Do you know who was Isaac Asimov? He was an American writer and biochemist, highly successful in the science and science fiction areas. If you have been able to watch movies about robots, you might recall the “three Laws of Robotics”. He is the father of those. But he was also an atheist. A quote from him says the following,
“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I’ve been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn’t have. Somehow, it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I’m a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally, I am an atheist. I don’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn’t that I don’t want to waste my time”
Isaac Asimov, Goodreads.
Interestingly, while he said that he did not want to waste his time, he spent a good part of it in writing two volumes of a book known as “Asimov’s Guide to the Bible”. Later in his life, in 1981, he combined them into a single 1296-page volume. In this book, he “explained” historical, geographical, political, and even biographical information about the sacred texts. He was a bookworm, indeed. He studied the Bible, and gave his opinion about it, but decided not to obey the word of God. Why? A simple word might answer this, pride.
Amos, the prophet, wrote hundreds of years before Asimov, the following,
“Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel”
Amos 4:12.
Asimov died in 1992. It has been almost 30 years since he realized that God exists, being in the same place than the rich man who asked Abraham for mercy, and to send Lazarus to him, to dip his finger and water and cool his tongue (Luke 16:23-24).
Asimov prepared himself to meet God, but in the wrong way. He cannot come back to let us know how torments look like, but our Lord Jesus Christ described it very well in the passages written by the inspired Luke. This text is known as “The Rich Man and Lazarus” (Luke 16:19-31).
According to that text, Abraham told to the rich man, just after being asked by the rich man to send Lazarus to talk with the rich man’s brethren and prevent them from the horrendous experience that he was (and is still) living at that moment, that hey had Moses and the prophets (the Old Testament writings which were the law at that moment) and they did not hear them, how they will hear that poor beggar who was also ignored by them while he was alive. Today, we are under a New Covenant, as Jesus died in the cross, paying a huge price, that no one else can pay, for His church, and allowing us the opportunity to be forgiven of our sins, being separated from the world, to serve Him and His Father, by our obedience to the Gospel.
Today, my dear friend who is reading this, you are still alive. You are not yet in torments. You might think that life is hard on you but certainly is not eternity in torments, yet. Abraham told the rich man to remember how during his life he received good things, but Lazarus did not, but now Lazarus is comforted. Since you are alive, you are still able to prepare to meet God, in a good way, in the right way, in the way He has revealed to all humanity through the Scriptures, which are His Word (2 Timothy 3:16; John 17:17).
It might be the case that you already heard the Gospel (Romans 10:17), believed that God exists and rewards those who diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6), that you repented, which involves a change of mind, (Acts 17:30), and confessed, which is saying the same thing, just as Peter and the eunuch did, that you believe that Jesus is indeed the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 16:16; Acts 8:37), and therefore, did as those in Pentecost who heard Peter preaching about Jesus, and being pricked in their hearts, asked what they should do, receiving the inspired answer to that question, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38), having about three thousand of them baptized for this reason, as ordered and authorized by our Lord, and after that, our Lord gladly added them to His church (Acts 2:41, 47).
If you did all of that, you are a Christian, a son of God, indeed. Your life does no longer belongs to you or Satan, but God. You committed to serving God when you came out of that water, from that day onwards. You are not the old you, you are a new creature, which debt was paid by Christ, so you belong to Him know.
If you did all of that, as this humble servant also did, then that means that you are my brother or my sister. We are walking together on our way to Heaven. Because I love you, I want to be with you in Heaven. You can help me to get there, in the same way, that I can help you too. It is for this simple reasoning that I want to tell you, with the love of the Lord,
“Do not become a bookworm of the Bible if you are not willing to be a doer of the Word.”
Asimov was a bookworm, studied the Bible, but He is not in Hades waiting to go to Heaven, but to go to Hell, that lake of fire prepared for Satan, his angels, and his servants (Matthew 25:41). Our Lord revealed to the beloved disciple that those in that place will be “tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).
James, the half brother of Jesus in the blood, but his servant and brother in the faith, wrote the following,
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed”
James 1:22-25.
Lots of people today, and many of us might be included in that group, read the Bible, study it, memorize it, and quote it, but are not living according to it. Jesus said “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
Do you realize the value of your soul? It is important to God, to Jesus, to the apostles who went through all the world, preaching, baptizing, and teaching. It is important to all those faithful men who departed before us and dedicated their lives to do the work of the Lord. It is important to your brother and sisters, if you are already a Christian, and to your friends and relatives who are Christians and wants you to be part of the most wonderful family you will ever meet, the family of God, if you are not a part of it yet. It is important to this servant, who decided to write to you about this.
If you are my brother or sister, in Christ, please know how much I love you and how much I want to encourage you to live the Christian life, not only to know it, or talk about it but to be a true Christian. If you are not a Christian yet, because you have not obeyed the Gospel yet, what are you waiting for? If you have questions, every Christian who knows you will be more than glad to study the word of God with you and clarify your doubts. This is part of the commitment we did agree with our Lord when we obeyed the Gospel.
This writer wants to finish this article, quoting one more verse of the Bible, one that, in my opinion, summarizes what has been discussed through this article, one that is my favorite passage of the Scriptures, and it is Colossians 3:17,
“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
Let us not be just bookworms or hearers of the Word, but the doers that serve God and are thankful to Him, by submitting ourselves to His Will, which is beautifully revealed to all of us, through His Word.
May God bless you richly today and always.