Aaron
Active Member
One of the most basic convictions of Christians is that the Bible is the sure Word of God, to be carefully studied and implicitly followed in all things. We are to live by the Word of God in this life, because we will be judged by it at the end of life.
Jesus said, “He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.” John 12:48
This means that we must be careful to study the Bible often enough and thoroughly enough that we can learn what God wants to tell us about how to live for him.
How much could we know about God without the Bible? How much could we learn from the universe about the One who made it? Quite a lot. We could learn that God loves order, for everywhere we look we see evidence of order and system. It all fits together marvelously, as though very carefully planned. We could learn much about the greatness and wisdom of God. We might even be able to infer that God is a person, since God had to be greater than that which has been created.
But it is at this very point that we come face to face with our need for some special self-revelation by God. God is a person, by which we do not mean that God has a body, but rather that God can think and feel, and that God knows himself to be himself. Now a person cannot be known in the same way a thing can be known. A thing can be studied and known objectively by physical examination, but persons can be known only as they reveal themselves in various ways.
We can see in Genesis 1:27, which states that people are made in the image of God. Our own personalities, with self-consciousness, emotion, self-determination, and moral discrimination, give us some clue as to the nature of the God who could create such personalities.
Only humans are uniquely created in the image and likeness of God, distinguishing us from all other earthly beings. We were made like Him so that we could be in relationship with Him.
This is why reading His Word is a must if we want to know God and His plan for us. The Bible is not a collection of human traditions or speculations; it is the Word of God.
Jesus said, “He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.” John 12:48
This means that we must be careful to study the Bible often enough and thoroughly enough that we can learn what God wants to tell us about how to live for him.
How much could we know about God without the Bible? How much could we learn from the universe about the One who made it? Quite a lot. We could learn that God loves order, for everywhere we look we see evidence of order and system. It all fits together marvelously, as though very carefully planned. We could learn much about the greatness and wisdom of God. We might even be able to infer that God is a person, since God had to be greater than that which has been created.
But it is at this very point that we come face to face with our need for some special self-revelation by God. God is a person, by which we do not mean that God has a body, but rather that God can think and feel, and that God knows himself to be himself. Now a person cannot be known in the same way a thing can be known. A thing can be studied and known objectively by physical examination, but persons can be known only as they reveal themselves in various ways.
We can see in Genesis 1:27, which states that people are made in the image of God. Our own personalities, with self-consciousness, emotion, self-determination, and moral discrimination, give us some clue as to the nature of the God who could create such personalities.
Only humans are uniquely created in the image and likeness of God, distinguishing us from all other earthly beings. We were made like Him so that we could be in relationship with Him.
This is why reading His Word is a must if we want to know God and His plan for us. The Bible is not a collection of human traditions or speculations; it is the Word of God.
