Instead Of

- In The Beginning God.

Genesis 1:1 (CSB)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

- There Isn’t Enough Evidence

Ive heard it said, that if you can believe this first opening line in scripture, the rest should be no problem to you.

It appears at this point of the opening line of Scripture, we are faced with three choices here.

We can choose to believe this and explore the rest that this book has to say,

We can pick and choose what we DO believe in and discard the rest we DON’T believe in.

Or, we can choose NOT to believe this and completely discard the rest of what this book has to say.

The famous twentieth-century British philosopher and atheist Bertrand Russell was once asked what he would say to explain his atheism if he were to confront God after his death. Russell's famous reply was: “Not enough evidence, God! Not enough evidence.”

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion , pp. 123 - 156

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2008

From his point of view, he blamed the reason for his not being able to accept the scripture was because of a lack of evidence.

In the book of Genesis, which means the "The origin, or beginning.” (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genesis),

- The First Moral Choice

We are introduced the first couple, created by the very hand of God.

The first woman, Eve by name, was created out of the rib of the first man, Adam.

We are told that she was the first to confront this moral choice,

By choice, I mean, whether or no to believe in the WORD of God.

Genesis 3:1–6 (CSB)

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

4 “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

When faced with the decision to believe in the Word of God, she demonstrated that the choice we humans face

on whether or not to believe in the Word of God, does not actually invoke the question of evidence.

The choice was rather a matter of the heart and the mind.

Evidence was all around her.

She could see with her own eyes.

Not to mention the fact that she was talking to an animal.

So, it was not a lack of evidence that caused her unbelief, it was a lack of obedience.

It was a matter of the heart, not the mind.

Evidence portrays a matter of convincing the MIND using logic.

In her MIND she was already convinced of God’s sovereignty.

In her MIND there was no question on the Truth of God’s existence.

She was already logically convinced of his reality, proving it wasn’t a lack of evidence.

It was a matter of the Heart.

She had a choice, between her will, and the will of God,

and she chose, Her will, INSTEAD of God’s will.

On December 18, 2011, the United States completed the pull out from Iraq.

In the arena of Political Science, there is a term used to describe a void in power.

It is, the term, “Power Vacuum.”

For instance, when the US pulled out of Iraq, there was a massive power void.

To which terrorists groups like Isis, filled the void,

In same sense, Ive heard it said, “If you remove God from His throne of Power, Man will try to fill His place on that throne.”

This is exactly what Eve did, the first woman, according to scripture.

She chose Her will INSTEAD of God’s will.

Today, when we are faced with moral choice, we too have to decide for ourselves.

If we don’t believe in the Word of God, then, we choose our will INSTEAD of God’s will.

- The Ten Commandments

Moses, was the chosen vessel by which God gave us the famous 10 Commandments.

I say famous because they were up until a generation ago,

Now in days, Im sure not many even know who Moses is, let alone what the 10 Commandments are.

Here they are:

You shall have no other gods before Me

You shall make no idols

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

Remember the Sabbath Day, keep it Holy

Honor your father and mother

You shall not murder

You shall not commit adultery

You shall not steal

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor

You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

So, Like the in the beginning of Genesis, if you can be obedient to the first one, the rest should be possible for you.

You shall have no other God’s before me!

But yet that is exactly what we do when we reject the evidence and choose our will INSTEAD of God’s.

If we continue on in Genesis we’ll come across the history of Cain and Able. Adam and Eve’s first two sons.

They were raised in a God fearing house, they understood the issue of the requirements of sacrifice.

Genesis 4:1–5 CSB

1 The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.” 2 She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord. 4 And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but he did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.

- Cain’s Insufficient Sacrifice

Again we see that the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

With Cain being faced with the same moral dilemma.

Cain understood for having been told no doubt by his parents what happened to them because of this disobedience.

Can’t you just imagine the dinner table talk.

With Adam sitting down exhausted at the table, wiping away sweat from his brows, as a dig at Eve’s terrible life changing decision to disobey God’s Word he says to the boys,

“Yea boys, we had it made, until, ‘you know who’ just had to know for herself what life could be like”

Anyway, Cain understood God’s will.

Yet, he figured, “Well, God will just have to be satisfied with the crops I produced. I mean, He’s got to appreciate all that I had to do to get these vegetables. After all, it was Him that cursed the ground for father and mother.

The evidence was there. All around him.

His very own mother and father no doubt must have filled him in on the requirements God had of them.

Yet, it was a decision made from the Heart, “I will not believe because it doesn’t suit me!”

So, Cain like his mother Eve chose their will, INSTEAD of God’s.

They took God from His throne, and placed themselves there INSTEAD of God.

It was not a matter of evidence, it was a matter of the heart.

I remember once I was at a family party.

And an uncle of mine came to me who was known at the time to make fun of Christian beliefs.

I knew I was a target being a preacher,

Naturally as expected, I seen him approaching, so I readied myself

He began asking me some ridiculous questions about Jesus and the Bible and Science etc.

I turned to him and said,

Uncle so and so, I have an answer for your question,

But, before I give it to you, let me ask, “If I prove my answer is true and I convince you of it, would you be willing to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”

Immediately I won the debate.

