Most educated people today think of God in extremely vague terms. Why?
Do you know how you can PROVE that God exists — PROVE that He is a REAL Spirit Personality?
RECENTLY, I participated in a very lively discussion of religious matters with a typical group of college professors. Most of them had PhD's and other degrees after their names. They taught in some of America's major universities and colleges. They belonged to different major Protestant denominations.
But they all had one thing very much in common. They did NOT believe in God as a real Spirit Personality who RULES this universe — and to whom men are RESPONSIBLE for their actions.
What College Professors Think
When asked about it, one PhD summed it up this way: "Oh, I believe in a god, but not in a 'father image' if that's what you mean."
They all agreed that, to them, God is NOT a person but more of an "essence of good" or, perhaps, just a name by which to revere those things which seem right and good and beautiful to human beings.
With a flustered, excited, rising inflection in his voice, a leader of the group kept saying: "You can't PROVE religion! You can't be SURE about religious matters. It's all a matter of FAITH. It's what you CHOOSE to believe, that's all!"
To the minds of these highly educated college professors, there is NO WAY OF KNOWING whether God exists as a person or a "Father." In like manner, there is no way of knowing whether one religion is RIGHT and another WRONG, or even whether one religion is intrinsically "better" than another.
In fact, when we briefly discussed one of the modern "mind science" cults which claims to incorporate the teachings of all the major religions into its own — yet DENIES the divinity and absolute AUTHORITY of Christ — some of these professing "Christian" educators said they could very EASILY accept the teachings of this "mind science" cult.
WHY?
Because — very frankly — the "mind science" theory appealed to their intellectual VANITY. It was VAGUE on many points. It did NOT speak with authority! It gave them a lot of room to "guess" and "postulate" ideas of their own — in short, to intellectually PLAY AT BEING GOD!
Yes, it appealed to their VANITY! For men RESENT the idea of a REAL GOD who has AUTHORITY over our lives and can COMMAND US TO OBEY HIS WILL!
Basis of the TRUTH
Atheists and agnostics quite often accuse Christians of "creating God in their own image." And in countless instances, this is absolutely true! In every nation, city, and family there are different human ideas of what God is like.
"My concept of God is a very personal and sacred thing to me," many people say. Yes, their own personal, human and in most instances, FALSE concept of God seems "sacred" to them.
But is it?
Can MAN sanctify anything — make anything sacred and holy? Or is this the prerogative of God ALONE?
All these questions can be answered IF you will prove to yourself and come to acknowledge the clear, consistent Biblical revelation of God — IF you will believe and obey Jesus' statement: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God" (Luke 4:4).
And the Bible can be absolutely PROVED to be the very Word of God! For literally DOZENS of times God — speaking in the first person — says: "Thus saith the Lord . . . ," and then proceeds to describe in SPECIFIC DETAIL the fate of huge cities and nations in a way that cannot possibly be misunderstood! Dozens of these SPECIFIC prophecies HAVE HAPPENED exactly as prophesied! Other dozens are now beginning to happen in EXACT DETAIL as described hundreds of years ago in the pages of your Bible!
This can be DEMONSTRATED!
IF you really seek the TRUE ANSWERS to the meaning of life, you need to exercise the intellectual honesty and spiritual COURAGE to absolutely PROVE this to yourself! You can do this by writing in for our free booklet — offered without any obligation whatsoever — "The Proof of The Bible." Send your letter to Mr. Armstrong immediately for this booklet before you forget it — accept the CHALLENGE — and study and check the references in this booklet so that you can absolutely PROVE and DEMONSTRATE by actual historical facts that there is a personal, living, all-powerful GOD who is speaking through the pages of the Bible!
Be Honest with God's Word
Once you have proved to yourself and fully believe that the Bible is the inspired revelation from God to man, you should FEAR to twist or pervert the natural intended meaning of Scripture, or to read into the Bible your own ideas and pet doctrines which are not actually contained therein.
The Holy Bible is the revealed Word of the Creator God. It is His message to man. It was written to show us the nature of God and HOW we should worship Him. Every Christian is commanded: "STUDY to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15).
The real problem is, most people NEVER get around to really STUDYING and UNDERSTANDING the Bible! They hear sermons, talks and ideas of MEN about the Bible. They read books and articles of MEN about the Bible. But they seldom compare these scrupulously with the Bible, and even less often do they study the Bible DIRECTLY themselves.
This is why there are so many HUMAN ideas of what God is like and how to worship Him. This is one reason why there are over four hundred different sects and denominations professing to be "Christian."
Unless you accept the Biblical revelation of God you have NO AUTHORITATIVE BASIS for any definite concept of your Creator. You are left in the DARKNESS of human superstition and imagination!
But with the Word of God as the firm BASIS of your convictions, you can discover the real nature of the true God. You can prove the TRUTH of that belief by clearly seeing the definite and specific statements of God's prophecies TAKING PLACE before your very eyes! And you will learn that God makes definite promises in the. Bible as well, and that He really ANSWERS PRAYER. You can put His way of life as revealed in the Bible to the test in your own life — and you will see that it brings definite and specific BLESSINGS.
This will give each day new meaning and purpose — and it will CHANGE your entire concept of life!
God Is Supreme RULER
In the Bible, God reveals Himself as the Supreme RULER over men and over nations.
Speaking to the intellectually vain and confused Greek philosophers of his day, the Apostle Paul revealed to them what the TRUE GOD is like: "God that made the world and things therein . . . and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the TIMES before appointed, and the BOUNDS of their habitation" (Acts 17:24-26).
It is God who has predetermined the rise and fall of great empires and nations. It is HE who intervenes in circumstances occasionally to guide the course of human events in accordance with His plan and His purpose which STANDS FIRM. He is a masculine God always pictured in the male gender and revealed as the ALMIGHTY — yet His perfect character is tempered with great love and mercy so that, "as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is His MERCY toward them that fear Him."
Now notice what the Bible says about God revealing Himself as Supreme RULER over men and nations.
Prior to the calling of Moses, God had permitted His chosen people, Israel, to be in captivity for many generations. But during the ministry of His servant Moses, God purposed to show forth His supreme POWER and RULERSHIP in freeing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. God began to bring great supernatural plagues upon Egypt until they should free Israel.
But Pharaoh refused to let Israel go because "the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let Israel go" (Ex. 9:35).
Then the Lord said to Moses: "So go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might show these my signs before him: And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I Am THE LORD" (Ex. 10:1-2).
God was demonstrating His ruling POWER so that men might know that He is Lord, Master, Supreme RULER over the affairs of this earth! He worked great miracles in the sight of Israel time and time again to teach them this lesson.
Generations later, God's people were again in captivity, this time in Babylon. Once again, God revealed Himself in the sight of men as Supreme RULER.
God abased the great King Nebuchadnezzar by causing him to become insane and to dwell among the wild beasts, "till he knew that the Most High God RULED in the kingdom of men, and that He appointeth over it whomsoever He will" (Dan. 5:21).