Thursday, March 21, 2019

True or False with John Calvin

From book one, "The Knowledge of God the Creator"

True or false. We can never really seek him in earnest until we begin to despair of ourselves. 

True or false. Man never arrives at true self-knowledge before he has looked into the face of God and then come away to look at himself. Men are never really convinced of their own insignificance until they contrast themselves with God's majesty.True or false.

True or false. Until people feel that they owe everything to God, that they are protected by his fatherly care and that he is the Author of all their blessings, so that nothing should be sought apart from him, they will never submit to him voluntarily. Unless they put their complete happiness in his hands, they will never truly have their lives under his control. 
True or false. The pious mind does not create its own god, but looks only to the one true God. Nor does it imagine any trait it likes for him, but is happy to have him as the character which he reveals, always on guard against disobeying his Law and wandering arrogantly from the right way. 
True or false. The pious mind holds on to God as the avenger of sin as much as the rewarder of good, because he realizes that both are part of his glory: he reserves punishment for one and eternal life for the other. 
True or false. This is pure and true religion: it is confidence in God coupled with genuine fear. This fear comprises willing reverence and true worship as God has commanded. 
True or false. Vanity and pride are always present when men seek for God...so they do not think of God in his true character, but imagine him to be like their own random ideas. 
True or false. No religion is genuine that is not in accordance with truth.
True or false. Those whose inclinations oppose God's justice, fervently wish that his tribunal for the punishment of sin could be overthrown. In feeling like this, they are fighting God, because justice is one of his essential attributes. 
True or false. Hypocrites try, in various twisted ways, to make a show of being near God when they are in fact running away from him. 
True or false. Scripture crystallizes ideas about God which had been very confused, scatters the darkness and shows us the true God clearly. 
True or false. It is impossible for anyone to gain an atom of sound doctrine without being a disciple of Scripture. We take the first step towards true knowledge when we reverently take hold of the testimony God has graciously given about himself. 
True or false. If we sincerely long for true awareness of God we must look in God's Word where his character is described accurately and vividly. If we turn away from this, however fast we move, we shall never reach our goal because we are off course. 
True or false. These words will not be given acknowledgment in the hearts of men, until they are sealed by the inner witness of the Spirit. 
True or false. The Lord has intertwined the truth of his Word and his Spirit in such a way that we respect the Word when the Spirit illuminates it, enabling us to see God's face, and we welcome the Spirit with no risk of error, when we recognize him in his Word. These are the facts. God did not put his Word in front of men to make a sudden splash, intending to get rid of it the moment the Spirit arrived. He employed the same Spirit by whom He had given the Word, to complete his work by effectively confirming the Word. 
True or false. The work of the intellect is to make distinction between good and bad, and the function of the will is to choose and follow what the intellect says is good, rejecting what is bad.
True or false. Without reference to God's Providence we cannot understand the full force of what is meant by his being the Creator, however much we may seem to understand it with our minds and confess it with our mouths. 
True or false. The believers' comfort in trouble is that everything they endure is ordained and commanded by God and that they are in his hands. 
True or false. Everything is controlled by God's secret purpose, and nothing can happen except by his knowledge and will. 
True or false. When our lives are in turmoil so that we cannot think straight, we should still believe that God, in the pure light of his justice and wisdom, keeps our problems under his control and finds the right solution. 


© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible

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