Who Created Who?

"My god would never…"

Years ago, in college, I was discussing Christianity with a friend. She claimed that she was a Christian, having grown up in the Methodist church, but she told me that she didn’t believe in hell. “My god,” she said (and lowercase “g” intended on my part), “loves people and wouldn’t send them to hell. I couldn’t believe in a god that would do that.” That struck me as incredibly arrogant, as if there were multiple gods, all of which exist, and you, as a human, can simply choose among them based on your predilections.

Photo by Cherry Laithang on Unsplash

Spiritualism is not Sound Doctrine

It’s not uncommon to encounter “spiritual” people that reason in this way. You’ve probably run into them. You might even be one of those people, yourself. If so, keep reading.

The fundamental problem here is post-modernism. We’ve lost the agreement that objective truth exists. In this case, it manifests such that people think that they have a choice in the matter of who God is and how he chooses to act. “You can believe in your intolerant God, but my god loves me, supports me, and wants me to be happy,” these spiritual people might say.

In this way, they are creating their own god rather than admitting that an eternal, everlasting God created them, that they live in His universe and are subject to his laws, judgement, and objective truth. In so doing, they are trying to dictate the terms of the relationship between themselves and God and, whether they admit it or not, trying to become gods themselves.

The most obvious symptom of this way of thinking is projecting the latest cultural sensibilities onto God and declaring that God must really agree with popular culture, even when the Bible is pretty explicit that He doesn’t.

So, in the case of my college friend, hell was unfashionable, and she didn’t want to accept that people, including herself, might end up there. Therefore, she declared that “god,” or rather, her god, doesn’t do hell.

But the Bible is pretty clear that God does do hell and that the majority of people will end up there.

Revelation 21 makes it clear that both heaven (“blessings”) and hell (“fiery lake of burning sulfur”, “the second death”) exist.

⁵ And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” ⁶ And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. ⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

⁸ “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:5-8 (NLT)

And then Matthew 7 makes clear that only a few people will find eternal life because the gate is small and the way is narrow.

¹³ “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. ¹⁴ For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)

The fact that hell exists should make you pause. Are you saved? If not, why not? Wouldn’t you like to have confidence that hell is not your ultimate destination? That’s the good news of the Bible! There is a way to be sure.

Progressive Christianity is Toxic

This is a bit of a diversion. I’ll talk about this subject more in another post, but I wanted to highlight it briefly here.

Someone might say, “But my church is ‘Christian’ and says that hell doesn’t exist.” Yes, and that’s a big problem, and it’s time for you to get a new church.

“Spiritual” folks who, like my college friend, don’t believe in hell and make their own gods, often find homes in “progressive” churches, the ranks of which increasingly include churches from traditional, mainline denominations (e.g., Methodists, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Lutherans, etc.). This is not to say that every individual congregation in these denominations has fallen into this trap, but many have, and the governing bodies for these denominations have often been infected by progressive rot, if not outright capitulation to the progressive mob.

Fortunately for us, this is not new. Paul warns Timothy about unsound doctrine in 2 Timothy 4:3 (NLT): “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.”

People don’t want to be told that their personal behavioral choices and lack of acceptance of Jesus have sent them heading toward hell. And they find that offensive when you are honest with them about that. Consequently, they seek out teachers that serve up a guilt-free version of Christianity, one that doesn’t challenge them, one that simply affirms that they are a “good person” and therefore have nothing to fear. God loves them and wants them to be happy, their church affirms, and so god is all in favor of their life choices. This was a problem in Paul’s time and it’s definitely still true today.

This means that you, the true Christian believer, have to be aware of sound doctrine yourself. Just because a church or a pastor calls itself “Christian” or invokes the name of Christ doesn’t mean that it actually holds to any sound Christian doctrine as passed down to us from the prophets and apostles.

In particular, you cannot simply switch off your mind and say, “I’m attending a church that talks about Jesus, therefore I’m good.”

In 1 Thessalonians 5:21, Paul warns the church to test what people say and hold on to what is good. John sends a similar warning in 1 John 4:1.

Finally, Christ was very clear that “the world” would hate Christians and Christianity because the world hated him first. He warned his followers to be in the world but not of it and to not love the world.

So, if the world loves your church because your church is espousing doctrine that’s in line with what the popular culture believes, you should take that as a warning sign that it probably has doctrinal problems and is leading you away from Christ, not toward him.

The Real Truth

The real truth is that God is eternal and created the universe and everything in it, including my college friend, you, and me. Being omnipotent, he writes the rules, not you and me. We’re simply created beings. He doesn’t need our approval of the way he chooses to run his creation. We exist at his pleasure.

Saying “My god would/wouldn’t/will/won’t…” without some sound scriptural basis is just sticking your finger in God’s eye. Ultimately, you’re telling him that you don’t believe in the things he’s told you, that you know him better than he knows himself, that your plan for running the universe is better than his, even though he’s eternal and you’re less than 100 years old, even though he’s omniscient and you’re not, even though he’s omnipotent and you’re not.

That’s never a good place to be.

Now, having said that, know for sure that God does love you, just where you are, with all the flaws you have. He says that over and over again in the Bible, so many times that I simply can’t cite all the references. Don’t ever believe that lie from Satan that says that God could never love you because of the things you’ve done. It’s completely false.

But also don’t confuse his love with any sort of agreement with your overall behavior. You and I are thoroughly sinful beings, with no redeeming value based on our own merit. Left to ourselves, we deserve only death and destruction in the lake of fire.

But the good news is that because God loves us, he sent us the lifeline of all lifelines: Jesus! Jesus died for our sins so that the penalty for our sin would be paid by him and not us. In so doing, he provided a pathway for us to come back to God, avoid judgement, and live with God forever as part of his eternal kingdom.

God says, “If you want to be with me in heaven, I’ve provided a way. All you need to do is repent of your sins and believe on Jesus. But if you choose hell instead, I’ll honor your choice.” In a sense, the choice as to whether we end up with God in heaven or Satan in hell is completely up to us. It’s our choice.

How to Approach God

Given all that, let’s think for a moment about how those truths shape how we should approach God.

1. We should be reverent of him. There is only one true power in the universe: Him. He is completely holy and set apart from us.

2. He created everything, including you and me. All the power is his. We have no power. Approach him with all humility.

3. God’s will is his own. He keeps his own counsel. While he loves us, he doesn’t need and doesn’t seek our approval in order to do whatever he wills.

4. If God says something undesirable (e.g., hell exists), then you really have no choice but to accept it regardless of whether that’s currently fashionable in polite human society. In a contest between God and your progressive Christian pastor or friend, God wins. Believe what he says about himself.

5. We were created to love and worship God, to have a relationship with him. While God doesn’t need our approval, he does value our relationship with him. But that relationship will be on his terms. So, do all you can to strengthen it.

6. Accept that God loves you so much that even in the face of your rebellion against him, he sent Jesus to die on a cross to provide a way back to him, so that you could live with him forever. If you haven’t accepted that free gift, do it today!

Who in your world needs to hear this message? Share it with them. If you haven’t subscribed yet, please do. Finally, leave me a like and/or comment. Do you know “spiritual” people who create their own gods?