God created the world, but He allowed the devil to rule it. In turn, the things created in this world are a result of the devil’s influence. Scholars, presidents, and other world leaders and influencers have come up with an array of theories on morals, laws, and even the nature of good and evil. Some of these ideas are rooted in Scripture; however, many of them are a direct result of ungodly, worldly ideas and desires sparked by the devil, not God’s truth.
The devil has manipulated human perception of who God truly is. Today, we are going to debunk 3 of these lies and replace them with truth straight from God’s word.
Lie #1: Obeying God leads to restriction, boredom, and captivity.
Our liberal society is very focused on the idea that we have the freedom to do whatever we want to do, without concern for others. Philosopher John Stuart Mill created concepts such as utilitarianism: the idea that we should be allowed to do whatever we want to maximize happiness for the most amount of people, and not be penalized for doing harm to ourselves. I’m sure Mill was an intelligent scholar, and it’s important to note my focus is not to criticize his work or those who appreciate his studies. My goal is to debunk lies about God and share His truth.
To those who have similar thinking to Mill’s research, the idea of God, a powerful being to whom you will be accountable, must feel restricting. If you enjoy doing something that you know is wrong, you must not want to be told that it is wrong, right? This feeling of not wanting to be accountable, not wanting to submit yourself to doing good, not wanting to put yourself aside for He who is greater, is straight from the devil.
In Genesis, we are told that the world was pure and innocent. Yes, the devil was allowed to roam free, but the people in the world, Adam and Eve, were sinless. It wasn’t until they ate the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge that humankind became sinful. Prior to this act of sin, God only had one rule for them. Yes, one rule. They were not to eat from the tree of life.
25 Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Genesis 2:25
Adam and Eve had everything at their disposal.
They could go wherever they wanted, do whatever they wanted. They could have done essentially whatever they wanted to do to experience joy, life, and freedom. There were (almost) absolutely zero rules. Why is this you ask? Because God is a God of freedom. Sin only entered the world when humankind strayed from God’s will and decided to do whatever they wanted to do. Sin is the true source of restriction and captivity.
16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Genesis 3:16-19
Still don’t understand how?
Take a look at the life of Jesus. He was God, and His entire purpose was to set humanity free from the bondage of sin. Yes, with God there are limits to what you can and cannot do on earth; however, there is freedom in this obedience to morality and spiritual righteousness because you do not have to conform to the mental and spiritual restrictions imposed on humans due to sin. You don’t have to worry about your purpose in life because you’ve already been given a purpose. You don’t have to worry about your livelihood because God promised to take care of your every need. Sin binds you with worry, fear, shame, regret, but God frees you from that. He is not a restrictive God. He is a freeing God.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 10:10
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
John 8:36
Lie #2: God isn’t good because He allows bad things to happen.
Many people choose not to obey God because they feel that He isn’t real or good because he allows bad things to happen. The formula seems straightforward, but God isn’t black and white. He works in mysterious ways.
God gave humanity free will. God also placed the devil in this world to rule it. Although God is way more powerful than the devil, He allows the devil to rule over this world for a multitude of reasons. One of these reasons is to test and see who is genuinely interested in pursuing Him.
Being a Christian is not an easy task, but there is a lot that is required of one, and God needs to make sure that those who want to follow Him have what it takes to complete the task. With free will, God has allowed humans to make the decision to follow Him for themselves. However, this also means that people have the option to commit harm to others if they choose. Well, why doesn’t He stop them, you ask? Sometimes He does; but not always. There are a million reasons why He doesn’t, and unfortunately, we won’t understand them all. One thing we do know is that everything happens for a reason, and God will never give us more than we can handle.
Another reason why God allows bad things to happen is that He wants us to learn and grow.
If we never experienced the hardships of life, how would we have become the people we are today? How would society function if not for the trials and errors of government, technology, and medicine? Would we be as advanced as we are today? If not for trials, how would we build character?
To try and understand all of the reasons why God allows hardships in our lives would probably take a lifetime. All that we have to understand is that God is not a mean God. He does not harm us, and if humankind had obeyed, there wouldn’t be a pain in this world. He doesn’t want to hurt us. In fact, all He wants is for us the complete opposite.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jerimiah 29:11
Lie #3: God isn’t real because He cannot be seen.
To base what is real and what is fake on what can be seen is a limiting way to live. We cannot see air, but that does not mean it isn’t real. We cannot see gravity, but we know that it ties us to the ground. In fact, we rely on these very invisible things to live. If we can trust in science, facts, and figures, then why can we not trust the less complicated, yet all-powerful force known as God?
Science can be proven, but if you pay attention, so can God. Did you know that God speaks to each and every one of us on a regular basis? This is what scientists call a conscious. God, being the main foundation of our society for morality, allows the devil to plague us with guilt when we do something wrong. The thing is, we aren’t supposed to bury ourselves in guilt. We are supposed to turn to Him for deliverance, to experience freedom (again) from our sins. Your consciousness is real, isn’t it? And if your consciousness is real, then isn’t God, the voice of your consciousness, real, too?
God shows up in our daily lives through acts of unexplainable miracles, through peace and comfort being in His space, and in other beautiful ways. We have to learn to see beyond what is in front of the naked eye if we want to see God. If we genuinely open ourselves up to this possibility, then He will reveal Himself to us in miraculous ways.
What are your thoughts?
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