Stop the arrogance

At work I was thinking about something that has come up.
I think you all should know by now that I believe that it is only human arrogance that makes us think God has to tell us everything. It is after all in my last blog.
But the thing is let’s look at what evidence there is to support this. Oddly enough I will start with the opposite view.
God wants us to grow, he wants us to be able to learn. In order to achieve his wish for this to be so he tells us about the cases of others. Adam and Eve is about the creation of earth and the universe, right?
Well what use is there for us in knowing how they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden?

See here is the thing, we need to know the nature of God. By telling us the plane he had for Adam and then for Eve, he is giving us insight into how things were supposed to be. In fact I would go further and say he is giving us insight into where he wants us NOW.
But there was a problem, the serpent! This “individual” comes along and whammo we are screwed as a people.
God allows us to know the details of that. Why? Because we can use those details as an opportunity to learn.
Think about it.

First Eve listened to the serpent instead of following God’s word and she entered into sin. What is the lesson for us? Get into God’s word. If we know his word we will not be easily swayed.
Second We also learn that there are those who will try to draw us away from God. And they will succeed if we let them.
Third. When the Serpent approached Eve she was alone. This shows us that when we are separated from God AND from fellow believers we are easy targets for evil.
What happened next? She told Adam “Hey this stuff is good!” and so Adam eats. What do we learn here?
First we learn that we need to listen to God. Adam had the benefit of talking to God directly but instead of listening to God he chose to listen to his wife instead.
Second we learn that we need to be faithful.
Third we learn that we will be punished when we fail to live up to the rules set.

Again in the story of Cain and Able it is the same thing. We are being taught a value system that God has in place.
See the point is all these things are in there to teach us and to grow us. The fact that something ISN’T in there though does not mean that it is not so.
The Bible does not say anything about the sun being the center of the galaxy, or the Mayans living on the other side of the world or… but these things are true.
Like I said before, we need to read the word of God and understand it. And that means ALL of it. Too many people will be ready to tell you what the Bible says and or doesn’t say.
For example, I know of a radio host who likes to goad Christians by telling them they have to follow the Old Testament laws. He brings up that argument every time a Christian starts worrying about what might happen because of the extremism in other religions.
His point is that the Old Testament supports extremes just as much as any other religious text and that if we do NOT follow the Old Testament laws to the letter then we are hypocrites.
The problem is that the NEW testament brought to us by Jesus Christ, while it does not cancel out the way we OUGHT to live it DOES cancel out the debt penalty that is owed.
As I have said before Jesus pays the penalties for our sins. Paul points out that we are still to live our lives as best we can, however the payment is made for what we do wrong

This is something that he cannot understand. God sent his son to earth. Jesus said he came “to fulfil the law and the prophets”. And therefore the parts in the Old Testament where it demands things like stoning of adulterers WE DO NOT HAVE TO DO. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” God will deal out the punishment/s.
Some people will tell you this is a difference from the God of the Old Testament but it isn’t. Everything God has done has been an act of love.
He could have/should have allowed Adam and Eve to die instantly for their sin. But he let them live and have offspring. Why? He loved them.
God could have destroyed Cain on the spot but no. why? Love.
God could have destroyed ALL the people in the flood but God loved Noah.
At any point in the history we see God could have killed all of mankind and started over. But love stayed his hand every time.
Again, he could have left his people the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, but instead he set them free because he loved them.
He could have let them stay in the desert but he loved them enough to feed them, give them water, part the red sea and finally lead them to a land that was good for them.

ALL of that for love.

So, to me, there is no doubt that the same God who showed love in all those things would also show love towards us “in that while [we] were yet sinners he sent his son to die for us.” (John 3:16)
We need to read his word and know it then we need to test the people who are telling us about him through his word and know if they are honest or not.
There was once a time when the Bible was written in a language that few people still knew how to read. God gave us men (and women) to faithfully translate his words so that they could be read by all. We need to do that (read his word) so that the efforts of those people do not go to waste.
One of my favorite verses is psalm 119:11… look it up and memorize it.