Know God? Or, know of God?

Matt and I had the amazing opportunity to have a conversation with one of the members of our extended family last night. It was amazing because I had wanted to share what God requires of us, and, the Good News of having a Savior in Jesus Christ, with this person for the past six months but hadn't had a chance yet.

What continues to amaze me is when people tell me that they have a relationship with God or a 'higher power' that is personal but yet they don't know Jesus. I got a similar comment last night so I asked the person to tell me about this relationship they have and who God is. I got a strange look... So I said, "You have a personal relationship with your spouse and should be able to tell me about that relationship and who your spouse is, so, can you do the same thing regarding your relationship with God? What is that relationship like?" The answer was a more general knowing that a higher power exists because of seeing air, trees, birds, etc. (not exact words but the jist of it, I think).

So, this makes more sense to me as to why someone might say that. But, it's not accurate. Here is why... Let's say I was married to a movie star (sorry, Matt!) who was 'known' by many fans because of the popular movies he was in. Would a fan actually know my husband -or- would they just think they knew him (but instead just had an 'idol' or a fictitious version of my husband in their head)? Who would actually know my husband?... His wife? Or, a fan? Wouldn't the fan just know of him but not know him? I know this is a bad analogy but it is similiar with God... If you don't have a saving-relationship with God's Son Jesus Christ, you don't know God the Father (you just know of Him). *gasp* How can I be so bold?! Because the Bible says it straight out! And, if you don't trust the Bible... Keep reading (I've got something for you).

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;" (1 Timothy 2:5)

"Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also." (1 John 2:23)

"And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (1 John 5:11,12)

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." (John 3:18)

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3:36)

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6)

But, what if you don't trust the Bible as the Word of God? Think about this... Everything historical (as opposed to spiritual) in the Bible has never been proven inaccurate. Archaeologists used to dig to prove the Bible wrong - now they read the Bible to know where to dig (re-read that). Many, many people dislike the Bible with such a venomous hatred and yet nobody has ever been able to prove any part of the Bible as being in error. One more thing, most books nowadays have probably a handful of original transcripts. Homer's Iliad has the most at around 600, I think is the number I heard. Six-hundred... That is an amazingly high number. Get this, though... The Bible has thousands upon thousands (I think I recently heard around 24,000 but I could be wrong here). If every current Bible today were to be destroyed, we would still be able to re-create the entire Bible except for a few verses using original transcripts/manuscripts. Amazing, huh?

Note: I'm going off memory here (never a good thing with me!) so you might want to read A Case for Christ by Lee Strobel to check my facts. He was an investigative reporter and an atheist who went out to once-and-for-all prove the Bible as being false and instead became a follower of Jesus Christ.

-Sarah

Edit (from Lisa)...

The oldest manuscripts we haveof the New Testament are not originals but copies of the originals. Yournumbers of copies were close though - there are more than 5,000 Greek copies of the NT, over 10,000 of the Latin Vulgate and more than 25,000 copies of portions of the NT in existence today. That is overwhelmingly more than any other ancient literature.