Wednesday Bible Study: The questions of Grok, part 4

 

The fourth of the broad categories that the AI called Grok gets asked is, "what is the differences in the many religions, and who's right?"  I had a deep and very complicated plan to attack this- but God said, "It's much easier than that." So, at the Spirit's urging, I am going to take what we already have learned about God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, and see how many other religions "pass the test."

So first off, we have discussed God as a Creator.  As a Creator, He designed everything in the universe- from the amazing tiny viruses to the unimaginable galactic walls our telescopes and microscopes have discovered.  I have shown you how what science has come to- the 'Big Bang'- is entirely Biblical.  Based on this alone- never mind the layers of "Goldilocks Zones" that are required for life on earth- and we can say that creation required a Sovereign God.  That knocks out atheists right from the start.  But that isn't all.  Religions that have multiple gods- the Greek and Roman and Norse mythologies, Hinduism, Shinto, among others- often include gods focused on petty things- sex, war, rivalries.  Indeed they are so divided, they could not possibly have built the seamless universe that science points to with the laws of physics and the like.  They are more like super-powered humans.

And that brings up an important point- What does God's sovereignty mean?  If He could truly do all this, He is thus far, far beyond our understanding.

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. 

Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. 

John Adams once said something along the lines of, it is not only impossible, but wicked, for ants to seek to have understanding of God.  He was, to paraphrase Jesus, not far from the Kingdom of God.  But where he failed to take his own advice was being Unitarian- not believing Jesus was True God and True Man.  Like many early (and current) Christian heresies, they simply reject the thought that God is not bound by being "either or" as we are.  Their God is NOT big enough.

Other faiths go the other direction- God is a 'force', not a Person, creating the earth and simply sitting back and watching what happens.  Taoism, despite it's glimmers of wisdom, fits in here.  So would animism, and nature worship.  But if you think logically, you would realize that, even with no other evidences- that would be like saying that electricity, just by being a force, could cause a EV car to 'become'.  We live in a universe that required thought, plan, and action.

Plus there are those who combine many faiths: the Ba'hai, the Cao Dai of Vietnam, among others who have adapted several elements from everywhere.  A pastor I listen to, on a recent broadcast, mentioned he had met a lady of the Ba'hai on a plane, and curious, he asked just what it was she believed.

"Everything", was her answer.

This kind of belief doesn't seem to lead to a cohesive view any more than having Zeus, Odin, and Shiva debating who created the world, and how, and why.  Once again, the universe speaks out against that,  And so does God:

 1Co 14:33  For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. 

Now let us enter the "people of the Book', as the Muslims might say.  From a Christian point of view, we can look at this one passage of Scripture:

Gal 1:8  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 

Gal 1:9  As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 

This directly eliminates Islam and Mormonism- both supposedly supplied by 'angels'- as well as Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, and so many others which were created whole cloth by misled men.  But what about mainline churches?

A lot of Protestant groups have sidled over to pleasing the world outside.  Like for example the UMC, they "change with the times" despite two very powerful warnings from the Bible they are supposed to follow:

Mal 3:5  “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the LORD of hosts. 

Mal 3:6  “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 

Mat 5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 

Mat 5:18  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 

And then, the Roman church.  For all the many failings here, that I have discussed ad nauseum in the past, the one main failing that derails the Roman church is their stubborn misinterpretation of this verse:

2Pe 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 

2Pe 1:21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 

This they use as an excuse to put traditions on a par with Scripture- and even above.  They tell us that we must follow the interpretations of the Church Fathers, that they were the "holy men", and anyone else is 'doing it wrong'.  And yet:

Act 17:10  The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. 

Act 17:11  Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. 

It doesn't say these were "holy men", in the way the Roman church takes it; just "more noble", than the Jews that were lying about Paul and Silas out of jealousy.

The Jews are the bedrock faith- they were to pass on the oracles of God.  So what happened? Sticking to just the facts, it was this:

Mat 13:11  And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 

Mat 13:12  For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 

Mat 13:13  This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 

Mat 13:14  Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “‘“You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.” 

Mat 13:15  For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’ 

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 

Which leaves us here- with the Bible believing follower of Jesus Christ.  Because, why would a God who needs nothing make a universe, but to have people who may believe and serve Him.  And would He not leave His Word, for them to know Him, and how to serve Him?  Nothing else even makes sense.