Not That God, That God

In the quran, it is recorded that mohammed, after he was convinced he was a prophet, went to a jewish group to proclaim that he was a prophet sent by their mutual god.

They asked him to give the name of their god.

Of course, he didn't know, so they didn't accept him as a prophet.

Today, its very common for believers to use the generic title... God... for Yahweh.

Although there is technically nothing wrong with that, after all... Yahweh is God, the problem is that there are indeed many gods.

In the bible, when dealing with other gods, people define the one true God so there could be no confusion as to who was being referred to.

Many muslims will say that they worship the same god the christians worship.

They will say that the term allah, means god.

However, if you say that Jesus is the God that christians worship, they realise very quickly that we don't worship the same god at all.

The fact that their jesus is not the one in the bible is irrelevant as saying that Jesus is God shows the stark difference in our beliefs.

However, if you say that Jesus is God to a jehovah's witness (jw), they will agree.

Obviously they don't believe He's
God in the sense that we do, so we have to define Him in a different way by saying He is the eternal God. No God was before Him and there is none after Him.

You see, we've become too comfortable with the generic term, God.

We've forgotten how to describe our God. We've forgotten that He's describe as the God of gods. That all throughout the bible He gives us ways to describe Him that would separate Him from all other false gods.

It's similar to asking if someone is christian, them answering with a yes, and then leaving them alone without giving the gospel.

There are ways to identify a real christian, just as there are ways to describe the true God, the I AM.

How are describing the God of gods?

Are you so vague that people can mistake some random idol for Yahweh?

Do you have trouble distinguishing between Jehovah and allah?

Adonai invites you to get to know Him.

He didn't prepare a historical record of His dealings with men for over 4,000 years in order for us to be ignorant.

The God of Love

If God was a God of love, then there couldn't be a hell.

This is the claim that many people lodge at bible believing christians.

From atheists to universalists, the claim is made in order to cause the to bible contradictory or to cause us to read all the verses about eternal punishment as a metaphor.

If God is love, as the bible claims, He couldn't send anybody to hell.

They will even go as far to take Jesus' own words to say "if we being evil know how to give good gifts", or in this case, wouldn't want our loved ones to go to hell, "then how much more will The Father give", or in thise case, wouldn't want His loved ones in hell.

Many uninformed believers hear this, and in their mind, it seems very logical.

After all, the bible doesn't just say that God is a God of love... but that He is love.

That's even stronger.

But those same uninformed believers know that there is stil a hell, so how can the two be reconciled? Isn't this a contradiction?

Those who pose the "inconsistency", see it as a gotcha.

Here's the problem though. The "God of love", that they describe... doesn't exist.

How do we know? Our first clue is that hell exists, and people are put there by God.

If there was an "all-loving" god, a being that was all about loving people, then of course there wouldn't be a hell. Hell isn't loving anyone at all. Hell is all about punishment. Receiving the full wrath of God for eternity.

God makes it quite clear the bible that He is not a one dimensional being. He is not this omnipotent love boat.

In other words, those who pose this supposed contradiction actually can't stand the true God because they intentionally strip Him of His other characteristics: holy, just, gracious, merciful.

They actively state that God shouldn't have no other emotion, no other driving force, other than love.

God shouldn't have righteous indignation.

When the caananites literally burn their children alive as an offering to the false god molech, the real God who created them and their children shouldn't feel nothing but love.

This is the god that they say exists.

This god isn't holy, just, merciful nor gracious. Neither is their god overly concerned about these as well.

In other words, they have created an idol, a false god.

They openly show their disdain for the creator and upholder of the universe, by not only saying He doesn't exist but replacing Him with nonsensical image.

They tell God that He's wrong when He declares that His name is Jealous.

When God says He is merciful, in other words, He isn't treating you the way you deserve... and when He says He is gracious, in other words, you don't deserve the things He gives you... these people say that God is lying about Himself.

When we explain to people who God is, if we leave out attributes or characteristics about Him, we end up giving people a false description/understanding of Him.

Is God love? Yes. But God is also Just. If you leave out the justice, then you are wrong. And if you leave out the love, you're also wrong.

Often, however, this error is made by believers who don't really know God very well.

And usually, it's the believers that give the unbelievers the false descriptiob of God.

Let us love God for who He is. Let us put aside all our false ideas of God and find out the truth by studying the scriptures He has provided for us.