CAN WE UNDERSTAND ALMIGHTY GOD AND HIS WORD, THE BIBLE?
The short answer is, yes, we can understand Almighty God and his Word, the Bible! Does that mean that we can fully understand everything? No, we can’t. The Bible makes this very clear.
“How great is our God–beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out”—Job 36:26 NIV
But the Bible does indeed indicate that understanding of what we need to know, how to act, how to be considered “righteous” by God, and be given the gift of eternal life, is entirely attainable.
“The secret things belong to the LORD [Yahweh] our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law”—Deuteronomy 29:29 NIV
Here we’re told that, yes, some things we’ll never know because we don’t need to know them, but what God does reveal are things that we do need to know, and are sufficient for us to know him and his Word, the Bible.
Jesus further emphasized that ‘knowing God’ is not only attainable, but actually required for eternal life.
“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent”—John 17:3 NIV
Jesus certainly would never say such things if it wasn’t possible for us to really ‘know God’, at least to the extent necessary to please him, and to be given eternal life by God.
Throughout the Bible we’re encouraged to acquire understanding. Using some metaphors and word pictures, Proverbs encourages and urges people to take this action.
“Call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD [Yahweh] and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD [Yahweh] gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding”—Proverbs 2:3-6 NIV
“Get wisdom, get understanding . . . Though it cost you all you have, get understanding”—Proverbs 4:5,7 NIV
In the New Testament, understanding is also urged and encouraged as being attainable.
“We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding”—Colossians 1:9 NIV margin
“We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life”—1 John 5:20 NIV
The scriptures are clear that “the Son of God . . . has given us understanding [to] know him who is true . . . the true God.” Thus, it is very obvious from the scriptures that anyone who wants to know and serve God can reach out for, and actually attain, understanding of God and his Word, the Bible, with God’s help. In fact, the scriptures tell us that, over time a Christian, through effort and reliance upon God, can, and should be, “growing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:10 NIV, NAB).
9 thoughts on “CAN WE UNDERSTAND ALMIGHTY GOD AND HIS WORD, THE BIBLE?”
This post is moot. God does not exist, and this has been proven.
Your comment reminds of: “We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:6-8 NIV).
But still, God does not exist. There are many proofs of this, and mine is one of them. Neither you nor anyone else has found an error in any of these proofs.
Your arguments against the existence of God have all been refuted soundly here. The past is not infinite, but is a series of completed events; therefore the past is finite. This means the universe had a beginning. Scientific evidence has confirmed this. The Bible said it all along (Genesis 1:1). Anything that has a beginning, had a cause. Only God could have created it (Hebrews 3:4).
RT: Your arguments against the existence of God have all been refuted soundly here.
GW: I haven’t seen a single refutation. Neither you nor anyone else has found an error.
RT: The past is not infinite, but is a series of completed events; therefore the past is finite.
GW: Nobody knows that to be a fact. It is more likely, however, that the sets of moments in time and of events are infinite. Why would you think otherwise? If God did exist, would he exist in time forever or would he begin? If God did exist, would he have a first act or an infinite set of acts? Explain your answers.
RT: This means the universe had a beginning.
GW: What kind of beginning? Which universe? There is good evidence that our universe, i.e. the one we live in, had a beginning of a new phase initiated by the Big Bang, but not a beginning of existence. Our universe consists of energy-matter and according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy-matter can be neither created nor destroyed. This is strong evidence that our universe did not have a beginning of existence. I’ve explained this to you before, but you don’t seem to get it.
RT: Scientific evidence has confirmed this.
GW: Scientific evidence has confirmed no fact before the Big Bang. You know this.
RT: The Bible said it all along (Genesis 1:1).
GW: The authors of the Genesis knew even less than we know now. For example, they knew nothing about the Big Bang. And so, they also did not know what happened before the Big Bang. At most, they speculated.
RT: Anything that has a beginning, had a cause.
GW: Maybe and probably, but we do not know that our universe had a beginning of its existence. As I have shown above, it probably didn’t. No beginning, so no cause of beginning.
RT: Only God could have created it (Hebrews 3:4).
