Building off the last few posts I think it is safe to say that man does not have a "sinful nature". Man is not intrinsically evil. Man was created in the image of God for good purpose. The notion that God created someone in His image to be evil means that God is evil. God is not evil, He is good. Man has chosen against his Creator to sin. It is the devil that is evil and desires to destroy us. We sometimes get talked into that destruction via the devil's deception and our choice to sin.
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label choice. Show all posts
Monday, January 11, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Your Heart Has Reins...Use Them!
I would like to think I am more a "glass half full" kind of gal. I tend to always give people the benefit of the doubt. Since I was a little girl I have longed to help people. Maybe all the time I spent in the refugee camps of Asia aided in that desire. If anything it gave me a keen sense of the suffering and injustice man has caused in this world.
Isn't it interesting than man though the ages has always had cause for justice and fighting the lack there of. A longing to be treated the way he deserves. To have rights to certain things and have freedom from others. This fight is unique to mankind. You don't see the family of the murdered antelope taking the lion that killed him to a court of justice. So what is it in mankind that rejoices at justice and sympathizes with injustice? It is because man above all other things in this creation has value. Mankind is the crown of God's creation. Man was created in the image of God, little lower than the angels. He was crated with a will, an intellect and with emotions. Animals do not have these to the capacity that man does if at all. Animals have instinct; man has a conscience. A notion of the difference between good and bad, just and unjust.
For the most part people think they are good people. More often than not you will hear the same words spoken at a funeral. "He was such a good man." "She really led a good life." In fact one of the most common responses man has in the face of suffering is "Why is this happening to me? I know that I am a good person." So if most non-Christians hold this believe why is it that we as Christians get so caught up in the all consuming wickedness of man's heart? The mantra for Christians such as these seems to be found in Jeremiah.
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it?" Jer. 17:9 KJV
Let's break this verse down into the original Hebrew. Using only the Hebrew words it looks like this "deceitful the heart all desperately who understands?" Well we did away with the word wicked pretty quickly didn't we. The word wicked is not there in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for desperately is anash meaning weak or sick. The Hebrew word for deceitful is aqob meaning crooked or polluted. It is from the root word aqab meaning take by the heel or tracked with footprints. People...who is the one that bruises the heel? Genesis 3:15 says the devil will strike at the heel but the seed of the woman {Jesus} will crush his head. The heart of man is sick and has been invaded by the footprints of the enemy. Wicked & deceitful is not the way God created you. Let's read on to the next verse.
"I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." Jer. 17:10
God know that the relentless attack of the enemy on the heart of man has caused deception. So we are to not only judge by the heart but by the reins as well. What are reins? Think in terms of a horse and rider. The reins are a means of restraint and guidance. The reins control which direction the horse is to go. In the same way man has reins to control his heart. I believe that is exactly what God is saying in these verses. The heart is easily deceived so keep it in check with the reins. He goes on to say that you will be held responsible for your deeds and whether you allowed your heart to be deceived or not. Here are some other verses that link the heart with the reins. Ps 7:9, Ps 16:7, Jer 11:20, Jer 20:12, Rev 2:23. A couple more with just reins Ps 16:7, Is 11:5. Be sure to look in the King James Version. The NIV and others have the Hebrew word kilyah (reins) mistranslated as heart, mind etc. How do we know this? Because the Hebrew word kilyah also means kidneys. Confused? Allow me to explain.
If you look at the blood sacrifices in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy you will see that the kidneys are specifically mentioned. The kidneys were the last or most inward part of the animal to be seen when preparing it for sacrifice. This is where we get "my inner most parts" in Psalm 139:13. The kidneys were also covered in fat making them most hidden. Because of this the ancient Hebrews believed that the kidneys were the seat of emotion.
What comes to mind when I say emotions? Feelings...happy, sad, love, hate, excitement, fear. Now also think of moral emotions or virtues. The cardinal virtues are known as prudence {discretion}, temperance {self-control}, fortitude {strength/courage} and finally justice. These put simply in the Bible are faith, hope and love. So it could be said the virtue is the control of your emotions. These are the reins to your heart.
What is interesting then is that the kidneys were specifically burned in the alter as sacrifice to God. A kind of "not my will but thy will be done" of the old testament. What it also tells us is that God built something into us to help guide our emotions. A sort of moral compass if you will. Kind of the benefit of the doubt I was talking about earlier. Now not to say there are not people who are deceived. Yes there are. But the key is exactly that...they are deceived not born wicked. Deception is a twisting of something away from the truth. So it is with the heart of man. But also note the deception is from the devil not from man himself.
