The Holy Spirit
Author: Steve Amato
Description: The person and functions of the Holy Spirit
Keywords: bible study,holy spirit, bible

## Incompatible "Christian" Views of God

There are various things about God that have been disputed in the Christian community. This is to be expected as what we know about God is written in the Bible, but absent of a comprehensive explanation there are issues of interpretation when trying to derive from the text more than what the text clearly and explicitly states. Such is the case particularly with historic passages, but also when an interpretation hinges upon the nuances of grammar of a single verse.
The most fundamental concept of interpretation is to get at the meaning the author intended. To read the Bible in the sense in which the author wrote. I say this because, well let's have the Bible say it "the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths." 2Tim 4:3,4 Catholicism is an appalling example along those lines. But in fact I would argue heretical interpretations have become popularized throughout the "Christian" community.
Consider the Catholic Mass in which the people are to say, "Accept this offering made by our hands for the praise and glory of your name for Your good and the good of all your Church." What offering? The priest was offering the eucharist and breaking it, which representing Christ being crucified (or re-crucified in the case of what Catholicism refers to as "the sacrifice of the Mass") and the people were condoning it. In other words the priest was playing the role of the religious elite of Jesus' day who had him executed and the Catholic congregation is playing the role of the crowds crying "Crucify him! Crucify him!" And this despite the fact that the Bible characterizes such people as wicked in doing so. "You, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross." Acts 2:23b And Stephen declared of them, "Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—" Acts 7:52 Judas, who handed Jesus over to these people, Jesus himself characterized as a devil. And yet Judas could very well pray along with the Catholics, "Accept this offering made by my hands for the praise and glory of your name for Your good and the good of all your Church."
Yet the theology behind this practice also has roots in Reformed Theology. For much of the Christian community has been indoctrinated with the idea that God was actively involved in crucifying this innocent man. Yet God said, "Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty." Ex 23:7 For my view of the theory of atonement see http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/atonement.html. So the question is, does God do that which He Himself condemns as evil?
Now some Christians have said, yes, God can do whatever He wants. Yet the Bible indicates that God cannot do that which is contrary to His character. For example it says, "God, who cannot lie" Tit 1:2b Or more generally, "This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth." 1John 1:5,6
Likewise, God's character is called into question more generally concerning dogma of sin and guilt. Consider the misguided doctrine of "Original Sin". Under Reformed Theology the idea is that one is reckoned guilty of Adam's sin. Imputed guilt is nothing more than prejudice. God says, "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." Ex 18:20
The "god" of Imputed Guilt is not the God of the Bible. Guilt is not imputed to people who haven't actually committed the sin for which they are held accountable. Nor does God hold people accountable for that which they have no control over, whether it be their birth or the actions of other people. Even among those Christians who deny the doctrine of imputed guilt there are those who reckon that people have no choice but to sin and therefore are personally guilty for that which they had not control over. Those who hold such views essentially believe that their "god" is unjust. Indeed I have had Calvinists tell me "God is not just in human terms". But the Bible is using human terms when it speaks of justice. Such people are essentially saying that injustice is justice. They are calling good evil and evil good. "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness" Is 5:20
While the God of the Bible is good, the "god" that many "Christians" believe in is evil. Which is your view of God? Does your God condemn the innocent? Does your God impute guilt to the innocent? Does your God cause people to sin apart from personal choice? Or do you believe in the God of the Bible? It's appalling that such blasphemous heretical theologies of God have propagated throughout the history of post-Biblical Christianity. Yet they justify such heresies by misreading the Bible, not interpreting the Bible in light of God's character.

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources