There has to be an absolute truth, and that truth must be set by someone who is all-knowing. Who else is all-knowing but the Creator of the universe, without whom there would be nothing? He created the world - us included - and set the standards. We don't have to follow them, but it's futile to dispute, for we would be fighting against an all-powerful God and proclaiming that we - mere humans, a creation - know better than Him.
This is the definition of pride. Let us humble ourselves, admit that we know nothing, and trust in God rather than our own meager knowledge. Instead of trying to make the workings of the world bend to our own flawed logics and limited perspective, let us set our minds instead on knowing God more and allowing Him to reveal His truth instead of trying to redefine truth by what we think will work best.
Maybe when we create a universe, then maybe we can have a say in things. But until that happens, let us accept the truth and power of our omniscient and omnipotent God in our humility instead of trying to created an altered religion of our own.
This was written in response to the practice that some have of compromising Scripture and contorting Christianity to fit their own notions and expectations. Disputing God's ways and trying to form them into what we think is right, neglecting to respect that God's ways are much higher than ours and cannot fit into our little box. If we don't understand His ways, it does not mean that they're flawed or nonsensical - it just means our knowledge and "logic" is limited and we need greater truth revealed divinely to us.
Commonly I see the veracity of the Bible as well as its modern day application disputed, even within the realm of Christians. Also, there are some people who have accepted Jesus as their way to God, but will argue that He is not the only way to God and other people can find a way to God through a different path. That's us tampering with the clear definition of Christianity and trying to make it something human rather than something of God. Once again, it's pride. If every human had the right to make Christianity into what they want, based on what they think, then we'd have no way of truly knowing which definition was right. That's why there needs to be an absolute truth. And as I started out this blog by saying, God is the author of this absolute truth. He is clearly the only One who knows truth. You don't have to believe that, but if you don't, then you also have to concede your beliefs of God as a all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present God. You are entitled to believe whatever you want, but know then that you are not believing in the Christian God, but a God of your own creation. Which is idolatry by definition.
Here's the thing. The Bible is truly God's Word because of the effect of the Holy Spirit living inside of all believers, including the ones who wrote the Bible, and if you have experienced the Holy Spirit, then you know His ability to do things in the one whom He inhabits that are truly and only of God, not of that person. The Bible is correct in its current form because God is sovereign with His hands over everything, and He of course has the power to preserve His Word in the way He wants it. Even from human error, because is God not clearly much greater than man? To read the Bible by a "pick and choose" method in fear that some things might have been 'lost in translation' and to dismiss its complete value because it was written thousands of years ago shows both a disrespect and mistrust of God and His power and influence.
And Jesus is the only means of salvation (as in, the only path to God), because the point of salvation is to get us back in union with God (reconciliation), which we can't have in ourselves alone because we are sinners and God is holy (and thus in His perfect holiness can have nothing to do with sin or else He'd cease to be pure). So Jesus is the way to God by atoning for our sins by being perfect, allowing Him to take on our sins because He had no sin of His own that needed atoning for, and by accepting His sacrifice, we are made clean and redeemed from our sin, so that we can with God now, and there's no other way to attain that holiness that will reconcile us with God and make us worthy of His true presence, because no amount of work we do will make up for the sin that's there.
If you don't believe in the Gospel, then okay. But if you do and you truly know the Gospel, then you cannot say that the Gospel is just one of many ways to God, because that contradicts Jesus's sacrifice. If there is another way to be reconciled with God, then that renders Jesus's work on the cross completely pointless, and it wouldn't have been necessary to begin with.
These basic truths about God's sovereignty, the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, and the story of the Gospel demolish certain forms of "liberal" Christianity, which isn't really Christianity, but a rather perverted form of it in which man worships himself by trusting in his own judgment and setting the standard from his own mind instead of worshiping, trusting, and learning from God.
(Note: I don't mean 'liberal' as some evil, disgusting word like a lot of people do, but rather I'm just using it as a way to define a certain belief, so please don't take that as condemnation or an insult. I'm actually very liberal in my politics; just not in my Christianity.)
A person is perfectly entitled to pick and choose what they want to believe in, and they're entitled to base their beliefs on their own opinions and such, but it doesn't mean it's absolute truth and it certainly is not Christianity. It may be derived from Christianity and have its roots in Christianity, but true Christianity is defined by God, not by man. He gave us a definition, and if we add or take away from it, then we find ourselves dealing in something that is not of Him, but of ourselves.
Lastly, I saw this post on tumblr earlier which deals with a lot of the same themes I just blogged about. Check it out: http://abideinhislove.tumblr.com/post/35477452112/we-must-all-learn-to-hear-what-we-do-not-like
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