Articles
05 Back to the Bible - Restoration of Faith in God
05 Back to the Bible
Restoration of Faith in God
Mike Willis
According to a 2017 Pew Research Center survey, 56% of Americans believe in God as described in the Bible (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2018/04/25/when-americans-say-they-believe-in-god-what-do-they-mean/). This includes those who believe in one God, referred to as Yahweh or Jehovah. The 44% of Americans who are left range from atheists, agnostics, gods described as “no gods” in Bible terms, or just some vague spiritual power. To go back to the Bible, we must worship the God who revealed Himself in Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.
The God of the Bible is all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere, eternal (having neither beginning or ending), immutable (he does not change), holy, loving, and just. The prophets of Israel belittled idolatrous worship as follows: (a) They are Idols made by human hands; (b) they have eyes to see but cannot see; (c) ears to hear but cannot hear, (d) legs to walk but cannot move themselves. Jeremiah described the making of an idol as follows:
Thus says the LORD: “Learn not the way of the nations,
nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens
because the nations are dismayed at them,
for the customs of the peoples are vanity.
A tree from the forest is cut down
and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
they fasten it with hammer and nails
so that it cannot move.
Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field,
and they cannot speak;
they have to be carried,
for they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they cannot do evil,
neither is it in them to do good” (Jer. 10:1-5).
By contrast to these lifeless idols, the prophet said,
There is none like you, O LORD;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you.
They are both stupid and foolish;
the instruction of idols is but wood!
Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,
and gold from Uphaz.
They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith;
their clothing is violet and purple;
they are all the work of skilled men.
But the LORD is the true God;
he is the living God and the everlasting King.
At his wrath the earth quakes,
and the nations cannot endure his indignation (Jer. 10:6-10).
If we are going to go back to the Bible, we must settle on which God/god we go back to. The testimony of the whole Bible is that there is but one God (Eph. 4:6) and that no one can be saved who does not worship Him. This is the clear testimony of Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Do you believe in one God, Jehovah/Yahweh, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?
