“Prove All Things”
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The word prove means to “put to the test.” Scientists and design engineers prove their finished products by testing them. Read I Thessalonians 5:21: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.”
The first thing that should be proven is the existence of the Creator God. The popular fallacy of evolution, which attempts to explain away the existence of an all-powerful Creator God, has made it difficult for some to completely dismiss lingering doubts. There exists an abundance of well-written literature proving that creation is the only explanation for the existence of life and the universe. One example is our own free booklet Does God Exist?
Creation must be proven by everyone in the Church of God. Through the careful reading of that literature, one will see it proven—and effectively will have proven it to himself—by weighing the overwhelming evidence now available.
God commands us to prove Him and His tithing laws: “Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:10).
This is an excellent example of putting something to the test. Many have done this and have discovered that God definitely keeps His part of the bargain.
Finally, consider the example of the Bereans in Acts 17:11: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.”
The Bereans were searching to prove that Paul was right. Their attitude was not one of anger and bitterness, but one of proving the truth. This is consistent with I Corinthians 13:6-7, which shows that love “rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things [in God’s Word], hopes all things, endures all things.”
To prove all things means to get to the truth of the matter—and to accept that truth with positive assurance. This is the foundation of hope and endurance.
Rule #4: God’s Word Never Contradicts Itself