Why so many opinions about God, religion, and what the truth is?
Mankind is so divided as to whether there is a God, and among those who believe in a God, who that God is. Even in Christianity, there are divisions. Feel free to google about how many denominations there are in the world. The list of different denominations and Christian groupings around the world is astounding.
One may assume that the vast majority believe that the truth is what the leadership of their denomination believes. But all the different denominations cannot be correct, because they differ.
Why so much division? Why so many points of contention? Has God failed to deliver His message to mankind with simplicity and unambiguousness, so that everyone understands it in the same way?
If that was God’s purpose, then obviously He has failed miserably.
I believe in the God that is written about in the Bible. I believe the original Holy Scriptures on which the Bible is founded are God’s revelation to mankind.
I accept that you, the reader of this, also believe that Holy Scripture is the inspired Word of God. But haven’t you (like me) wished that the Bible was written with different topics arranged alphabetically rather like an encyclopedia? I own a Topical Bible compiled by people. However, the Bible is not composed that way. Now it is a little bit here and a little bit there (cf. Isaiah 28:10, 13). And what was true at one given time does not necessarily apply in a different context or dispensation. The Bible, which is admittedly the top seller of all books, is not easily understandable.
I will never forget it. One day, when I was a child, I heard one of my uncles say, “No one can really understand the Bible.” It bothered me for many years. I thought to myself, surely it cannot be the case?
Scripture does not teach that God gives everyone the same truth. Scripture does not teach that this is His purpose.
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever [rather: for the duration of the eon] that we may do all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29).
By the way, even on translating the Scriptures there is no consensus.
So what do we get from Deut. 29:29?
There are things that God hides from some which He reveals to others.
God knows everything. He is sovereign, and He has the right to reveal what He wants to whomever and whenever He wants.
Evidently, in his lifetime, Job never knew the background and reason for all the adversity that befell him. Toward the end of the book, God answered him “out of the whilwind” (Job 38:1 ff.), but not once did God refer to the dialogue between God and Satan that gave rise to his misery.
Why not?
Well, it is also one of those hidden things. Nowhere in Scripture is this explained.
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter., but the glory of kings is to search out a matter (Prov 25:2).
Why is that? How can this be for the glory of God?
Knowledge can lead to pride and conceit. “Look how cute/smart I am… I know and understand these things, but these bunch of morons don’t have a clue what it’s all about.”
Knowledge puffs up ..(1 Cor 8:1)
Knowledge can be an obstacle on the path God has prepared for us. Because one great lesson we must learn is that without God we are weak and helpless. All glory goes to Him. No man has anything to boast of. All intellect, wisdom and insight were given by God. You are what you are by God’s grace.
But by the grace of God, I am what I am. So says Paul in 1 Cor. 15:10.
After his conversion, Paul was a humble person. He considered himself the least of all the apostles and the greatest sinner ever (1 Cor. 15:9; 1 Tim. 1:15) God revealed secrets to him that were given to no one else, except insofar as we can learn them from Paul’s letters (Eph. 3:3-4).
My experience is that the best Scripture interpreters and expositors are humble people.
Not only will God hide the truth, He will deliberately blind people, even a whole nation!
Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it; and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written:
God has given them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that they should not see
And ears that they should not hear, to this very day. (Rom. 11:7-8)
Jesus told parables, with hidden truths. He used parables to hide the mysteries of the kingdom of God from most of the hearers.
Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?” And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that, seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.” (Luke 8:9-10).
What then, is the person to do who is honestly and sincerely seeking the truth?
Do you go to the theologians with the most degrees — the top scholars? Well, they also differ among themselves. Most of them are part of the denomination in which they grew up. They received instruction from their teachers of the same stable. Within that grouping, it is passed down from generation to generation.
Should one look for some sign? Jesus said: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign….” (Matt. 12:39).
The seeker will find the truth with Jesus Christ.
Jesus then said to those Jews who believed Him: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But then He also added: “He who is of God hears God’s words;.therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:31-32, 47).
A sincere search for knowledge and insight about God Himself and His truth is the starting point (Prov 2:1-5), but even that is something God plants in that person. The Spirit of God guides the person in truth (John 16:13). He or she examines teachings and measures them by the Word of God (Acts 17:11). He or she learns how to divide the Word correctly – what is valid for the believer today, and what is not (2 Tim 2:15).
It is like a journey – there may be moments of revelation, but also times where the veil is lifted slowly and gradually, and times of seemingly no further unveiling.
It is the minority who find themselves on that path — the elect of God.
So, if it was not God’s intention to reveal all truth to every human being in this age, then He did not even attempt to do so, nor did He fail. God does not fail. That which He intends doing He will accomplish (Eph. 1:11).
It is God “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). That day when every person will know and bring honor to God will surely come.
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9).
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