Be Like God?

At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there. They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” But the LORD came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” In that way, the LORD scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the LORD confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world. [Genesis 11.1-9]

Why should God care if nothing becomes impossible to mankind? 

More specifically, and in terms modern man understands well, what right does God have to prevent man from advancing? Now, there is a question! And, here is the answer: God created man for fellowship with Him. God did not create man to be a god unto himself. As "Creator" God had (and has) every right to do with His creation whatever He chooses.

God created man in His image, but we see that God is not so interested in man being "like" Him. Look back at the Garden of Eden:

Then the LORD God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made. [Genesis 3.22-23]

God specifically forbade Adam and Eve from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because it would make them like Him. So, it is not out of character for God to stop man (in Babel) from increasing his likeness to God in his accomplishments. Why? Because to be like God is to become independent of God.

This would explain why so many "intellectuals" today struggle with the concept of God and faith. In fact, Satan used this argument to persuade Adam and Eve to partake of the forbidden fruit. He appealed to their pride:

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’” “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.” [Genesis 3.1-5]

Knowledge makes one more like God. God however does not desire "likeness" in mankind, but obedience. Faith is defined in the Bible as the only way to please God. Faith is an act of obedience.

I have to share personal experience here because it serves as a sad warning. I have known well at least two people over the course of my life who were highly intelligent. At one point in their respective lives they were Christ followers - even involved in Christian ministry. Over the course of their "walk with God" they continued to search for more and deeper truth, but began to do so outside the Bible. They consumed knowledge from a myriad of books and writings. In time however, their respective views of God and the Bible changed. Their ever-increasing knowledge eventually led to their dismissal of God and the Bible. They did not set out to do this, but it happened. Last I heard of these two people, they were living full-blown ungodly lives apart from God and His Word.

The point of my story here is this: we must guard what God is doing in our lives. The deceiver of man's soul almost always uses knowledge to dilute man's faith and eventually pry him away from God.

Here's the deal: knowledge is not 'bad' per se. However, knowledge apart from God's Word (that eventually and predictably refutes God's Word) is a recipe for turning away from God. Again, knowledge is not bad, especially if it is based on the truth of the Bible, however, once knowledge treks off into "understanding" outside and contradictory to what the Bible has already claimed, it becomes toxic to faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Intellectualism is not bad - it is just dangerous because the lines between truth and error are manipulated by a real deceiver. All it takes is one well-placed "intellectual" question, usually laced with partial truth, to elicit doubts about God and His plan for mankind. I am not making this up - that is what Satan did with Adam and Eve and it is the same thing he tried to do with Jesus. The difference between Adam and Eve and Jesus is found in which party responded to the appeal of pride and which party did not (but instead responded with pure unadulterated Word of God).

My appeal here is not that we purpose to be ignorant. My appeal is that we find wisdom and truth from the source of wisdom and truth - God's Word. We cannot help but encounter various intellectual ideas along the way, but we must test every idea and thought with solid Biblical truth.

Father, help me to grow in wisdom and truth as provided from Your Word. Help me to recognize the subtle suggestions of Satan - masked as intellectualism - whose partial truths lead to destruction and faithlessness.