Let no man say when he is tempted,
I am tempted of God for God cannot be
tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn
away of his own lust and enticed
James 1:13-14
A problem that many Christians have is when they attempt to witness for Jesus Christ as they get caught up in the many questions, many of which are to get a person to run onto "rabbit" trails making it hard to witness. We must remember not to get caught up in some "rabbit" trail and stick to the basics before we attempt to explain the fathomable mind of God. You cannot go any further in your explanation than what God has revealed: The secret things belong to God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29). This verse does not spin away some explanation, a convenient way to avoid the truth, no, it is fact, man who is finite cannot know every thing, in fact, most things, about the infinite. God must be infinite for if not, as the Mormons make Him, anthropomorphized so to make Him to be limited giving way to some doctrine that fits a theology. God reveals to us only that which is beneficial for us to know Him and how we should live. What else is needed? This is the basics: Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah that by His death sin can be paid for us because we cannot pay our own debt owed to God. God is God, that is, God is Just, Merciful, Love, Grace, and Judge. We are accountable, not excusable. God' patience is not His permission. We cannot blame anyone else for our sin: we are the ones making choices: good or bad. Yes, Satan brought to man a sinful way that opposed God and Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman fell from God's grace and sinned against God and then all of their progeny, that is you and me, are affected by sin, original sin changing the nature of man causing man to have a fallen nature, a corrupted soul. But, God has provided a solution.
A teaching in opposition to what God has revealed to man is false teaching and dilutes the true significance of the cross of Jesus Christ. A teaching that ignores or refutes the fallen nature of man is a false teaching and evidence from the beginning of man is truthful evidence: it cannot be denied and maintain truth. The Love of God, not just an attribute, but God Who is Love offers forgiveness, grace, and enabling power, and this all can be obtained if a person Authentically repents: not because he/she has been caught in a wrong, but that he/she has done wrong before a Just and Holy God Who created all that exists. This is one of those things about God that He revealed for mankind and yes there are things about God that are hard to understand. Is this lack of understanding about a thing normal in life? Yes, even in a new job, a new position, etc., there is a time when there are more questions than answers but in time more is understood, revealed as a person gains knowledge. We have an ability to gain that knowledge for God has provided this for us in His word. We being with milk, and end up eating steak. That is if we stop just drinking in milk. We need not focus on the things we do not understand, those things we may never come to understand. Let us focus on the things that we can understand: i.e., mankind is a fallen creature. God sent forth to man Himself, the Word of God, to pay this debt owed to Himself. This is ludicrous, a ridiculous thing: You have come before the judge and are judged to be guilty and you have no way to pay for this guilty debt and the judge offers to you a way to avoid punishment, that is He offers to pay you debt for you and then you turn around and blame the judge for what you did and had become. That is absurdity!
John Milton wrote in: Paradise lost, bk. 10, line3s 1086-92: "What better can we do, than prostate fall
Before him reverent; and there confess
Humbly our faults, and pardon beg; with tears
Watering the ground, and with our sighs the air
Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite,in sign
Of sorrow unfeign'd, and humiliation meek?"
And shalt return unto the LORD thy God,
and shalt obey His voice according
to all that I command thee this day,
thou and thy children, with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul
Deuteronomy 30:2
No one is destined accept by choice
Richard L. Crumb
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