How Do You Know?

”Jesus loves me,” the little children sing (and adults should as well.) “Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me,” they affirm over and over. That’s quite a claim to make, but how do they know?

We believe things generally for two reasons. Either we have observed empirical (experimentally determined, not theoretical) information, or we accept a report from an authoritative source. “I just feel it in my heart,” is not a sound basis for accepting something as fact.

The above is true of Christianity as well. There are said to be 2 billion Christians in the world in 2024. Being a Christian indicates that one has accepted: God as creator, all have sinned, Christ’s redemptive work on the cross for mankind, the church that belongs to Christ, eternal salvation or eternal condemnation, and many other concepts as being factual. That Christians have not observed any of these things empirically implies that they are relying on some authoritative source. Of course, they must. That source is the Bible.

Men have written many books concerning Christianity, but all of these have come along after the Bible as commentaries or studies of it. Without the Bible there cannot be Christianity. Without the Bible, none of the myriad books that men have written concerning Christianity could even be imagined, much less written. The Bible is a sine qua non of Christianity. (Notice, I said “a”, not “the.”)

The Bible is God’s word to mankind. It is His explanation of His creation work and His plans for that creation. The Bible is where we find out why we are here, what our purpose is while here and eternally. It is a book originating with God, using inspired human scribes, explaining everything we need to know about our existence, God’s love and His goals for us, and how He plans to accept those who are willing to submit to His will into Heaven to live eternally with Him. By “how He plans” I mean the manner that He has prescribed for us to go about our acceptance and participation in His will.

There is absolutely no other place for us to find any of this information. Were people somehow to have implanted in them the need to worship and obey God as Christians and at the same time have no access to a Bible they would be lost and floundering hopelessly. They would have no idea at all of what being a Christian was about, what it meant, how it was practiced, what it was for - they would be in worse shape than Sergeant Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes. “I know nothing!”

This is to say that the Bible is the reliable source for the Christian faith. It is whence Christian beliefs, Christian practices, Christian thoughts and attitudes and everything and anything that is Christian comes from. If you are a Christian, the Bible is your only source for everything that constitutes your faith. There is nothing else that has anything to offer, other than to comment on what the Bible has already offered. But a man’s comment on what God has said is not what God has said.

I say all this to make clear that the Bible should be the blueprint for our lives. In fact, the BIble is God’s blueprint for our lives. What it tells us to do, we should do. That from which it prohibits us, we should avoid. Our reason for doing or avoiding anything should be, “that is what the Bible says.” How does a little child know that Jesus loves them? “The BIble tells me so.” How does an adult know what is right and what is wrong, what is God’s preferred method of worship and what he rejects, what God approves of and what he disapproves of? The Bible tells us so.

We should reverence, respect and obey it, never slight it or change it. As it was In Deut. 4:2, “You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you,” so it is in Rev, 22:18-19, “For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the . . . Holy city . . .” When God begins His covenant with Israel of old and when He closes His message to His people of the new covenant he warns against changing the message he has given in the Bible.

But people without proper reverence for God’s word change it at will. Sometimes it’s done with great boldness. This statement has been made by people disrespecting the word of God, “I don’t care what the Bible says, I can feel in my heart what I need to do,” as they brazenly do what they want to do and ignore God’s commands. Others are more circumspectful, but no less disrespectful, saying, “I know God wants me to be happy,” as an excuse to engage in sinful activity.

How can one claim to be a Christian and not care what the only source for knowing anything about Christianity has to say? How can one claim to be a Christian and twist words of the Bible into statements not made in the Bible and use that as justification for violating what the Bible actually does say?

One, of many, examples of this disrespect is found in churches determining when to partake of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper in Luke 22:14-26 and indicated it would be a recurring observance with His followers. Paul recounts the gospel anecdotes as he describes the Lord’s Supper in 1 Cor. 11:23-29, again indicating that God’s people will do this on a recurring basis. In Acts 20:7, Luke states that the Lord’s Supper was observed on the first day of the week.

There are not many references to the Lord’s Supper in the New Testament, but those that occur make it clear that it was taken on the first day of the week, and on a recurring basis. The Bible pattern is of a weekly observance. Yet some churches do it monthly, some yearly, some whenever they decide. Some on days other than Sunday. How can we claim to be Christians and ignore the only source Christians have for determining Christian practices and replace Bible examples with our own time schedule?

Imagine that I invent a game, called Mygame, and it’s played with a racquet much like a tennis racquet on a field involving bases like a baseball field, and there are other rules and requirements as well. You say you will play Mygame, but instead of a racquet you use an instrument resembling a baseball bat, and play on a field like a football field. You may call it Mygame, but I don’t recognize it. I’m convinced you’re playing something else, maybe Yourgame.

The situation of Christians who disrespect God’s word, the Bible, is similar. Such “Christians” have changed God’s word and prescriptions to make it more pleasing to them. We may say we are doing Christianity, but God won’t recognize it as such. If God doesn’t recognize what we are doing as being Christianity as he has prescribed it for His church, that is because what we are doing is not Christianity, nor is it His church. I’m far from certain that there are actually 2 billion Christians in this world in 2024.

This lack of respect for God’s word, the Bible, will not end well for us. The Bible contains warnings not to deviate from what is written in it. It also contains the words of Jesus in Luke 6:46, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say?” This is a question we should take seriously. I think it was more rhetorical than questioning.

In Matt. 7:21-23, we have Jesus saying, “Not everyone that sayeth unto me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of my father Who is in Heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name have done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

What was the problem here? Jesus said they were playing Theirgame, not “Hisgame.” Jesus’ “game” is Christianity, and it’s not a game. It is serious business. The rules are found in the Bible and they are not to be trifled with. It is imperative that we study God’s word and make sure that the practices and thoughts that constitute the religion we are practicing are the very ones God prescribes in the Bible, because otherwise we are going to lose this “game.” How do we know? “The Bible tells me so.“