I’ve been musing about the intentions of people that would say they know God, but are always trying to muddy the faith. Someone recently said to me, “There’s good and evil in God, otherwise you can’t justify all the wars in the Old Testament.”
Most Christians really don’t know the Word, only what others have told them about it. Knowing the Word is just like knowing God himself, as the Word and God are one according to John Chapter 1. Remember Jesus will tell those who thought they followed him, “I never knew you”.
Consider this scenario; A distressed couple has a boy and decides to give him up for adoption. A second child, a girl is born under better circumstances and they decide to raise her. The girl finds the boy later in life and they become friends. The girl tells the boy all about Mom and Dad, but the boy never gets to meet them. If the boy never had interaction with Mom and Dad, he would truly never know them personally, but would only know about them. And the the father could truthfully say, I never knew him even though he was my son.
Knowing God himself is an experience that truly transcends anything we could dream of knowing about him. Jesus and the Word are one. He is the living Word, and the word is the Light, and Jesus is Light. His words spoken today are also his living Word. So people with agendas outside of the living Light, will pollute the dialogue by saying things like “We only have a corrupted view of the original text”, or “All the wars in the Bible prove God is part evil”.
Such people want to bring their own justification for their shortcomings, and they’re willing to keep those shortcomings because they think it’s too hard to give up what’s already a part of them. Instead of asking God for a way to overcome them, they accept them and find ways of explaining them to others. A common justification is, “I’ve been treated badly therefore others should suffer.” Humility and brokenness before a compassionate God is the only key. Justification of your shortcomings will not develop any kind of relationship with the Father. This is why they can’t accept his Word as the final authority.
Only a true relationship with God can unravel the secrets of the difficult parts of the Bible, because it’s spiritually discerned, and God delights when we discover the many “Easter Eggs” hidden in scripture.
For the record, Psalm 92:15 removes any notion of evil in God.