Can we bribe God? For example, you have sinned, like you got something that is not yours and without permission, then you want something that only God can give. If you read the Bible after this, is it bribery?<\/p>\n\t
God cannot be bribed for two reasons: First, everything belongs to God. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the mountains, And the wild beasts of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness<\/em>” (Psalm 50:10-12). “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:4). Everything we think we own is actually on loan to us. “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out<\/em>” (I Timothy 6:7). There is nothing a person can give to God that wasn’t already God’s in the first place.<\/p>\n Second, God cannot sin. “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone<\/em>” (James 1:13). And the receiving of bribes is a sin because it perverts justice. “A wicked man accepts a bribe behind the back to pervert the ways of justice<\/em>” (Proverbs 17:23). Thus, even if it were possible to offer God something as a bribe, He would not accept it because accepting it would be a sin.<\/p>\n While God wants people saved (II Peter 3:9), God doesn’t need men. If no man were ever saved, God would continue to exist. The Bible is given to you as a gift from God to guide you into ways of righteousness. Whether you make use of that gift is up to you. God does offer aid to His followers, but it isn’t an exchange of so many righteous deeds to get an answer to a prayer or forgiveness of sin. God has freely given men a way out of sin. That is His gift. If you meet the conditions God has placed, you will receive the gift — not because God owes it to you. The gift was already given.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Can we bribe God? For example, you have sinned, like you got something that is not yours and without permission, then you want something that only God can give. If you read the Bible after this, is it bribery? Answer: God cannot be bribed for two reasons: First, everything belongs to God. “For every…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1290,90,47],"class_list":["post-17584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-bribes","tag-god","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-the-lord-will-have-his-share-even-if-he-has-to-take-the-young-ones\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":0},"title":"Where does it say the Lord will have His share, even if He has to take the young ones?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where does it say the Lord will have His share, even if He has to take the young ones? Answer: This statement and the idea that it presents are not found in the Bible. I can't even come up with a twisting of some passage to arrive at this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42064,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-know-if-the-thoughts-i-had-are-mine-or-from-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":1},"title":"How do I know if the thoughts I had are mine or from God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How do I know if the thoughts I had are mine or from God? How to know if God wants me to do something? Answer: \"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26210,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-force-me-to-live-with-autism-when-i-dont-want-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":2},"title":"Why did God force me to live with autism when I don’t want it?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: People say God does not force, but why did God force me to be alive? Even He saw my life before I was born, and God knew that I didn't want to be alive. Why was I born with autism? It is so hard to have autism. Why can't\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29845,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-are-slaves-to-god-then-arent-we-forced-to-obey-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":3},"title":"If we are slaves to God, then aren’t we forced to obey Him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: \"And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ\" (I Corinthians 7:22 NLT). Does this mean that if you were a slave\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40405,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-biblical-to-sow-seed-money-every-time-we-seek-something-from-god-as-some-prophets-and-pastors-claim\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":4},"title":"Is it biblical to sow seed (money) every time we seek something from God as some prophets and pastors claim?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it biblical to sow seed (money) every time we seek something from God as some prophets and pastors claim? Answer: First off we have a problem because there are no modern-day prophets. So we are dealing with people pretending to be something God doesn't approve of. See: Prophets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14336,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-god-to-decide-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":17584,"position":5},"title":"Who is God to decide my life?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: So who is God to decide and what mechanism do I have to protest that He is wrong? Being male is not enough to suggest He is all-knowing. Why put me on this earth with an overwhelming sense that I don't belong here. Why keep dragging me back to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}