If anything I hope this is an encouragement to you. To see that God did create man good. You don't have to be a slave to your emotions. He created you fool proof. He created you and everyone else to be free. God knew of the schemes of the devil when He created you. That is why He created us in a way to be able to resist! Just as we teach children how to be aware of their emotions we can do the same. Your choice along with the will of God is powerful. But you have to believe it first. The longer that we tell ourselves that we are just desperately wicked sinners the longer we stay broken and lost. Usually it leads to more sin! People who believe they are just sinners live as just sinners. People that believe they can be or are free by the power of God move in a much healthier direction.
Look guys the message of the gospel should never be "You horrible, worthless, wicked thing!" Many have fled from the church having been under that constant ridicule. If we few the lost this way we devalue who God created them to be. Thinking that people were desperately wicked was the attitude that spurred burning people at the stake in the middle ages. That was the mantra of the crusades and other holy wars "Kill the wretched wicked!" That is not the heart of God. I bet you the man on the street corner with the poster reading "ALL WICKED SINNERS DESERVE TO BURN IN HELL. REPENT OR DIE." has never brought anyone to Christ. If he has it was out of fear on behalf of the "sinner" and that is not God.
The lost are deceived and misguided. They are hurting people that need compassion and freedom from injustice. Young people that have been called worthless and rejected their whole lives. They don't need to hear that they are wicked or that there is no hope for them. We need to be building them up and putting them on the right track. Yes, we all have sinned. But the sin is gone before we even finish saying "God forgive me." We are the ones that choose to continue to carry it around. This will only prolong healing. When you sin repent quickly and move on.
God called us to shepherd the lost. Not to wait and see if they have a change of heart. We need to seek them out and show them before it is too late. Many proclaim that God must move on the heart of man before he can change. But God says that we Christians will be held responsible for how his flock was treated. Not the church the lost. I'd say we better be putting our pious sinner pity party to an end and start looking for some sheep.
"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock?...You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally...they were scattered and became food for wild animals...no one searched or looked for them. Therefore I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock." Ezekiel 34:2-10
Isn't it interesting than man though the ages has always had cause for justice and fighting the lack there of. A longing to be treated the way he deserves. To have rights to certain things and have freedom from others. This fight is unique to mankind. You don't see the family of the murdered antelope taking the lion that killed him to a court of justice. So what is it in mankind that rejoices at justice and sympathizes with injustice? It is because man above all other things in this creation has value. Mankind is the crown of God's creation. Man was created in the image of God, little lower than the angels. He was crated with a will, an intellect and with emotions. Animals do not have these to the capacity that man does if at all. Animals have instinct; man has a conscience. A notion of the difference between good and bad, just and unjust.
For the most part people think they are good people. More often than not you will hear the same words spoken at a funeral. "He was such a good man." "She really led a good life." In fact one of the most common responses man has in the face of suffering is "Why is this happening to me? I know that I am a good person." So if most non-Christians hold this believe why is it that we as Christians get so caught up in the all consuming wickedness of man's heart? The mantra for Christians such as these seems to be found in Jeremiah.
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it?" Jer. 17:9 KJV
Let's break this verse down into the original Hebrew. Using only the Hebrew words it looks like this "deceitful the heart all desperately who understands?" Well we did away with the word wicked pretty quickly didn't we. The word wicked is not there in the Hebrew. The Hebrew word for desperately is anash meaning weak or sick. The Hebrew word for deceitful is aqob meaning crooked or polluted. It is from the root word aqab meaning take by the heel or tracked with footprints. People...who is the one that bruises the heel? Genesis 3:15 says the devil will strike at the heel but the seed of the woman {Jesus} will crush his head. The heart of man is sick and has been invaded by the footprints of the enemy. Wicked & deceitful is not the way God created you. Let's read on to the next verse.
"I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings." Jer. 17:10
God know that the relentless attack of the enemy on the heart of man has caused deception. So we are to not only judge by the heart but by the reins as well. What are reins? Think in terms of a horse and rider. The reins are a means of restraint and guidance. The reins control which direction the horse is to go. In the same way man has reins to control his heart. I believe that is exactly what God is saying in these verses. The heart is easily deceived so keep it in check with the reins. He goes on to say that you will be held responsible for your deeds and whether you allowed your heart to be deceived or not. Here are some other verses that link the heart with the reins. Ps 7:9, Ps 16:7, Jer 11:20, Jer 20:12, Rev 2:23. A couple more with just reins Ps 16:7, Is 11:5. Be sure to look in the King James Version. The NIV and others have the Hebrew word kilyah (reins) mistranslated as heart, mind etc. How do we know this? Because the Hebrew word kilyah also means kidneys. Confused? Allow me to explain.
