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Is it Possible to Know God?

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Anyone who does not think correctly about God can never think right about the Bible and Jesus. Without God revealing Himself to mankind we cannot know Him. We cannot prove God by comparing Him to us. God is not made in the image of man. God is not a product of man’s creation but rather man is the product of God’s creative powers.

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God stands above man in every way in all things that pertain to both the physical and spiritual.  We stand as the created and He stands as the Creator. God stands as the standard of authority and we must submit to that authority to be right. He stands as the giver of all physical and spiritual blessings and we are the recipients. The psalmist declared of God, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Psalm 8:3-4.

God is more than a projection of our mind. God is not the end product of a process of unaided reasoning. Man did not just create or mentally invent the concept of God and therefore he exists only in the minds of believers. In fact, philosophers, both theistic and infidel agree, that while the imagination may analyze, combine, compound, and modify ideas which are received through the senses, it cannot create any extra sensory ideas. Alexander Campbell in his debate with atheist Robert Owen made the argument for the existence of God:

  1. The idea of an Uncaused First Cause (God) had always been in the world. I.e. God is eternal.
  2. It did not originate through reason and could not through imagination.
  3. The concept of God must have come through communication between the Creator and the created.
  4. The conclusion therefore is man did not create or invent God in their own minds.

Man cannot find God on his own without communication. So, why has God communicated with man? One of the reasons God has communicated with humanity is otherwise no man could have ever known God nor of man’s lost condition. Man is ignorant of God and he is ignorant of his sin. Without God specific revelation to mankind, man could not have known God in the sense of understanding the spiritual matters that affect man and his salvation.

What was the purpose of Christ coming to this earth? To save sinners. See Luke 19:10; Romans 5:8. The purpose of Scriptures is to save, instruct, and equip us. See 2 Timothy 3:15-16. The Scripture is all sufficient, we have what we need. 1 Peter 1:3; Romans 1:16 (The remedy for man’s sin)

Man needs two things. Man that is ignorant of God and guilty of sin needs Revelation and Redemption. God both Speaks and Saves through His Word. He has revealed Himself to mankind in such a way whereby when we read the Scriptures we may understand what God’s will for man is. See Ephesians 3:3-4.

Is it possible to know God? YES! However, God cannot be known apart from His own revealing of Himself through the Scriptures. Man’s ignorance and guilt cannot be remedied without God’s revelation and redemption He has provided. Therefore, we can see the necessity of God revealing Himself to men in order for man to know Him and have the blessings of salvation.

 

-Jerry D. Sturgill

Prove All Things

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When another God-ordered period of discipline for the Israelites was accomplished, God desired Gideon to deliver His people from their Midianite oppressors (Judges 6:1-12).  A stranger appeared to Gideon while he was threshing wheat by a winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites, who would likely confiscate his crop (Judges 6:4-6, 11; cf. Genesis 18:1-2; Hebrews 13:2).  When the stranger expressed that God was with Gideon, he replied with his doubts whether the Lord was still with Israel (Judges 6:12-13).  When told he would deliver Israel, Gideon also had doubts as to his own fitness as a leader (Judges 6:15).  Gideon then asked for a sign by which he would know that God would use him to deliver Israel; God granted this request  (Judges 6:17-24).

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God has always given signs to accompany a new message from Him (Heb. 2:3-4).  God does not expect us to listen to a stranger without proof (1 John 4:1).  Instead, He gives signs that provide evidence in order that we might believe (John 14:11; 20:30-31).

After rallying a group of 32,000 men to meet the vast army (135,000 men) of Midianites and their allies who were gathered in the valley of Jezreel, Gideon asked for more signs.  Placing a piece of wool fleece on the ground, he asked the Lord to make it wet with dew while the ground remained dry (Judges 6:36).  The next morning, God granted this sign as well (Judges 6:38).  Then Gideon pleaded that the Lord would not grow angry with him, and he asked for another sign: the reverse of the previous sign – that the fleece be dry and the ground wet (Judges 6:39).  God granted this request that night (Judges 6:40).  It seems that the men gathered with Gideon would have seen the wet fleece wrung out in the morning and then the dry fleece when the ground was wet with due after the next night.  These signs gave them faith to follow Gideon as their commander, for if God could make a difference between the fleece and the floor, He could make a difference between them and the Midianites.

There is nothing wrong with making an investigation and wanting proof in order to have a sure faith.  True followers of God are not without their doubts.  We may have questions regarding scientific research in our day, why we suffer, the accuracy of the Bible, or many other topics that challenge our faith.  We should be free to ask them and to help one another find answers and continue to be faithful when we do not have all the answers.  Certainly when proof is provided, we need to accept it; we do not want to be “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” 2 Timothy 3:7.  However, we should remember the charge of 1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”  If we are lovers of the truth, we should not be afraid of thorough investigation.

May the Flatwoods church of Christ be a congregation where honest questions are welcomed and truth is pursued, obtained, and held.

-Mark Day