit to the Bible.

There are many misconceptions about God that need not be. When we let go of pride and preconceived expectations, we can know God and worship him for who he really is. God loves enthusiastic worshipers, but he wants them worshiping that which is true, not that which is merely satisfying on a superficial level.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.