What's the Difference?

What's the difference between believing that God exists and believing in God?
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That is an important distinction.  Knowing the answer, in fact, is a matter of life and death ~ eternal life and eternal death!

Earlier this week I posted the following as my FaceBook status:

Pascal's Gambit ~ in short, God is or He is not. One has nothing to lose and everything to gain by living a life that assumes He is. Conversely, one has nothing to gain and everything to lose by assuming that He is not.

It received some attention from some friends whom I know to be my brothers or sisters in Christ, and from some whose spiritual status is unknown to me.  So, I thought it might be appropriate to explain what living a life that assumes He is is.

I appreciate the irrefutable logic that Pascal's Gambit uses to answer the atheist or agnostic point of view.  What I do not like about Pascal's Gambit is the implication that one ought to believe in the existence of God merely to "play it safe" ~ as a "just in case" contingency plan.  God is not a contingency plan.  Assuming that He is is only the beginning.  It is prerequisite to accepting what really matters.  Even behaving as though He is is pointless in and of itself.

First, let's look at a few of the notable figures who believe that God is.

Satan not only believes in God, he has access to God's throne.

The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." Job 1:7

But even though he was created by God, Satan certainly is not a child of God.  And his ultimate demise will be eternal punishment.

And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Rev 20:10

Demons are angels, the very servants of God, who followed Satan. Of course they believe in God, but they are not God's children. In fact, they exist in fear because they know what will become of them.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder. Jam 2:19

Cain, the eldest son of Adam and Eve and the first murderer in recorded history, demonstrated his belief by making a sacrifice to God.

And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.  Gen 4:3

But we know that Cain became angry because God rejected his non-blood sacrifice and took his anger out on his younger brother Abel by killing him.

Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 1Jo 3:12

So far we have an infamous lot who believe in God.  And none of them are children of God.

The Pharisees were the Jewish religious leaders at the time of Christ.  They claimed not only to believe in God, but to be knowledgable teachers of God's Word.  But Jesus told them they were spirtually dead and compared them to tombs of rotting corpses.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Mat 23:27-28

The Pharisees were prideful, political, hypcrites with merely an appearance of religiousity.  They were not the children of God.  They acted like they believed in God, but it was just just a pretense ~ a sincere pretense, but a pretense nevertheless. 

What does God think of our actions (our works)?

All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. Isa. 64:6

Paul's letter to the Galatian Christians is quite clear.  In Gal. 2:16 he puts it in both the affirmative and the negative, saying (1) a man is not justified [absolved or let of the hook] by the works of the law, and (2) by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

So, if believing in the existence of God is of no benefit by itself and if behaving like I  believe that God exists is of no benefit either, what's left?

Believing in God.  Ah, there is the rub.  Believing in God is more than merely accepting his existence.  It is more than trying to please him with righteous behavior. 

Believing in God means accepting (1) your need for reconciliation with God and (2) God's plan of reconciliation for you.

My need for reconciliation with God

The book of Gensis explains that God created mankind in order to commune with him, to love him and to be loved.  Mankind's love for God was demonstrated through obedience to Him.  When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they ruined the special relationship they had with Him ~ for themselves and all of those who would come after them.  Their children, their childrens' children and every succeeding generation was born out of fellowship with God and with a natural inclination to sin, that is, to serve and please ourselves rather than God.

God has told us in His Word that we are all sinners.

The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psa. 14:2-3

There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins. Ecc. 7:20

[F]for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  Rom. 3:23

. . . death came to all men, because all sinned. Rom. 5:12b

God has also told us what will happen to sinners who reject His plan of reconciliation.

Rom 5:12a Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin . . . 

For the wages [payment] of sin is death . . . Rom. 6:23

Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels . . . Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.  Mat. 25:41, 46

Note that "death" is not the cesation of existence, but "eternal punishment."

Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.  If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:11-15

Do you want to be judged "according to what [you have done]?  I sure don't.  I'm a sinner.  My righteous works are like filthy rags in God's sight.  I am corrupt.  I am not righteous.  I have fallen short of God's glory.


God's plan of reconciliation for you

Fortunately, God has a plan ~ a way for us to restore our relationship with him, avoid eternal damnation and spend eternity with Him.  And best of all, it's free.  You can't do anything to earn it or deserve it even if you tried.  You do nothing other than RSVP to God.  What's the plan?

The plan has been in place since mankind first ruined our relationship with God.  God told Satan

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.  Gen. 3:15

Jesus Christ is the offspring of woman (the virgin birth).  Satan succeeded in having Jesus crucified (struck his heel), but Christ ultimately defeated Satan by rising again from the dead.  It is by His shed blood on the cross that we are saved.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.  I Pet. 2:24

Jesus became our substitute on the cross.  He took our punishment for sin in our place because He loves us.

. . . . live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  Eph. 5:2

He reconciled us to God by his sacrifice, once and for all time.

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.  I Pet. 3:18

Why?  Because God loves us, miserable, rotten sinners that we are.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  John 3:16-17

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!  Rom. 5:8-9

So what are we supposed to do about it?

That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."   Rom. 10:9-11

When someone gives you a gift you say, "Thank you."  Salvation and eternity with God in heaven is just that far away.  You believe in God?  Good.  You want to act in such a way that pleases Him?  Good.  You want salvation to eternity with Him?  Just tell Him as much and thank Him for it.  Salvation is a free gift that Jesus already paid for on the cross.  All you need to do is to sincerely tell God that you accept His gift.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.  For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  Eph. 2:8-10

You see?  Salvation is a gift of grace.  Grace means receiving a reward that we don't deserve.  Faith is evidenced through our actions.  Faith doesn't come from within us, it is given to us by God.  Through the faith He gives and His excercise of grace we have the gift of salvation.  If He has given you the faith, what are you waiting for?  Accept the gift and tell Him, "Thank you."