If you look at the blood sacrifices in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy you will see that the kidneys are specifically mentioned. The kidneys were the last or most inward part of the animal to be seen when preparing it for sacrifice. This is where we get "my inner most parts" in Psalm 139:13. The kidneys were also covered in fat making them most hidden. Because of this the ancient Hebrews believed that the kidneys were the seat of emotion.
What comes to mind when I say emotions? Feelings...happy, sad, love, hate, excitement, fear. Now also think of moral emotions or virtues. The cardinal virtues are known as prudence {discretion}, temperance {self-control}, fortitude {strength/courage} and finally justice. These put simply in the Bible are faith, hope and love. So it could be said the virtue is the control of your emotions. These are the reins to your heart.
What is interesting then is that the kidneys were specifically burned in the alter as sacrifice to God. A kind of "not my will but thy will be done" of the old testament. What it also tells us is that God built something into us to help guide our emotions. A sort of moral compass if you will. Kind of the benefit of the doubt I was talking about earlier. Now not to say there are not people who are deceived. Yes there are. But the key is exactly that...they are deceived not born wicked. Deception is a twisting of something away from the truth. So it is with the heart of man. But also note the deception is from the devil not from man himself.
If anything I hope this is an encouragement to you. To see that God did create man good. You don't have to be a slave to your emotions. He created you fool proof. He created you and everyone else to be free. God knew of the schemes of the devil when He created you. That is why He created us in a way to be able to resist! Just as we teach children how to be aware of their emotions we can do the same. Your choice along with the will of God is powerful. But you have to believe it first. The longer that we tell ourselves that we are just desperately wicked sinners the longer we stay broken and lost. Usually it leads to more sin! People who believe they are just sinners live as just sinners. People that believe they can be or are free by the power of God move in a much healthier direction.
Look guys the message of the gospel should never be "You horrible, worthless, wicked thing!" Many have fled from the church having been under that constant ridicule. If we few the lost this way we devalue who God created them to be. Thinking that people were desperately wicked was the attitude that spurred burning people at the stake in the middle ages. That was the mantra of the crusades and other holy wars "Kill the wretched wicked!" That is not the heart of God. I bet you the man on the street corner with the poster reading "ALL WICKED SINNERS DESERVE TO BURN IN HELL. REPENT OR DIE." has never brought anyone to Christ. If he has it was out of fear on behalf of the "sinner" and that is not God.
The lost are deceived and misguided. They are hurting people that need compassion and freedom from injustice. Young people that have been called worthless and rejected their whole lives. They don't need to hear that they are wicked or that there is no hope for them. We need to be building them up and putting them on the right track. Yes, we all have sinned. But the sin is gone before we even finish saying "God forgive me." We are the ones that choose to continue to carry it around. This will only prolong healing. When you sin repent quickly and move on.
God called us to shepherd the lost. Not to wait and see if they have a change of heart. We need to seek them out and show them before it is too late. Many proclaim that God must move on the heart of man before he can change. But God says that we Christians will be held responsible for how his flock was treated. Not the church the lost. I'd say we better be putting our pious sinner pity party to an end and start looking for some sheep.
"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock?...You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally...they were scattered and became food for wild animals...no one searched or looked for them. Therefore I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock." Ezekiel 34:2-10
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Deus Amor Vincit Omnia
It is difficult for man to think of the omnipotence of God as being immune to corruptibility. As the saying goes "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". There should be no doubt that God is all powerful. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in it. He is sovereign over all things. But does that mean He is in control of all things? As you may know from reading my blog I believe whole-heartily that God created all beings with freewill. Creating some thing without freewill would not be loving. God, along with His omnipotence is all-loving and there in lies His power.
"But the only thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore has power." Alan Patan
This quote describes the essence of God's omnipotence, that is love. Now be clear that God is love, but not all love is God. There are many things done in the name of "love" that are not of God. But God is always loving. With any being other than God, namely man or the devil, absolute power is dependent on those whom the power is over. Think of an earthly ruler. He is only as powerful as much as his subjects give him power. The same is true of the devil. So with man and the devil unless power is given to the power seeker he has no power.
