HOW CAN WE KNOW GOD?

We cannot, unless God reveals Himself. Many people, sects and religions, seek to know God through their gurus, holy men, prophets and prophetesses. These ‘spiritual’ people, often self-appointed, may look for signs of God in voices in their head, visions, nature, inner organs of animals, and other bizarre things. Needless to say, a lot of superstitious nonsense keeps people spiritually blind and in bondage to those who claim to have personal, direct contact with God. Some even see themselves as extensions of God. New Age thinking says there is a god-aspect to man’s inner nature. But many others, especially in western society, have put all this religious stuff behind them. They prefer to be agnostic [even if there is a god, we cannot know], or atheistic [there is no God].

There are two dangers here. Those led by their ‘holy men’ are kept in the dark by false claims and erroneous rules. And those claiming God does not exist or can’t be known are also in the dark because for them there are no absolutes. All is relative and subject to change, depending on what most people at a certain time decide what is the in-thing.

The historic Christian faith believes that we can know God only from the Scriptures [2Peter 1:21; Rom.1:20], and that God has given us absolutes in His commandments, the ones meant for all time and all people. God’s power and greatness is also there in nature, but we only know that because the Bible tells us. The agnostic and atheist also see nature’s power and greatness but the Christian realises that it’s God’s power and greatness. He sees God as the Creator, Provider and Upholder of all things. We usually refer to God’s revelation in nature as general revelation because everyone can observe the wonders of God’s creation. God’s revelation in Scripture is spoken of as special revelation because it is available only to those who read or hear from the Bible.

Sometimes people say there is no need to go to church and worship God there, for you can worship Him just as well while you enjoy a walk on the beach, or in the bush, desert or mountains. Many people love the peace and quiet of nature and they feel close to God and happy within themselves. It’s entirely understandable for often it is other people who make us upset. So if you can be alone with God in nature, then what’s wrong with that? Is this not just as good as going to church, or even better? However, we must realise that nature can only point us to God as the powerful Creator and Provider. Even then you will have questions because natural disasters like earthquakes and tidal waves that kill and destroy will confuse you about God. You will need the Bible to explain those things.

But the greatest limitation of nature is that it says nothing about Christ the Saviour. You need the revelation of God in the Bible to tell you of the grace of God in Christ. Only the Bible tells us we need to repent and be
forgiven. Therefore in order to know that part of God we need to worship God where the truth of the Bible is faithfully proclaimed. Hence the need to come to church and belong to a church. And as regards other people who upset us, here too a faithful church will tell us from the Scriptures how to live with others in peace.

MPG

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