Believing in God vs. Believing God

/ The Pastor

A parishioner of mine stopped by my office on Saturday morning.  He said he had heard something on the radio and wanted to share it with me — to give me something to think about.  So I offer this comment to you as something to think and/or talk about. 

The comment was heard on a secular radio station and he did not remember the exact context but a guy called in and said, "I don’t believe in God — I believe God."  I was intrigued when I heard that.  I am not sure if I have ever heard a comment like that before, but later I thought what a confession of faith.

My initial thoughts are these:

(1) Believing in God — This seems to mean that one basically believes in the concept of God at the very least.  You can say "I believe in God" but do you really follow God?  You can believe God exists but not follow him.  With a statement like this a person can give the impression they follow God without actually saying it.

(2) Believing God — This seems to mean that you not only believe in God but that you believe what God has to say.  You believe the Word that Jesus Christ has died for you and for me and has broken the bonds of death.  Believing God means action, because if you believe God has saved you through Jesus Christ, then why wouldn’t you want to tell others?

(3) Maybe I am reading to much into these two phrases —  Now that is a distinct possibility.  When people say "I believe in God" are they also saying that they believe God?  For some I believe this to be true, but not for all. 

(4) John 3:16 — "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that all who believe in Him may not perish but have everlasting life."  Now I am running into a contradiction.  Maybe saying "I believe IN God" is good enough.  Now I don’t know.  Maybe if your belief is IN God then that automatically means that you believe God.  But then again, sometimes I have a hard time believing that God forgives ALL my sins.  So maybe there is something more to this.

What are your thoughts?  Do you believe in God or do you believe God?  Is there a difference for you?  Am I reading too much into this?  What else would you add? 

This is just something to think about so I offer this to you.  God bless you and take care.  -edh-

2 thoughts on “Believing in God vs. Believing God”

  1. Several of random thoughts:

    What is the verse about even the devil (or bad spirits) believe. I’m being lazy in not looking that up.

    There is also a saving about having Jesus as your Lord which conveys much the same sentiment.

    Mostly I think that this is just a semantic difference in words, just as other groups give a slightly different definition to “when” a person is “saved.”

    And yet….compare your thoughts to what this age is called, ie the Information Age. There is more info about EVERYTHING. People have books, magazines, the internet. There is lots of good info out there on how to eat properly and exercise, for example, but there are more overweight and out of shape people than ever.

    So there is certainly a difference between “knowing about” and “following.”

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