There is fear then because of the subjectiveness of freewill that usually prompts the power seeker to use control of those he seeks power over. With God however His omnipotence is subjective to no one. That is why He was at liberty to create beings with freewill. His power is not limited by lack of worship. It is the lack of fear that gives foundation for relationship. A king who knows he can be usurped by no one is free to love all. It is the unconditional love of God that gives both power and freedom with no need for control. He loves us regardless if we love Him. Freewill does not in fringe on His omnipotence or sovereignty.
We must force our brains to understand that just because God is all-powerful doesn't mean that everything that happens is by His power. Because of the freewill of man and the devil many things happen outside the will of God. That is why sin is sin. Sin is choosing something outside the will of God. Anything that happens in this world that is not loving is not God!
"There's too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own freewill." Agatha Christie
God created man in His image. God's image is love. So when man chooses anything other than love he is sinning against the image of God. On the same note being that every man was created in the image of God; God desires that all mankind be reconciled unto Him. All of mankind was predestined to have relationship with God. All of mankind was predestined to partake of the grace and atonement of Jesus. All of mankind was predestined to have the freewill to choose otherwise.
"There are only two kinds of people in the end; those who say to God "Thy will be done", and those to whom God says "Thy will be done." CS Lewis
So God's power is not corruptible and is always loving. His power is not subjective to our worship but He does long to have relationship with us. Freewill permits us to choose that relationship or not. But make no mistake in the reason you were created. Why does someone create? Usually to share love and beauty. God created you to share His love and beauty. He did NOT create you to endure the pain and suffering of evil. This is where the passion of God's love for you demands His righteous justice.
"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." Martin Luther King
This is the relationship of love and justice that we see throughout the entire old testament. God longing to have relationship with His created. His created is rebelling against that love in sin. So God in His love, that is His power, battled against the sin that stood in the way of His love for His created. Now you may think God is starting to sound a little controlling. Well not really.
What you have to remember when we look at the Israelites in the old testament is that God had made a two way agreement with these people. The Israelites were chosen not because of their righteousness, but because of the other peoples wickedness. God was trying to show that relationship with Him(since He created you and loves you) was the only way to have fruitful rest and protection from the enemy. This was the agreement...choose God which is life or choose sin and evil that is death.
In the entire old testament God's justice and power was always operating out of love. There were no random acts of violence. There were no fits of rage and control. There was no breech of contract on God's part. However there were all these things on the part of the Israelites and peoples influenced by the devil. They were the ones that choose the death and destruction of sin. God and sin do not mix. Think of it like this. God in His love is fire. Sin in its rebellion is ice. When ice comes into the presence of fire it will always melt.
"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its ardor unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame."
Song of Solomon 8:6
The old testament was a battle for intimacy and relationship with God. It was not a battle for freewill. The fact that the death and destruction was there is an indicator that freewill was in full swing. God's justice is not deciding who should die by His power. God's justice is love in the face of the freewill choice to choose something other than love. In the old testament that meant death.
Today the love and justice of God is Jesus. God's love and power is made perfect in His grace. Jesus paid the consequence of sin that is death. He did this so that we wouldn't have to die. God out of His love sent Jesus so that there would be no barrier between Him and man if man so chooses. Again God's love trumps all. God's love conquers all. God does not require you to worship Him to be powerful. He will not use His power to force anything on you. But He does long to have free relationship with you because He loved you first. Man will continue to do evil. The devil will continue to destroy. God will continue to love all who will accept Him. His power is made perfect in our weakness. His power is love.
"But the only thing that has power completely is love, because when a man loves, he seeks no power, and therefore has power." Alan Patan
This quote describes the essence of God's omnipotence, that is love. Now be clear that God is love, but not all love is God. There are many things done in the name of "love" that are not of God. But God is always loving. With any being other than God, namely man or the devil, absolute power is dependent on those whom the power is over. Think of an earthly ruler. He is only as powerful as much as his subjects give him power. The same is true of the devil. So with man and the devil unless power is given to the power seeker he has no power.
There is fear then because of the subjectiveness of freewill that usually prompts the power seeker to use control of those he seeks power over. With God however His omnipotence is subjective to no one. That is why He was at liberty to create beings with freewill. His power is not limited by lack of worship. It is the lack of fear that gives foundation for relationship. A king who knows he can be usurped by no one is free to love all. It is the unconditional love of God that gives both power and freedom with no need for control. He loves us regardless if we love Him. Freewill does not in fringe on His omnipotence or sovereignty.
