John 3:16 and the Feminization of the Church! – Part #8

You Thought I Was Just Like You - “Rules That Have Redefined God”

By Richard Allen – June 22, 2026

In the last Blog of this series, I introduced ‘Rules for God.’ These rules are the result of  a faulty interpretation of John 3:16. I’m not saying that everyone of these rules has been publicly announced or ‘put into a confession of faith’ by specific churches – but I am saying that these Seven Rules have become part of our common culture and understanding of God in the West. As many theologians have said for the past two millennia – “Philosophy is the Handmaid of Theology.” I am not against the use of Philosophy, when rightly used. We get the doctrine of the “Trinity” from the proper application of the Biblical texts and Philosophical reasoning. But that reasoning must always come from a Biblical perspective. Once we allow ‘human reasoning’ to inject its ugly rationalism, we will stray from Biblical Truth very quickly.  These Seven Rules that the Church has shackled around God are all products of ‘human reasoning’ that came to ‘fruition’ during the Enlightenment! As we saw last week, God mocks fallen men in Psalm 50:20-22 saying: “You got the idea that I was just like you!”  This one verse explains why modern men and women created and embraced these ‘Seven Rules for God!’

Rule #1: God longs to be Freely Loved, which is only possible if men decide to Love Him - using their Free Will! There are so many things wrong with Rule #1 that it’s hard to know where to start. The first thing to point out is that this rule is never stated anywhere in Scripture. Quite to the contrary, Scripture teaches the “all-sufficiency and solitariness of God!” He didn’t need to create men or angelic beings to supply ‘friends so that He wouldn’t be lonely.’ This ‘needy god’ is Not the God of Scripture! In fact, one of God’s names, El Shaddai means: “The All-Sufficient One.”  When Paul introduced the God of Heaven to Pagan Greeks in Athens, he described God in this manner:

“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:24-25).

What’s most ridiculous with Rule #1 is, imagining we ‘fallen men and women with reprobate minds’ (Romans 1:28), are capable of loving God apart from God loving us first!  WE ARE SPIRITUALLY DEAD (1John 4:19). We men and women may be deceived about our depraved state, but God is Not (John 2:24-25)! Scripture is clear on man’s condition! Nowhere does the Bible teach the Doctrine of ‘Free Will,’ that our Will is immune to our depraved mind, heart and belly. We are Dead in our Sins and hate God (John 3:20; Ephesians 3:21; Romans 8:3). No matter how attractive this Rule is for a more “Feminized and Romantic” Gospel message, it’s just not true. God must begin His work in us First!

Rule #2: God’s Will is Well-Meaning, but Limited in Scope and Impotent of any real Power!  Again, this is an unbiblical concept. So far from God’s Will being Limited in Scope and Power, Scripture states that God is able to accomplish all He Wills!  If the God of the Bible “Isn’t willing that any should perish” (2 Peter 3:9), then No One Would Perish. But those who push the ‘Rules for God,’ are convinced that God has ‘self-limited’ His divine nature – so He can behave more like a man. Again, there just isn’t any Biblical support to impose this ‘Rule on God.’ Here’s just a sample of the many verses that teach that ‘whatever God wills – He does.’ 

“But He is unique and who can turn Him? And what His soul desires, that He does” (Job 23:13).

“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand, Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’ “ (Daniel 4:35).

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).

·  Rule #3: Man’s Will is Free, All-Powerful and Sovereign.  God cannot violate Man’s Sovereign Choice – we are Not Robots!  Talk about being exactly 180º opposite of Biblical teaching, Rule #3 makes ‘All-Mighty-Man’ sovereign and subjects God to His whims and desires. As I mentioned previously, Luther rightly taught that ‘Man’s Will is Not Free – But a Slave.’ So far from eing 'Alighty and Sovereign, our wills are 'Slaves to ur fallen natures!'

I can’t say it too strongly, Rule #3 is nothing more than a wishful thought that ‘Man’s Original Temptation was ratified into an unwritten law by God.’ I knew a very well-educated man who asked me whether it was possible that God had ‘self-limited,’ that is, gave us some of His Sovereignty to allow men a degree of sovereignty and free choice?  I told him that God is unchanging, and His Divine Attributes are immutable and not subject to the whims of fallen men. Men will never become ‘little gods,’ nor become ‘All-Powerful!’  Satan promised Eve in the garden: “You shall be like God, knowing and deciding for yourself ‘good and evil!’ ”   (Genesis 3:5). To hear some romantic theologians talk, God wants to be loved for himself and not for what He does. While this is a theme of many modern soap operas and harlequin romance novels, this reasoning is Not How God Thinks!  This is ‘fallen human wisdom’ at its worst.

