Is it easy to follow God?

Is it easy to follow God? I think that depends on how much God you're actually following. I have observed a peculiar behavior from some, where the Bible is taken to a sieve, and any part of it that would make someone uncomfortable would be sifted out. What remains is a politically correct, albeit watered-down, version of God. A version of God that will tell you whatever you want to hear and that lives for you. A version of God that is butterflies and rainbows. A version of God that is easy to follow. Why are these thoughts peculiar? Because they are far from the truth that God wants us to have. If you remove parts of the Bible you are removing God's intentions for the world and for you. In fact, you're missing out on something.

The idea of being challenged by the Bible is not a new one. In fact, a man approached Jesus believing that he had it all together- he had kept all the commandments. Jesus then told the man something he didn't want to hear:

Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (Matthew 19:21 ESV)

What did this young, rich man do when he heard the Truth of God, straight out of the mouth of Christ? He left in sorrow, because he had so many possessions. Like this man, it is easy for us to get out of scripture only what seems relevant to ourselves, and to dismiss the rest as irrelevant, mistranslated, or metaphorical. The man in the verse thought that knowing God was only about keeping the Commandments, but it was quickly pointed out to him that there was more to it than that. He found out that in order to know the real God, not one just invented for his own reality, he must dig deeper. A God that has been sifted and watered-down is not the God of reality, not the God who promises eternal life, treasure and everlasting joy, but a false, shallow god. To have the true God means to take God in full, down to the core. It is imperative that we embrace all of God through the Scriptures and not hold back.

Can we really know God? More on this next post.

The Bible

This is the start of a four part series. We are starting with the following question:

How much of the bible do I need to accept in order to become a Christian?

In order to become a Christian you need to accept a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. There is not a set of certain propositions that you have to intellectually accept before you can become a Christian. “Christian” means “little Christ,” and it was a term used to describe some of the early disciples of Christ. A disciple of Christ is someone who follows Him, trusts Him, and continuously learns from Him how to live his/her life. To become a disciple of Christ, you simply have to accept HIM into your life, to put HIM above everything else in your life. No matter how much information you intellectually accept as true about Christ, you do not become a disciple until you accept HIM into your life, which means that it is entirely possible to believe that every word of the bible is true and still not be a disciple of Christ. And keep in mind that “accepting” Him also does not mean accepting an idea of Him that someone has created that is not grounded in the truth of the bible.

So where is the balance here? How do Christ and the bible fit together? The bible is entirely about Christ, from the beginning to the end. When you accept Christ into your life you get the entirety of the bible as well. The Christ that you have accepted is the same Christ that the bible extensively talks about. So how much of the bible do you “need” to accept in order to become a Christian? You “need” to accept Christ, and when you do you get the privilege of reading and accepting His words, the bible. Christ says himself that, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” If we accept Him then we will also listen to and accept what he has to say to us. But this poses a problem for many of us. What happens when we come across some of His words that we don’t like? What do we do when the bible says something that makes us feel uncomfortable? This will be addressed in the next post.