We must force our brains to understand that just because God is all-powerful doesn't mean that everything that happens is by His power. Because of the freewill of man and the devil many things happen outside the will of God. That is why sin is sin. Sin is choosing something outside the will of God. Anything that happens in this world that is not loving is not God!
"There's too much tendency to attribute to God the evils that man does of his own freewill." Agatha Christie
God created man in His image. God's image is love. So when man chooses anything other than love he is sinning against the image of God. On the same note being that every man was created in the image of God; God desires that all mankind be reconciled unto Him. All of mankind was predestined to have relationship with God. All of mankind was predestined to partake of the grace and atonement of Jesus. All of mankind was predestined to have the freewill to choose otherwise.
"There are only two kinds of people in the end; those who say to God "Thy will be done", and those to whom God says "Thy will be done." CS Lewis
So God's power is not corruptible and is always loving. His power is not subjective to our worship but He does long to have relationship with us. Freewill permits us to choose that relationship or not. But make no mistake in the reason you were created. Why does someone create? Usually to share love and beauty. God created you to share His love and beauty. He did NOT create you to endure the pain and suffering of evil. This is where the passion of God's love for you demands His righteous justice.
"Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love." Martin Luther King
This is the relationship of love and justice that we see throughout the entire old testament. God longing to have relationship with His created. His created is rebelling against that love in sin. So God in His love, that is His power, battled against the sin that stood in the way of His love for His created. Now you may think God is starting to sound a little controlling. Well not really.
What you have to remember when we look at the Israelites in the old testament is that God had made a two way agreement with these people. The Israelites were chosen not because of their righteousness, but because of the other peoples wickedness. God was trying to show that relationship with Him(since He created you and loves you) was the only way to have fruitful rest and protection from the enemy. This was the agreement...choose God which is life or choose sin and evil that is death.
In the entire old testament God's justice and power was always operating out of love. There were no random acts of violence. There were no fits of rage and control. There was no breech of contract on God's part. However there were all these things on the part of the Israelites and peoples influenced by the devil. They were the ones that choose the death and destruction of sin. God and sin do not mix. Think of it like this. God in His love is fire. Sin in its rebellion is ice. When ice comes into the presence of fire it will always melt.
"Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its ardor unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame."
Song of Solomon 8:6
The old testament was a battle for intimacy and relationship with God. It was not a battle for freewill. The fact that the death and destruction was there is an indicator that freewill was in full swing. God's justice is not deciding who should die by His power. God's justice is love in the face of the freewill choice to choose something other than love. In the old testament that meant death.
Today the love and justice of God is Jesus. God's love and power is made perfect in His grace. Jesus paid the consequence of sin that is death. He did this so that we wouldn't have to die. God out of His love sent Jesus so that there would be no barrier between Him and man if man so chooses. Again God's love trumps all. God's love conquers all. God does not require you to worship Him to be powerful. He will not use His power to force anything on you. But He does long to have free relationship with you because He loved you first. Man will continue to do evil. The devil will continue to destroy. God will continue to love all who will accept Him. His power is made perfect in our weakness. His power is love.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
What Do You Choose To Effect?
Sin by my definition is stepping out of the plan of God or separating oneself from the plan of God. The first time that the actual word "sin" is used in the Bible it is the Hebrew word "chatta'ah" which simply means sin. It is from the root word "chata" meaning "to miss the mark" or "wander from the way". So sin can fairly be described as missing or wandering from the plan that God has for you.
Now when Adam and Eve sinned it effected everything that they had dominion over. The same is true when we sin today. So what do we have dominion over? Ps 8:6 "You made him [man] ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet." So man has dominion over all creation, all humanity, the devil, and himself. Yes God is still sovereign and all powerful and could preempt this dominion at anytime. But he also out of love chose to have relationship with us and co-rule this earth with Him. God is the emperor and we are the ruler.
So every time that someone sins whether it be in the Bible or now; it effects that which we have dominion over and in turn separates it from God. Creation separates from God, humanity in general separates from God and we personally separate from God. Concerning the devil it gets interesting. The devil has already made his own free will choice to separate from God. But since we have dominion over the devil (he is a work of God's hand) our sin further separates the devil from God. Well this is exactly what the devil wants. So now our sin has crossed us over from the will of God to the will of the devil. We give allegiance in his separation. We glorify the will of the devil instead of the will of God.
