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  • Writer's pictureBible Brian

God be less?


Atheists, ever the creative bunch, like to come up with a number of "clever" statements to give their case some emotional impact. One example I have encountered as often as I have had cereal for breakfast is to take the phrase "God bless" and turn it into "God be less".


The ironic thing is that this childish slogan, which turns the kindness of a Christian into an insult against them, is actually one of the most theologically accurate things an atheist troll can say. Ultimately, God is far too glorious for the human mind to comprehend. Indeed, history tells us that even when God shows up in diminished form, such as the whirlwind for Job, or the pillar for Israel, even the most stubborn of sinners tend to understand how small they are. When a man finally dies and God judges him, he will feel neither the need, nor even the ability, to speak against Him. Nevertheless, God can appear in diminished form.


See, the Bible describes a doctrine called the Incarnation. That is, the fullness of God became a perfectly normal human being (Colossians 2:9). We see throughout Scripture that Jesus Christ, though fully man, was also fully God. He had God's authority, He had God's power, yet, at least visibly, there was nothing god-like about Him. This is because the Bible tells us He "emptied Himself" (Philippians 2:5-8), a state from which He ultimately returned, being glorified with His former glory (John 17:5).


In other words, 2,000 years ago, God was, indeed, less. Of course, not in the sense an atheist troll means it, but in the sense that, though being God, He did not look, or behave, as God normally does. He had a body formed in the womb of a humble maidservant. He was a helpless baby boy, suckling on His mother's breast, just as any other child. He learned to walk, talk, and play, like any normal infant. He got sick, He ate and drank, He went to the toilet, and even experienced temptations, just like a man. And my friends, though He never committed a sin, so that He would be worthy of death, He nevertheless died, just like a man. In fact, the aforementioned verse in Philippians says He became obedient to death, even death on a cross. Tell me, who does God obey? Who has more authority than He does? Answer: No one. Yet Jesus, though God, became obedient to death. Why? Well for you, of course!


See, as humans, we are less than God. We are His mere image, designed to obey Him. When we fail to do so, that's called sin, and the just penalty is death. Yet God loves those who bear His image. Thus, killing us, though we justly deserve it, is far outside of His desires. His solution was to walk among us, live as we should have lived, die as we should die, and then, beyond all imagination, rise again so that we, likewise, might be able to rise. So yes, my atheist friends, God was indeed less. He was as low as you are so that you may become higher than you ought. You don't deserve eternal life. You don't even deserve the life you have now. None of us do. That's how low we really are. Yet, out of love for you, He became as low as we are, in order to bring us to His Kingdom. Therefore repent, confess the Lord Jesus, believe He rose, and you will be saved. After that, get baptised, and connect with a local, Bible-based Church, where you will be able to fellowship with your new brethren and grow in your new faith, until such a time when your life on Earth ends, and your life in Heaven begins.

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