Since the birth of our fallen nature, humans have continued thirsting for equality with God, wanting to know or even control his thoughts. Humanity is rarely satisfied with the Word, God revealed to us in Christ. Instead we seek to comprehend the incomprehensible, the almighty God—and in the end we often replace him with something that we can understand.

My father once told me of an elderly lady who attended his church for many years, only to abandon her faith upon hearing a sermon that conflicted with her long-held belief that Jesus Christ was in fact an Englishman. While this may seem ridiculous to most Christians, it does raise an important question: How can a person within a church community hold beliefs that lie far from the truth revealed in God’s word?

To understand how this happens, we need to travel back to the birth of our fallen nature. Since that dark day, humans have continued thirsting for equality with God, wanting to know or even control his thoughts. Humanity is rarely satisfied with the Word, God revealed to us in Christ. Instead we seek to comprehend the incomprehensible, the almighty God—and in the end we often replace him with something that we can understand. This is how even those attending faithful churches come to adopt twisted, alternative versions of God’s truth, how a Jewish rabbi can lose his historical roots and become an Englishman. It’s the same problem that enables agenda-driven television networks to host guests who claim to represent mainstream Christianity whilst simultaneously rejecting the resurrection of Christ.

Christians are not exempt from this self-deceit. We are being transformed to be more Christ-like, but we still want to manipulate God into doing things our way, or being how we see fit. We frequently need to be dragged back into Job’s quivering boots to be confronted once again by the truth about our place before God as mere mortals:

Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? … I will question you, and you make it known to me… Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. (Job 38:1-3, 40:2)

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