But sadly, I wasn’t able to give the answer to his question, because he decided the cost of the answer would require him to surrender to God’s will INSTEAD of his own.

You see, even in his dramatic case,

Although he Claimed his opposition to belief in God’s word was Evidence, when I offered to supply him the evidence,

He quickly lost interest in the debate and fell back to his comfortable position of his OWN belief INSTEAD of God’s Word for his life.

Thereby taking God off if his throne and putting himself there INSTEAD of God.

Breaking the even very first commandment.

- Atheists Reclassified As Anti-God

The prefix - Ant-

The word “Atheism” means a non-belief in God

that is because that prefix “A” is placed before the word.

A prefix meaning “without” or “not” when forming an adjective (such as amorphous, without form, or atypical, not typical), and “absence of” when forming a noun (such as arrhythmia, absence of rhythm). Before a vowel or h it becomes an- (as in anhydrous, anoxia).

I think they should be reclassified as ANTI-GOD

With the recent war that Israel is currently facing with another terrorist group, called Hamas,

The term, “anti-Semitism,” is being thrown around all over the news media.

Do you know what that means?

It means,

Anti-Semitism

“discrimination against or prejudice or hostility toward Jews.” according to Webster’s

: hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious, ethnic, or racial group

Have you heard the term, “Anti-Christ?”

Well according to the same dictionary source, Webster’s

Antichrist: one who denies or opposes Christ specifically : a great antagonist expected to fill the world with wickedness but to be conquered forever by Christ at his second coming.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-christ

“The New Unger’s Dictionary, says this about the prefix “Anti”

The Gk. preposition anti in composition sometimes denotes substitution, taking the place of another;Merrill Frederick Unger et al., The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988).

https://ref.ly/logosref/bk.$25Antichrist$5FPerson

Therefore, going by this explanation, they aren’t without “A” Belief in God, they are actually, matter of factly,

Removing the Word of God, despite the evidence, (using Logic) as their weapon against the belief in God,

In order to put their own Belief or lack thereof, as the superior decision making apparatus in their lives.

Thereby, removing God from His place in their lives and placing that crown, upon their own heads.

So it is with every moral decision you will every make in your life.

Is this your choice a matter of the heart or the mind?

Unfortunately for many, the heart win most of the time even to their detriment.

Going back to the original three option we face with belief in the opening line of scripture,

- You Are Without Excuse

In the Beginning God.

Those that chose to believe it, have no problem accepting the evidence as presented because they have chosen to allow God to mold their lives for them. Or rather, Allowing God to keep His place on the throne in their lives.

Those that pick and choose, also fall into the category of Still playing King of their own lives by rejecting some of the tenets. God doesn’t take second place. Thereby breaking the second commandment, “You shall have no other God.

Lastly, those that deny the evidence of God are left without excuse, so says the very same Words they chose to reject.

Romans 1:18–23 CSB

18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

You see, it’s about evidence, it’s not about the logic, its about not wanting there to be a God.

You are without excuse if you reject this evidence.

If you reject this evidence, its not logic that provokes you, its your wicked unrepentant heart.

Thomas Nagel

“I speak from experience, being strongly subject to this fear myself: I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and, naturally, hope that I’m right in my belief. It’s that I hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that. My guess is that this cosmic authority problem is not a rare condition and that it is responsible for much of the scientism and reductionism of our time. One of the tendencies it supports is the ludicrous overuse of evolutionary biology to explain everything about human life, including everything about the human mind …. This is a somewhat ridiculous situation …. [I]t is just as irrational to be influenced in one’s beliefs by the hope that God does not exist as by the hope that God does exist.” 1

https://creation.com/thomas-nagel-i-hope-there-is-no-god

- Jesus Died INSTEAD Of You.

In light of this Instead thing.

For a better understanding of this whole “Instead Of” thing,

Let’s look at it from another angle,

Hopefully it will shed some light on the need to choose God instead of yourself.

Whether or not you believe in any one of the aforementioned three choices

Whether you believe there is a God, who created everything just as His Word says, And even if you try to live everyday according to His Holy Will, On judgement day, you will still fall short of the Glory of God. Isaiah tells us that the best you can produce is like a filthy rag before God.

Whether you like some of the teaching of the Word but reject the ones you don’t agree with or approve of; You will fall short of the Glory of God

Whether you flat out reject God, and then after you die, you find out you were wrong, you will fall way short of the Glory of God.

So, to that end, all of us, you and me, the believer and the unbeliever will spend eternity in hell where all sinners belong.

That is unless.

Someone else goes INSTEAD of YOU!

Brothers and Sisters, that is good news,

Because the rest of God’s Holy Word says in the Bible,

That is if you accept it or not,

That God saw that you and I were headed to hell without salvation.

So, in order to prevent you and I from going to hell, to SAVE us from going to hell

He sent Jesus down to earth among us, so that HE, King Jesus, would die on that cross

INSTEAD OF YOU and I

You, according to His Holy Word, the wages of sin is Death.

But he Jesus loves you so much, he said, Step aside, I’ll go up there INSTEAD of YOU!

Now, all you have to do is decide whether or not, you are going to continue keeping that crown on your head,

Or are you going to give it back to God, who created you in the first place.

John 14:6 (CSB)

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Friend, You have a decision to make.