This post was last updated on January 10, 2026

Day 316, Year 1

Godly Sincerity

“Simplicity and godly sincerity.” (2 Corinthians 1:12b NKJV)

God is sincere and truthful, but someone may disagree. For instance, in the Old Testament, God killed many sinners. But the New Testament emphasizes God’s love, and Jesus died on the cross in the place of all who believe in Him. Besides, the Bible mentions “God relented” several times. These incidents raise questions about how consistent He is in doing things, or why He didn’t do what He had said to be done. All of these can raise questions about God’s sincerity. My answers are as follows.

First, there are many killings in the Old Testament, some of which God did to punish sinners. But similar incidents are rare in the New Testament. According to certain Christians, this is to show that sins are extremely polluting, and that it is not enough to stop the spreading of sin unless the sinners die. Yet, in the New Testament, Jesus makes it clear that His death is a way to stop the spreading of sins among believers. In fact, God’s objective of preventing the spreading of sins is the same, but the ways demonstrated in the Old and New Testaments are different.

Second, the expression of God’s regret implies a change in God’s mind and actions. One of the famous examples is in the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. At that time, Jonah proclaimed God’s message of judgment to the city of Nineveh. Later, God finally reversed the judgment pronounced earlier because they repented. This example demonstrated that His principles are the same: those who persist in sinning will surely perish, but those who repent will have life. In fact, it is God’s actions that change according to human words and deeds. God’s principle of judging sinners remains the same.

Third, some people think that God is forcing people to believe in Jesus with the carrot and stick approach by the prophecies of heaven and hell. However, my understanding is the opposite, precisely because God is truly honest and wants to foretell humans the eternal end of our future. That’s why the Bible tells people in vivid pictures of how those who don’t believe in Him will be tormented forever. This is God’s sincerity, not for people to believe in Jesus out of fear, but to feel His love and trust in Him. If God wants to threaten people to believe in Him, He should repeat the eternal suffering of sinners in every chapter of the Bible. But that’s not the case. Some people feel that God is not sincere, either because they don’t know much about the Bible, or because they themselves are insincere or cunning, and thus have misunderstood the God of the Bible.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you think God’s objectives and principles for doing things as revealed in the Bible are the same as a whole? Are there any exceptions, as you know?

2) Have you had some negative experiences in the past that have caused you to be skeptical toward God? If so, how would you reinterpret those negative experiences with biblical principles?