Why Do I Believe What I Believe?

Why Do I Believe What I Believe?

I have been engrossed in a deep dive into the Genesis account of creation for a few weeks now. While studying, I remembered a conversation I had with a dear friend, Bob. Bob was convinced that Adam and Eve ate of the fig tree when they sinned. Bob believes it was a fig tree because Adam and Eve sewed fig leaves together after they sinned to cover up their nakedness. When that conversation took place, I debated Bob from a secular perspective. I used my experience as an investigator to debate Bob. I told him that it could not possibly be a fig tree that they ate from. The reason is that when a criminal commits a crime, he/she will distance himself/herself from any and all evidence linking him/her to the crime. A bank robber would not grab a handful of deposit slips and tape them to himself as he fled the crime scene. Man’s proclivity is to conceal and deny. Granted, this was Adam’s first experience with sin, so he probably was not too advanced in covering his tracks. But if he immediately knew he was naked and his impulse was to hide from God, chances are he was smart enough to know not to cover himself with the evidence of the crime.

Now I know that this topic has no bearing on salvation and whatever you believe with regards to what fruit Adam and Eve ate will have no proliferation advantage toward kingdom advancement. However, I think this is a great topic to illustrate another point I want to make. I want to use this topic to demonstrate that most, if not all questions, you have about the Bible can be answered by the Bible. It is when man injects his opinion that we distance ourselves from the truth. And the more we hear something, the more valid it becomes to us. But that doesn’t make the error any less of an error. It is still wrong.

That is what I experienced when I was teaching our Bible Study family the book of Revelation for over a year and was not even close to teaching what the Word actually says. I studied for hundreds and hundreds of hours and still taught false doctrine because it was what I was taught. I knew that the Scriptures were not aligning with what I was teaching but I taught what I believed, nonetheless. Why did I do that? Because I thought that I was wrong for believing that the message that has been propagated in the church for hundreds of years had to be right because it has been taught for hundreds of years by scholars, pastors, and teachers that are much smarter and more educated than me. I believed more evidence existed to their doctrine, but I just hadn’t found it yet. Can you imagine the inner conflict I experienced? I was teaching people that I love and respect things that I knew contradicted Scripture because I refused to believe that the great heroes of the faith could be wrong. So, I manipulated the Scriptures to match what I was taught instead of letting the Word speak for itself. This went on for over a year.  Thank God for the Holy Spirit. He was showing me things in His Word that proved what I believed was wrong, but I just ignored Him. Until one day, He knew how conflicted I was, and He adamantly said to me, “Stop! Just stop. You know what you are teaching does not align with My Word. Quit teaching on Revelation until you are ready to teach what I am showing you in the Word.” So, I did. I told our group that the Holy Spirit directed me to quit teaching until I was willing to teach what the Word says and not what other people say the Word says. And that is what I did. I kept studying Revelation but quit teaching it.

That is not all the Holy Spirit said to me. He told me to forget what I believed and start over. He said look at it with fresh eyes and an open mind with no preconceived beliefs or opinions. He told me to study the words in the Word and not the words that I believed to be true that are not in the Word. He told me I was going to write a book. And that is where He lost my attention for a couple of months. I told Him He had the wrong guy. I am not an author, and I never wanted to be one. So, I continued to study Revelation but only to quinch my own appetite for the truth. But it did not come. I was more confused than ever. Until one Sunday when I heard the pastor say something that was consistent with conventional end-times teaching that I knew was inconsistent with the Scriptures. And sitting in service that day, I said yes to the Holy Spirt. I told Him if He would show me the truth, I would write about it. And that night it came. He opened up the Word to me like I had never seen it before. He started showing me where all the answers could be found in His Word. I couldn’t write fast enough, and this went on for weeks and weeks. Almost every question I asked Him, He showed me the answer in His Word. He has yet to answer every question, but I believe in His wisdom, He knows if I had all the answers I would quit seeking. And He is right. I remain hungry for the truth because I don’t have all of it. I liken it to Jesus teaching in parables. Look at what Matthew wrote.

Matthew 13:10-17; 10 And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" 11 He answered and said to them, "Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 "For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 "Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 "And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: 'Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, and seeing you will see and not perceive; 15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.' 16 "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 "for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

I know I took the long way around to make this point, but I want to emphasize that God gave all of us His Word, not just scholars, pastors and teachers. His intent was for all of us to study it.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Romans 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach):

So, ask yourself these questions. Why do I believe what I believe? Do I believe these things because I read them in God’s Word, or do I believe them because I was taught them by someone else? If your answer is that you were taught that way and so you have always believed that way, I want to encourage you to dive into God’s Word on your own. Challenge yourself to find the truth according to the Word and not man’s wisdom. You will be blessed. I am not guaranteeing that you will definitely discover errors in your current beliefs. However, you will certainly strengthen your beliefs and have the tools to explain what you believe and why you believe them. Equip yourself so that you never have to say, “I don’t know why I believe that way. It is just what I have always been taught.”

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

Now let’s demonstrate how even trivial knowledge can be answered in God’s perfect Word. (Mind you I am not insinuating that any dot or tittle is wasted in God’s Word. His Word is perfect and purposeful.) But with respect to advancing the kingdom, there are some questions we ask that have less value in their comprehension.

Were you taught in Sunday school class, church, or even in the secular world that Adam and Eve ate an apple? I know I did. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but it was not an apple and the Scriptures verify this. Let’s see what The WORD Says:

Genesis 1:29 And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.”

What do you see in that verse? I see “…every tree whose fruit yields seed…”. Do apples have seeds in them? Of course they do. In fact, fruits without seed can only be cultivated using genetic modification. However, in the Garden of Eden there was only two trees that did not contain seeds. Now let’s look at another verse:

Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now what do you see in this verse? I see “…the tree of life…” and “…the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The “the” means the only one, not multiple. Neither the tree of life nor the tree of the knowledge of good and evil bore fruit with seeds. God placed seeds in fruit so that those trees could be cultivated in other places. But God had no intention of planting more than one tree of life or more than one tree of the knowledge of good and evil, so He created them without seeds in the fruit. And we know that Scripture cannot in any way contradict Scripture. So using Scripture, I can announce the verdict that no man or woman, save Adam and Eve, has ever eaten the fruit that Adam and Eve took from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16-17; 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

We know Adam ate it and because he did, we are all born into sin. But Scripture says this also:

Genesis 3:22-24; 22 Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

So, using Scripture, I can say with 100% certainty that the fruit was not an apple nor has any person eaten the same kind of fruit that Adam and Eve took from that tree. The tree was in the middle of the garden. The tree does not have seed, so it could not naturally pollinate and reproduce. The garden is guarded by cherubim with a flaming sword. (I dare you to try to sneak past them. 😊)

I know this was a menial topic, but the intent of the blog was to encourage you to dive into the Word of God especially when you feel in your Spirit that what you have heard or been taught just doesn’t sit well. Remember, the Holy Spirit leads through peace. And it pleases God when you ask Him for wisdom and discernment. So, ask Him. Every time you open His Word, first pause and say, “Holy Spirit, I want to hear what You have to say to me. Please open my eyes, ears, and heart to receive the revelation of Your Word.”

Ephesians 1:15-21; 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

Hallelujah! Thank You Jesus!

I hope this helps. Jesus loves you!