It Looks like the Bible says, but it REALLY Means…..

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:1-5

The idea we’re looking at today is so simple, if you can read it, you can understand it, but so “subtil” many people who study the Bible for a living fall for it. So, what’s going on and why should we care?

The Bible is full of things which don’t match what we think it should say. If people were making up a religion, they would have never written what God gave us in His Word.

There is no end to the parts of the Bible which get explained away or twisted to man’s ideas using this logic (odds are good most of us have fallen for at least one of them). Since this is a Creation site, we’re going to look at what the Bible says about how and when God made everything:

For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11

Do you find this verse hard to understand? If God wanted to tell us He made everything in less than a normal week, could He have said it more clearly? But there are people who are blind to what God Himself said out loud to the people at Mt. Sinai.

They’ll tell you seriously, “I know it looks like the Bible says God made everything in six days, but what it really means is God took billions of years and did things in an orderly way. God is just telling us a spiritual truth here. There’s no science or history involved.” And they really believe it.

Why? Because two hundred years ago (long before radiometric dating) some scientists started to go back to the old, godless idea that the earth has always been here. They refused to allow God to be all powerful. They explained away all the signs of Noah’s Flood as “slow, everyday changes” and started talking about rocks being “millions of years” old.

At the same time, some men studying the Bible started pushing the idea of it being written long afterwards by men who weren’t there rather than how the Bible says. A lot of pastors and Bible men decided to believe them instead of God’s word.

They were getting pushed on two sides to be “as gods,” to decide for themselves when God wasn’t trustworthy. This is never an easy temptation to resist. We want to be thought of as wise, and we trust our own brains. So they came up with a lot of ways to stretch the Bible into saying God made everything long before recorded history began.

Since then, teachers have been training pastors and Christians these twisted ideas. Many of these teachers love God dearly and are wonderful men and women. It is very hard to reject ideas given to you by someone you respect and admire.

Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. II Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible

Learning how to accurately understand and use the Bible is a long, hard process. If our focus ever slips off of what God thinks of us to what others will, there are sure to be problems.

Recognizing slippery ideas like these can help protect our minds as we put ourselves under God’s authority.

But even if we — or, for that matter, an angel from heaven! — were to announce to you some so-called “Good News” contrary to the Good News we did announce to you, let him be under a curse forever! Galatians 1:8 Complete Jewish Bible