Is god A liar?

When I was a child, we pondered the same childish questions that others did before us. Since the scripture teaches all things are possible with God, we set out to discover something that was impossible for Him. Had we thought to search the scripture we would have found the answer in Hebrews 6:18 which tells us that it is impossible for God to lie.

Contrary to that proclamation, many Christians today hold a view which, in essence, makes God a liar. Are you among them?

You remember the story of Noah. God came to him and said, "And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." (Genesis 6:12-13); and He did.

Notice that He destroyed mankind with the earth, but the planet and a remnant still existed. From this we should understand that God was destroying the world order of things, not the physical realm, but I digress.

When the waters receded and Noah came out of the Ark, God made a covenant with him saying, "And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done." (Genesis 8:21)

God makes two promises here and Christians usually hold His word to be inviolate. However, in this passage they point to Genesis 9:11 where they say God clarifies what He means, "And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth." They say that God only promised not to destroy the earth by flood and that leaves destruction by fire open as a possibility.

What they misunderstand is that this is language of emphasis, not clarification. It is the kind of emphasis used when America's founders wrote the Constitution. Although the document only gave limited power to the federal government, some were concerned that without specific statements regarding some rights, there was a danger the government would exceed its authority. So, we have the Bill of Rights which emphasizes that the government has no authority to usurp certain rights.

They went so far as to include the ninth and tenth amendments which say that the Bill of Rights is not intended to be considered an exhaustive list of the people's rights and that any power not expressly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution remains under the authority of the states and the people.

We would be (and are) appalled when the very language intended to protect our rights is used to abrogate them. We should be equally concerned when God's clear word is rejected by the misuse of other scripture. Scripture must agree with itself and the only way the two passages above can agree is if the second one is understood to be emphasizing God's promise not to flood the world again. In no way does this negate the promise not to destroy the earth again.

God made it clear that the evil of man would never provoke Him to destroy His creation again. Judgment would certainly come but God would spare the planet His wrath.

Those who insist that there is a future time when God will destroy planet earth make God a liar. Scripture says, "He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever." (Psalm 104:5)  We must look for better understanding.

We see it by realizing that passages which talk about a future destruction of "heaven and earth" refer to the Old Covenant system, not the physical globe. God's word is true, "...neither will I again smite any more every thing living...."