by Wayne Adkins

10. Forgive without demanding blood.

Life has it’s moments when people let you down. It happens. You can hold a grudge forever, forgive them and move on, or if you are the character known as God in the Bible you can demand blood. It doesn’t have to be the transgressors blood. God just needs for someone to bleed out before He can forgive you and move on. It could be a lamb, an ox or even His own son, but somebody’s gonna bleed. Hebrews 9:22 says ” And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.” You don’t have to kill anything to get my forgiveness. Just ask.

9. Be a part of something bigger than myself.

One of the best feelings in the world is being part of a successful team. Through cooperation and teamwork people can accomplish incredible things. No single person could have pulled off a trip to the moon, but as a unified team we can do amazing things. But here’s the thing; God hates this. Remember the tower of Babel? Genesis 11:6 says “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” When he saw people unified and working together to do whatever they imagined he confounded their language and scattered them all over the earth. (at least that’s how the Bible explains regional differences in language) For God there is nothing bigger than Himself and he doesn’t want or need anybody else’s help to do anything. (Your pastor may tell you differently when the offering plate comes around)

8. Make a real sacrifice.

I know, I know. You’ve been taught that God made the ultimate sacrifice in offering His son on the cross. But was it really? When a person sacrifices something, whether it is time, money, work or even their own life, they don’t get it back. It’s gone. That is the nature of a sacrifice. It is the defining characteristic of a sacrifice. So then what could God give that He cannot get back? Time? Infinity minus anything is still infinity. His son? His sons’ life? As I recall the story goes He got His son back in three days. In fact, He knew ahead of time He would. And what is infinity minus three days? Still infinity. Where was the sacrifice?

7. Agree to disagree.

I can get along with a lot of people who see the world differently than me. The reason is this ability people have to agree to disagree and still be agreeable. It’s a great trait. It’s just one that the God of the Bible does not possess. Oh sure, you have free will we are told, but if you don’t see things the way God does and fall in line you will be tortured forever in the pits of Hell. Free will isn’t free you know.

6. Be OK with you loving someone else more than me.

There are 7 billion people on this planet and the overwhelming majority of them love someone else more than me. It’s a good thing I’m OK with that. I guess I’m just not that needy. Not so with God. Exodus 34:14 says ” for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” His name is jealousy? Yeah, the God of the Bible has a real problem with this one.

5. Trust someone else.

Trust is placing yourself, or some part of yourself, at risk in the hands of another without knowing whether they will let you down or not. It’s a necessary part of relationships from simple business transactions to marriage. It’s just not something God could do. If you control everything and you know the ultimate outcome of everything, trust is neither necessary nor possible.

4. Handle rejection.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The God of the Bible has quite a history of unleashing His wrath on those who reject Him. From condemning all of mankind for the sins of one man to drowning almost every man, woman, child and animal on the planet. Admittedly, I’m not great at handling rejection, but I’ll probably just be a little passive aggressive until the awkward wears off. I won’t burn you mercilessly for all of eternity.

3. Eat shellfish.

I can go right now to a restaurant and sit down to a wonderful seafood buffet and be just fine with it. But apparently God has a real problem with things like shrimp, crab, lobster, clams and mussels. See Leviticus chapter 9. Sorry kids, no surf and turf in Heaven. It’s an abomination.

2. Love unconditionally.

Many would say that God does love unconditionally. I disagree. The Bible is basically a list of conditions set by God. Violate those conditions and you will be separated from God and punished for all eternity. As REO Speedwagon once said;

“That ain’t love, I believe you’ve got the wrong emotion,

That ain’t love, at least it doesn’t feel like love to me

As long as I say what you wanna hear

Do what you wanna do, be who you want me to be

You think that’s love, well baby that ain’t love to me”

Unconditional love requires forgiving. Demanding blood for that forgiveness is a condition God imposes. Unconditional love requires seeing that the relationship is bigger than the people who make it up. You must be willing to be a part of something bigger than yourself. Unconditional love demands real sacrifice. Relationships don’t work without give and take. Unconditional love requires looking past disagreement. Agreement is a condition that God imposes. Unconditional love is sometimes unrequited love. God doesn’t tolerate that. Unconditional love requires trust. Unconditional love survives rejection. Saying love me or suffer the consequences is not unconditional love.

1.Exist

Squares and circles are well defined two dimensional objects. There can be no such thing as a “square circle.” The things that make a square a square and a circle a circle cannot coexist in the same entity. Likewise, the God of the Bible is a well defined character with a specific list of attributes which cannot exist in the same entity. For a lengthy explanation of this idea visit How You Can Know There Is No God.