Visiting some friends recently, someone shared an idea that they had read. The idea was that we each had our own God/god and that He/he was not the same as the gods of other groups. I cringe when I hear explanations like these. This is a very humanistic approach to dealing with an uncomfortable reality. If we necessarily believe that there exist a variety of gods, we allow ourselves the freedom to choose the one that fits most comfortably and this god then becomes interchangeable with our moods, not unlike people. You need only recall divorce statistics here to be reminded of how fickle human nature is when it comes to commitment.
There is a greater risk, though, and that is that we may be fibbing to ourselves altogether, making up gods to fit our whim and fancy. We are certainly capable of extraordinary creative thought and actions. One need only watch movie circuits to see how many images human nature is capable of dreaming up that have no roots in reality. What if we were creating a god for ourselves in the same way that we are creating the images that entertain us in the movies? I want to invite you to step back into the Bible with me to find a basis for what we believe. Let's have a look at how God introduced Himself to mankind in those formative years, before we give ourselves up to the comfort of humanitarianism.
Let me first explain why I choose the Bible as compass here. All three groups mentioned in my heading, share the same history when it comes to the origin of their faith, namely the history as recorded in the Old Testament. This history has been interpreted differently, but essentially the historical record remains the same.We loose the Muslims first in this history. We all believe in the same God right up to the point of Abraham. Judaism and Christianity then follow God's promise through Isaac. Islam, the Muslim faith, splits away here and follows it through Ishmael, Abraham's son with Hagar. Jews and Christians believe that the redemption promise of the world was made to Abraham and Sarah, through Isaac. When Abraham is called, God informs him that he has been chosen by God to be the one through whom God intends to save the world. This is the essence of what it means to be the chosen nation; that you have been selected as a means to bring others to God, not as the only ones that God could ever love, or have any interest in. You can read this passage in Genesis 22: 15-18:
"The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time and said, “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.”
But does this make God the only god, or are there other gods beside Him? He answers this question very clearly in Isaiah 43:10-13.
"“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior. I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you; therefore you are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He; And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”"
There are plenty of other passages throughout the Bible repeating the same ideas as the two passages quoted above, but I choose to restrict myself to only these two, as I am sharing a brief thought with you, rather than a comprehensive study. I recommend quite strongly that you look the other passages up for yourself, or better yet, read the whole Bible from cover to cover so that you will get things in perspective, rather than being left with snippets out of context.
I want to move on to a following idea. If we all started out with the same God, who is to say who holds the truth now? To begin answering this question, I want to refer you to an incident in the history of Israel. This happened during the time of the kings. To place this in time context, I will run the kings down for you. We have had Saul appointed as the first king of Israel. His kingdom was torn away from him when he became disobedient to God and it was given to David. David's son, Solomon, followed him up as third king of Israel. The incident I want to talk about, occurs when Solomon's son, Rehoboam, succeeded him as king. He was very harsh with the people, exacting high taxes, etc. Jeroboam, a leader of the people, approached Rehoboam to request tax relief. The short story is that Rehoboam refused and the nation split into two camps. Those following Jeroboam, would henceforth be referred to as Israel, and those remaining true to the house of David, through Rehoboam, would take the name of the tribe of David, namely Judah (1 Kings 12).
What happens next is what is essential to our understanding of God. Jeroboam, from Israel, feared that his followers would become untrue to him in time, if they went to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, as God had instructed the people to do. He therefore set up two new places of worship in Bethel and Dan. You really should read this for yourself, as I can not put it any clearer than it is written in 1 Kings 12:26-33
"Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the house of David. If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, they will again give their allegiance to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to King Rehoboam.”
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the people,
“It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan. And this thing became a sin; the people came to worship the one at Bethel and went as far as Dan to worship the other. Jeroboam built shrines on high places and appointed priests from all sorts of people, even though they were not Levites. He instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival held in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar. This he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. And at Bethel he also installed priests at the high places he had made. On the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month of his own choosing, he offered sacrifices on the altar he had built at Bethel. So he instituted the festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to make offerings."Was this really so very wrong?" you may ask. After all, he did not tell them to pray to another god. They were all still worshiping the same God, only by different means, and on different days, and in different places, through alternative priests. But their hearts were in the right place, weren't they?
If you read on to the very first passages in the next chapter, you will see that God did not see it this way. He was not at all tolerant about this. Instead, he completely and utterly rejected Jeroboam, his offerings and his religious practices, disassociating Himself entirely from this false pretense of serving Him.
Why do I call it a false pretense? Did you note the word serving in the sentence? Jeroboam did not serve God. He haughtily lifted himself up before God and followed his own ideas and initiatives, never once stopping to consult with God. What is the modern humanitarian way of saying this? He was given a sharp mind and a clear political understanding and acted wisely according to the demands of his time. This is all true, except that he did not honour God, or what He wanted in any of the decisions he made and carried out. The simple word for this is disobedience. The origin for this disobedience is vanity. Vanity is a result of being too self-impressed, of valuing your own ideas above those of God. It does not matter how sound your reasoning may seem to yourself, if it is contrary to the teachings and instructions of God, it has no foundation and will not stand. Subject yourself and your ideas to God.
Submit, subject, humble yourself. These are not popular terms. We are told daily how we are to live contrary to these ideas if we hope to succeed. What do you achieve if you gain everything but loose God? Jesus asked this same question in Matthew 16:26
"And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?"
Okay, so talking about Jesus, let's follow through on our thoughts. We've seen that we all started out with the same God. We've seen that this God had very specific ideas about how He wanted to be served and that He would not budge from those precepts. If we now follow the history of Israel further, we see that this same God concluded that mankind was incapable of following laws obediently and that if they were to be saved, that He would have to take more drastic measures. His prophets started preparing the nations, to which the Israelite nation had been scattered, for the coming of His Son and the new redemption plan. This plan was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Jesus then came and taught in no uncertain terms what this new walk with God entailed. He laid down His own life as a final sacrifice for all sin, throughout the ages, ending for all times the ritual of sacrificing. But He did not stop there. He then overpowered and conquered all powers that set themselves up against God, conquering even death itself, so that we could have life in abundance, victoriously, and die only a physical death, but no longer a death separating us from God. Jesus rose from the grave, spent some time here to teach about the implications of that, and then poured out His Holy Spirit on all believers so that there will no longer be a separation from God, truly writing God's laws in the hearts of mankind.
Now let me assure you, there is no other God. There is only one God. But most crucial is the fact that this one and only God has said that there is only one way of reaching Him, and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ (John 14:6):
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
No one who approaches God through any other means, be it prophet, priest, or any other imaginary figure, will ever reach God.
Submit, subject, humble yourself and serve God!
Marietjie Uys (Miekie) is a published author. You can buy the books here:
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
You can purchase Designs By Miekie 1 here.
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