GW: Why would anyone think this? First, our universe probably did not have a beginning of existence. If it had a beginning, it might not have had a cause. If it had a beginning and a cause, the cause might not have been God. In fact, now we know it couldn’t have been God because we know that God does not exist. If there was a cause, it might have been some natural force or object or an alien from another universe. Your own word “only” falsifies your own claim. The writer/s of Hebrews did not have the knowledge and tools of discovery that we have today.
Your arguments against God’s existence have been resoundingly refuted on this site in such articles as:
1. The Evidence Proves God’s Existence
2. Science and the Bible Agree: The Universe is Old and Expanding
3. Why Does Allow Suffering?
The first two here have nothing to do with my argument against God’s existence from Covid. The third might have something to do with it. Please present that article for my review. But so far, you have found no error in the argument.
If you’re really interested, you can check the article(s) yourself on this website. If you’re not willing to put forth that little effort, you obviously have no interest in anything but arguing/debating, and that, once again, is NOT the purpose of this website.
I found that article. I refuted all the points in it in 2018. Here is the copy of our exchange at that time.
November 26, 2018 at 6:10 PM
RT1: God created the first humans perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4,5; Job 14:4; Ecclesiastes 7:29). If Adam and Eve had obeyed God, there would never have been suffering or problems.
GW1: If God existed, if Adam and Eve existed, and if they disobeyed God, there never would have been the kinds of death and suffering we have been talking about. First, Adam and Eve’s disobedience wasn’t ethically wrong. Secondly, God would never punish the descendants of sinners for the sins of the sinners. To do so would be unethical in itself.
RT1: They were warned of the dire consequences of disobedience (Genesis 2:16,17). Yet, they chose to believe lies, and rejected God’s truthful warnings (Genesis 3:1-6; John 8:44).
GW1: If God did exist, he would not make rules, give warnings, and enforce punishments for acts that are ethically permissible or obligatory. It would be like the county sheriff making a rule against walking backwards on the sidewalk, giving a warning to not do it, putting the offender in prison for a lifetime for breaking the rule, and imposing an additional penalty on all of his descendants throughout history. Simply ridiculous!
RT1: God mercifully allowed humans to live long enough to produce the human race, albeit with inherited sin (Romans 8:21; 5:12).
GW1: Sin is not inherited. If he existed, God would never make sin inheritable. That would violate the principle of individual accountability.
RT1: But, God allowed the consequences of sin to develop, without his intervention. Why? Because to interfere with the natural results of sin would be to help Satan’s cause, that is, that people could violate God’s standards with impunity (Genesis 3:4,5; John 8:44).
GW1: If God existed, punishments for sin would not be natural results. They would be social results imposed by God. Furthermore, if God existed, he would punish sins immediately after they occurred in a fair and just way.
RT1: God has provided his creation to prove his existence (Psalm 19:1-7; Romans 1:20), and the Bible to guide us in living (2 Timothy 3:16,17; Psalm 119:97-15).
GW1: This first claim indicates circular reasoning and is invalid. There is no good evidence that the universe was created by anyone. Even if God did exist, the Bible cannot be his word since the book is full of inconsistencies, contradictions, falsehoods, and moral failings.
RT1: In the future, God will undo all the harm that has been done (Isaiah 65:17; John 5:28,29; Revelation 21:4). God has a precise timetable set for these tremendous changes for the better, and has advised humans that they can be beneficiaries of these changes, if they will meet his standards, which are not too difficult (Psalm 15:1-5; Habakkuk 2:3; Zephaniah 1:14; John 3:16,36; 1 John 2:1,2; 5:3,4). He has not told us the exact time for these radical changes, but has warned us to be ready at all times (Matthew 24:37-25:46).
GW1: If God did exist, there would be no reason to undo harm since God would not have created, caused, or allowed harm to occur in the first place. For example, there would have been no Hurricane Michael and no Holocaust, if God did exist.
GW1: You have not shown why all this suffering would exist, if God did exist. Your theory violates reason, science, and common sense. Of course, it mostly isn’t your theory. You were indoctrinated into it as a child, and these early religious doctrines are hard to overcome.
GW2: There is nothing new there. The definitions of my argument are sound, my premises are true, and the logic is impeccable per Modus Tolens. Therefore, the conclusion is true — God does not exist. You have not found any error.