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God has never forced anyone to obey Him. Likewise, Jesus Christ, His Son, never coerced anyone to serve Him. Rather, He invites men to follow Him: “Come unto me…” (Mat. 11:28). Men are at liberty to reject Him and His Word, but not without cost:
He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day (John 12:48).
Most men who reject Him do so by rejecting His Word (which are coordinates). Many of those who reject various parts of His Word seek to excuse doing so by denying what His Word clearly teaches. While one may reject His Word on this or that doctrine, it is dishonest to twist Scripture in an effort to deny what it says.
Consider some Bible doctrines men reject, but which they cannot honestly deny the Bible teaches:
- In their desire to harmonize Darwin’s atheistic origin theories with the Bible, “theistic evolutionists” engage in fanciful Bible interpretation. But the Bible still teaches that God created from nothing all things, including mankind (full-grown, not one-cell critters), in His own image—all in six 24-hour days (Gen. 1:31, Exo. 20:9–11; Isa. 40:26; Acts 17:24; Heb. 3:4). Men may reject the Bible doctrine of creation in 6 days, but they are dishonest to deny that it so teaches.
- In their efforts to sanitize and normalize the sin of homosexual behavior, engagers and sympathizers have stooped to ingenious Bible “exegesis.” It is a fact, however, that God incinerated Sodom and the nearby cities for this abomination (Gen. 13:13; 19:4–7; Lev. 18:2; cf Mat. 19:9; Rom. 1:26–28; Jude 7; et al.). Sodomy still identifies this infamous sin. Sodomites even have their own Bible, The Queen James Version, that erases the many condemnations of this sin. Men may reject the Bible’s denunciations of homosexual behavior, but they are dishonest to deny that it does so.
- In their efforts to promote the doctrine of “salvation by faith alone,” men are willing to twist and contort what Scripture manifestly declares relative to the point at which God grants forgiveness of sins/salvation—in the act of baptism in water, and not before. Men have invented all sorts of “loopholes” to negate this fact, but the doctrine nevertheless stands (Mark 16:16; John 3:5; Acts 2:38; 22:16; Rom. 6:3–4; Gal. 3:27; 1 Pet. 3:21; et al.). Men may reject the Bible doctrine that baptism is the consummating act wherein the sinner is forgiven, but they are dishonest to deny that the Bible so teaches. Those who reject the New Testament of Jesus thereby reject Him, which, if not repented of, will end in His rejecting them.
[Note: I wrote this article for and it appeared in the Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton, TX, July 24, 2015.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
