Do we start with God or with man?

From where do you draw your conclusions about God? Do we parrot what we hear a well know preacher say or do we draw our conclusions about who God is and what He is like from where God hath revealed Himself? See- Christianity is a religion of the heart. Thus, all that we believe about God ought to be believed. Not "believed" as giving intellectual assent. But "believed" as these truths ought to dwell in our hearts with a reliance upon God that this IS who He says He is. And from where do we draw these conclusions? From Holy writ. Surely many would say "we agree". But ask yourself- what you believe about God today, about who He is, what He is like, from whence do you draw this from? Have you read it for yourself ? When we sing that God is "Holy, Holy, Holy". Do we know what that means? Have we seen it in scripture? Have we experienced it in our own lives? So much of our Christianity is drawn from Christian t-shirts, slogans, rock bands. And it shouldn't be. Theology matters folks. And you are a theologian. Sure, we might not be great theologians, but we all have ideas about who God is and who He is not. But ask yourself, are these ideas true? This brings me to the heart of the matter.. do we start with God or do we distort the truth to make it accommodating. Accommodating to whom? Well, to you and others. See, what we believe about God will dictate how we live. It will affect how we do worship, how we treat others, what daily things we partake of or do not. Further, it will effect your gospel presentation. When presenting the gospel- do we distort it to be about some poor victim who has been mistreated by society and needs behavioral reform? My friends, that is NOT the gospel. Sure, it'll few the pews. But Moralism is not the gospel. But this is exactly what liberals tell us. That Christ did not die to satisfy the wrath of God for sins, but His death was due to his constant social activism for the poor! O' the heresy! While listening to a debate yesterday. I heard an atheist say that the New Testament is evil because it presents an idea of eternal punishment for those whom are sinners (amazing how an atheist sees hell in the New Testament but Rob Bell lives denying this very truth).

The atheist continued by saying that no evil any human does is worthy of eternal punishment. That this is injustice! He said: " The bible teaches the concept of original sin, how is it then that God can fault us for sin that is inherited?" Seems like a good point, no? That is if you start with man. But if you start with God and with ALL of scripture, it is very different: God is HOLY. And this self-existent, self-sufficient being, decided to create humans. He did this out of love, there was no need for Him to create anyone nor anything (God by definition is self-sufficient). And all throughout the human race- men have rebelled against this holy God. We have broken His law. And what does He do? He provides one who has kept His law for us to believe in. One who died at the hands of sinful men to appease His wrath. And what do men do? They scoff at this message. They reject His son. As a matter of fact- If men could, they would storm the gates of heaven, break through, and attempt to over throw God Himself. This is the biblical presentation. This is the God centered Gospel! And there is no other. So, who do you start with? God or man? 

1st Corinthians 1:18 

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

In Christ, Awretchsaved