1. What is knowing God? Can an understanding of Bible knowledge and theological theory be considered knowledge of God?
Relevant Words of God:
What does it mean to know God? It means that man knows God’s joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness; this is knowing God. You say that you have seen God, yet you do not understand God’s joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, you do not understand His disposition, nor do you understand His righteousness. You have no understanding of His mercifulness, and you do not know what He likes or what He loathes. This is not knowledge of God. If you know Him, understand Him, and are able to comprehend some of His will, then you can truly believe in Him, truly submit to Him, truly love Him, and truly worship Him. If you do not understand these things, then you are only following along, someone who just runs along and follows the crowd. That cannot be called true submission or true worship. How does true worship come about? There are none who truly know and see God who do not worship Him, who do not revere Him. They must all bow down and worship Him. At present, in the time of the work of God incarnate, the more understanding that people have of the essence of God’s divinity, of His disposition and of what He has and is, the more they treasure them and revere Him. Generally, less understanding means more carelessness, and that God is treated as human. If people really know God and see Him, they will tremble with fear. Why did John say, “He that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear”? Though the understanding in his heart was not very deep, he knew that God is awesome. How many people are able to revere God now? Without knowing His disposition, how could one revere Him? If people do not know the essence of Christ and do not understand the disposition of God, they are not able to truly worship the practical God. If people see only the ordinary and normal outward appearance of Christ and do not know His essence, it is easy for them to treat Christ as an ordinary man. They may adopt an irreverent attitude toward Him, can cheat Him, resist Him, disobey Him, and cast judgment on Him. They may think themselves as right and take His word and work as insignificant, harbor notions of God, and condemn and blaspheme Him. To resolve these issues one must know the essence of Christ, the divinity of Christ. This is the main aspect of knowing God; it is what all believers must achieve.
from “How to Know God Incarnate” in Records of Christ’s Talks Continue reading