What is most cruel about Rule #3 – according to these Bible Teachers – God cannot violate Man’s Sovereign Choice! That statement alone betrays their complete ignorance of Regeneration and God’s ‘routine intervention into the affairs of men. Man’s Sovereign Choices are Decisions made by a Will Enslaved By Sin! I guarantee you that every soul currently in Hell awaiting the Final Judgment – wishes that God had violated their Sovereign Choices – like the Rich Man talking to Father Abraham in Jesus’ parable in Luke 16, they wish God would send Lazarus or anyone back from the dead to warn their sinful family members. God intervened all throughout the Old Testament, appearing to some, displaying miracles to others. And while all fallen men are responsible for the choices they make through the ‘hardness of their hearts,’ if God didn’t ‘open the eyes of the blind, open the ears of the deaf – or loosen the tongues of the dumb’ by “drawing them by His Spirit” through Regeneration (John 6:44), no one would ever be Saved!  God is sovereign, man is enslaved by sinful Self-Will, from which he needs to be saved!

Rule #4: By human standards, God has to be Fair with everyone, so God’s Justice has to be qualified. If a man or woman has not heard and rejected the Gospel, they are not accountable!  But this is quite ridiculous to say in the least. First, Man, the rebellious sinner, has no right to judge what is fair – and we certainly have no right or standing as rebellious sinners to sit in judgment of God or His actions. But Secondly, the implications for the second part of Rule #4 are even more alarming: ‘Only after a man or woman has heard and rejected the Gospel can they be held accountable for their sin.’ I’ve even heard this position modified to teach that: ‘Jesus paid for all sin – except for the Sin of Unbelief. Therefore, it’s only the Sin of Unbelief that can be held against us. But this turns the whole New Testament on its head. The purpose of Jesus’ death wasn’t to make men condemnable, but to Save His Church – both Jew and Gentile – who are called by the Gospel into the “obedience that comes by faith” (Romans 1:5).

Rule #5: Jesus’ Death Atoned for everyone’s sins, yet He can only save those who make a Sovereign Choice to Believe – that is, those who let Him save them!  This puts all of the power and honor for Salvation on Man’s Choice.  If Jesus’ death atoned for those who will be damned just like His death atoned for those who will be Saved, then the real power, authority and honor is in Human Choice! Nowhere is this taught in Scripture. This false doctrine also implies that Jesus’ death was a mere potential, that 'forgiveness has been made available, ‘but not actually secured by Jesus’ Death and Resurrection!  Scripture plainly teaches that Jesus’ Saving work put our “sins as far away as the east is from the west” (Psalm 103:12). When Jesus said “It is finished” (Paid In Full), He wasn’t stating that Salvation by His Blood was a possibility.  A famous Puritan theologian, John Owen, makes the unanswerable argument in his book: “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ” – that Jesus accomplished a ‘definite atonement’ for t hose for whom He died. We can't have it both ways: Either Sin is finished, or it’s still waiting to be atoned for!

Rule #6: In the end, God Judges, Condemns and places most of mankind into the Lake of Fire – yet He Still Loves everyone!  Just like Rule #5, this Rule creates a major contradiction for God. If Jesus’ death paid for men’s sins, how can they still be held accountable? There isn’t a verse in Scripture which teaches that ‘Jesus atoned for some sins.’ If by His death and resurrection ‘Jesus paid it all,’ how is there still a debt owed by most of mankind?  How ironic, one of the words used in New Testament Theology to describe Jesus’ atonement, is the word ‘propitiation.’ This word literally means ‘a turning away of wrath.’ So how can Jesus’ sacrificial death – that God’s Rule Makers claim was accomplished for all, ‘turn away God’s righteous wrath and judgment against sin?’ Yet the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus will return “in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). Again, it must be asked: ‘How exactly does God Love those upon whom He will afflict eternal vengeance and wrath?’  Sadly, the pitiful answer the Rules for God crowd offers, is: ‘They wouldn’t let Him Save them!’

In my next Blog in this series, we’ll finish the Rules for God and ask: What do all these Rules have in common!

Soli Deo Gloria!