Something just never change. Sin found it’s way into man via this very simple strategy… Cast doubt on the Word of God. Genesis 3 (NLT) begins:

 

“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman,

“Did God really say…

you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” 2 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. 3 “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” 4 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. 5 “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

 The woman was convinced.

She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.”

Today, we find this strategy being applied in a million different variations.  Here are some I have heard recently.

  “I am sure a good God wouldn’t want you to be deprived…”  “If you read between the lines you can clearly see that this scripture means…”  “Oh no, the Lord would never expect me to live up to that expectation” “Oh, it couldn’t possibly mean that, I know God wants what will make me happy”  and of course the classic “It’s not like we need to take the Bible literally, it’s more of a parable”.  I would love anyone’s thoughts on other variations of this.

I am in the process of adopting a different approach… an obvious yet uncommon approach.   First, I study to find every scripture I can on the topic, ignoring none, even the ones that seem to contradict the others.    The point is to understand what the Bible says on the matter.  Get this straight in my head and on paper (the Bible itself says that the childlike can understand it so no intense interpretation should be required).    Once this is settled, I can now take any situation and see how it lines up with the Word.   The more common approach is to take our situation and find scripture that lines up with what we would like to do.  In fact, this is one of the easiest ways to be convinced that what the Bible clearly calls sin is fine, as we rarely linger on the scriptures that might contradict what we want the ok on.

The purpose of this line of thinking is to get you to rely on your own understanding, your own set of values and to put yourself in the judgement seat above God’s Word.  I always get a little bit nervous when someone starts telling me what God is like and how He thinks.   The Word is very clear, “His ways are higher than ours”, His thinking is beyond my grasp.  That little bit of doubt, unbelief and human understanding was the original sin.     Questioning, altering, adding or taking away from the Word.     It is one of the most prevalent ways we sidestep the Word.  What a victory we have already once we learn to recognize this one ancient tactic the enemy still regularly employs.

“Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. ⁷ Their worship is a farce,  for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’  ⁸ For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”  ⁹ Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.”

– Mark 7:6-9

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]”

– John 16:33