“The only way to guard against false ideas about God is to fill our minds with true ideas about God. But thinking rightly about God doesn’t come naturally. Our natural inclination is to think wrongly about God. That is why we must look to Scripture—God’s Word—for guidance and authority on what He is like.”
(Tim Barnett – Stand To Reason) In this series, we’ve looked at the danger of false ideas about God. We’ve discussed how they originate and considered biblical examples. We’ve also taken note of one of the most influential sources of false ideas about God: the culture. …
To illustrate my point, I cited how the Israelites assumed that God must be like all of the other gods of the surrounding cultures. Consequently, they began sacrificing their children as burnt offerings (see Jeremiah 19:3–5).
The tragedy of the Israelites sacrificing their sons and daughters goes beyond their horrible actions. The people of Israel should have known that the Lordhates child sacrifice. But how would they know that? Well, they didn’t have to read God’s mind or get some personal, private message from God. They should have known it because it was written in their Law.
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. (Deuteronomy 12:31)
The problem is, the Israelites didn’t know their Bible. They had false ideas about God because they ignored the primary source about God.