JayJayDee
Avid JW Bible Student
So, is it possible? How could you hide a 40 ft tree out in the middle of a cleared field? Why would you want to?
If we are worshippers of the God of the Bible, and there is but one God who created human beings to worship just one way, how do we explain the many differing religious systems that exist in the world today? There are literally thousands of mainstream and not so mainstream religions that are practiced in the various nations of the world. Where did they all come from? And why does God allow them to compete with true worship?
One thing is very obvious....they cannot all be right, so how do we know which is the "right" way to worship the true God in amongst all the choices?
This is where the 40ft tree comes in. True Christian worship is the 40ft tree. Hard to miss in the middle of a cleared field, which is what it was in the first century. It stood alone, distinct from Judaism and from the false religions of the nations.
Such a huge tree would be very hard to hide...unless you had time up your sleeve and a good enough reason to make sure that the tree was very difficult to identify.
Did satan have the power, the time and the motivation to hide the tree? Of course he did! Why did God allow him? Because this usurper made the claim that he was the better choice of god and ruler; that a knowledge of evil would make us like God,
the only way to put the claim to rest was to allow him to BE that god and ruler for a specific period of time.
It is important to note that the Bible identifies only two beings in existence who desire our worship....one is the true God, the other is the usurper or pretender. He is known by many names in different cultures but he is satan the devil. He has built up a virtual empire of false worship over the centuries so that confusion reigns.
We know that the true God is more powerful so why did he allow the pretender to have the freedom to "hide the tree" and lead men astray?
The basis of the issue is the use and abuse of free will. God created man with the ability to choose what his God-given conscience dictates. It should have guided him to remain obedient to his Creator, who had never given him reason to doubt or mistrust him.
The tree had to be obscured from the view of those who are inherently spiritual, so the way to hide the tree was to plant a virtual forest of similar looking trees all around the original. In time, when the trees grew, it would become increasingly difficult to identify the original.
Christianity is outstanding in this regard. How many "Christian" trees exist? How can we hope to identify the original?
Our hearts are talking to God every day in the choices we make about what we accept as truth and what we will tolerate or justify when falsehood is brought to our attention. Once a person has knowledge of the truth, there can no longer be a plea of ignorance. There is a degree of innocence in ignorance, but there can be no such plea in full knowledge.
Are we standing at the edge of the forest looking at the whole thing, bewildered? Or are we in the middle of the forest marking off the fake trees in our search for the original?
If we are genuine Christian truth seekers, we will have examined every teaching of our chosen faith and made sure that it is actually a Bible teaching and not something introduced long ago and stretched to fit scripture. Jesus foretold that the devil would plant "weeds" in the same field that he had sown with true Christianity.
Many people are not looking for worship that suits God, but are more inclined to look for a system of worship that suits themselves. We are all free to make those choices and God is taking notes about the choices we make and more importantly, what motivates those choices.
There is one clear determining factor in the success of our search. Those whose hearts lead them to the truth will be the ones Jesus describes as like "young children". What are the qualities of young children that will lead people to the truth?
Children are meek, teachable, and they are without pre-conceived ideas to fight with what they take in as knowledge. Jesus said that those who are genuine truth seekers would be "drawn" by the Father to the teachings of his son. (John 6:44) God will reveal his truth to such ones and allow them to choose the road less traveled. (Matt 7:13,14)
The tree is there in the forest as it has always been. Whether we find it or not, is determined by what our heart desires and whom we choose as our guide.
Food for thought.
If we are worshippers of the God of the Bible, and there is but one God who created human beings to worship just one way, how do we explain the many differing religious systems that exist in the world today? There are literally thousands of mainstream and not so mainstream religions that are practiced in the various nations of the world. Where did they all come from? And why does God allow them to compete with true worship?
One thing is very obvious....they cannot all be right, so how do we know which is the "right" way to worship the true God in amongst all the choices?
This is where the 40ft tree comes in. True Christian worship is the 40ft tree. Hard to miss in the middle of a cleared field, which is what it was in the first century. It stood alone, distinct from Judaism and from the false religions of the nations.
Such a huge tree would be very hard to hide...unless you had time up your sleeve and a good enough reason to make sure that the tree was very difficult to identify.
Did satan have the power, the time and the motivation to hide the tree? Of course he did! Why did God allow him? Because this usurper made the claim that he was the better choice of god and ruler; that a knowledge of evil would make us like God,
the only way to put the claim to rest was to allow him to BE that god and ruler for a specific period of time.
It is important to note that the Bible identifies only two beings in existence who desire our worship....one is the true God, the other is the usurper or pretender. He is known by many names in different cultures but he is satan the devil. He has built up a virtual empire of false worship over the centuries so that confusion reigns.
We know that the true God is more powerful so why did he allow the pretender to have the freedom to "hide the tree" and lead men astray?
The basis of the issue is the use and abuse of free will. God created man with the ability to choose what his God-given conscience dictates. It should have guided him to remain obedient to his Creator, who had never given him reason to doubt or mistrust him.
The tree had to be obscured from the view of those who are inherently spiritual, so the way to hide the tree was to plant a virtual forest of similar looking trees all around the original. In time, when the trees grew, it would become increasingly difficult to identify the original.
Christianity is outstanding in this regard. How many "Christian" trees exist? How can we hope to identify the original?
Our hearts are talking to God every day in the choices we make about what we accept as truth and what we will tolerate or justify when falsehood is brought to our attention. Once a person has knowledge of the truth, there can no longer be a plea of ignorance. There is a degree of innocence in ignorance, but there can be no such plea in full knowledge.
Are we standing at the edge of the forest looking at the whole thing, bewildered? Or are we in the middle of the forest marking off the fake trees in our search for the original?
If we are genuine Christian truth seekers, we will have examined every teaching of our chosen faith and made sure that it is actually a Bible teaching and not something introduced long ago and stretched to fit scripture. Jesus foretold that the devil would plant "weeds" in the same field that he had sown with true Christianity.
Many people are not looking for worship that suits God, but are more inclined to look for a system of worship that suits themselves. We are all free to make those choices and God is taking notes about the choices we make and more importantly, what motivates those choices.
There is one clear determining factor in the success of our search. Those whose hearts lead them to the truth will be the ones Jesus describes as like "young children". What are the qualities of young children that will lead people to the truth?
Children are meek, teachable, and they are without pre-conceived ideas to fight with what they take in as knowledge. Jesus said that those who are genuine truth seekers would be "drawn" by the Father to the teachings of his son. (John 6:44) God will reveal his truth to such ones and allow them to choose the road less traveled. (Matt 7:13,14)
The tree is there in the forest as it has always been. Whether we find it or not, is determined by what our heart desires and whom we choose as our guide.
Food for thought.