Now listen guys and gals I want to make something very clear before I move on. This is something that I have struggled with in my own life. How does my personal sin effect that which I have dominion over? There is no doubt with talking about sin and punishment that your own history will come to mind. We need to be very careful not to attach certain events after we have made a mistake as punishment to us personally. Let me explain.
Say you go out tonight and drink two fifths of tequila and end up kissing your best friends husband. We can safely assume this is stepping out of God's plan for you. So in effect you have sinned. The next morning you wake up with vomit all over your jacket, you feel like crap, hangover is an understatement! You try to call your best friend and she hangs up on you because her husband has told her what happened between the two of you. Basically you are screwed. Two days later you get a call from your best friend saying that her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer. So is the sin you committed the cause for the husband's cancer? NO!
When we sin (and I am talking post Jesus modern times) there is a direct effect from the cause. You drank too much therefore you made a dumb choice, you puked all over yourself, and feel like crap in the morning. This is how our sin has effected us personally. Along with stepping out of the will of God. This is the short term effect or punishment. Now since we have dominion over humanity and creation our sin effects these things progressively and in the long term. Five thousand years of this has resulted in disease, deformity, natural disasters, global decay and death etc. So when you sin personally the immediate result is never a long term effect. Get it? You friend's husband getting cancer is NOT a result of the sin that you committed. A tsunami is not the wrath of God on a certain town. A couple that has a "special needs" baby is not being punished. These are all long term progressive effects of sin on creation and humanity. But do keep in mind some sin has the immediate result of death and disease but only when it is in direct correlation with your sin. For example...if you shoot someone in the head with a gun they will die. If you eat poorly and lack exercise you may develop type 2 diabetes. Do you see the difference?
The good news is that no matter what the sin or the effect we have Jesus. By His blood we are forgiven. The record of our sin is cast away. But Jesus is only applicable to those who choose Him. We still live in a fallen creation and fallen humanity. Therefore the long term effects of sin are still in effect. They will still have an effect on you even if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. So it is most important that you do not think that the long term effects sin are punishment on you personally. This world and humanity will continue to die and decay until Jesus returns. This is simply a result of the sin, not God's punishment.
In the meantime the best thing that we can do is use our dominion to glorify God. Make choices that correlate to His will. The less that we step out of the will of God, the less we contribute to the fall of humanity and creation. The less we pledge allegiance to the devil. Moreover the more people that we lead to Jesus the less the world and humanity are effected by their sin. Really we are all in this together to the end. This is the order of things that has been in play since the garden because of our choice to sin and step out of God's plan. When the end finally comes we have hope in knowing that God will "wipe the tear from every eye. There will be no more death or mourning or crying, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev. 21:4
Now when Adam and Eve sinned it effected everything that they had dominion over. The same is true when we sin today. So what do we have dominion over? Ps 8:6 "You made him [man] ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet." So man has dominion over all creation, all humanity, the devil, and himself. Yes God is still sovereign and all powerful and could preempt this dominion at anytime. But he also out of love chose to have relationship with us and co-rule this earth with Him. God is the emperor and we are the ruler.
So every time that someone sins whether it be in the Bible or now; it effects that which we have dominion over and in turn separates it from God. Creation separates from God, humanity in general separates from God and we personally separate from God. Concerning the devil it gets interesting. The devil has already made his own free will choice to separate from God. But since we have dominion over the devil (he is a work of God's hand) our sin further separates the devil from God. Well this is exactly what the devil wants. So now our sin has crossed us over from the will of God to the will of the devil. We give allegiance in his separation. We glorify the will of the devil instead of the will of God.
Now listen guys and gals I want to make something very clear before I move on. This is something that I have struggled with in my own life. How does my personal sin effect that which I have dominion over? There is no doubt with talking about sin and punishment that your own history will come to mind. We need to be very careful not to attach certain events after we have made a mistake as punishment to us personally. Let me explain.
Say you go out tonight and drink two fifths of tequila and end up kissing your best friends husband. We can safely assume this is stepping out of God's plan for you. So in effect you have sinned. The next morning you wake up with vomit all over your jacket, you feel like crap, hangover is an understatement! You try to call your best friend and she hangs up on you because her husband has told her what happened between the two of you. Basically you are screwed. Two days later you get a call from your best friend saying that her husband has just been diagnosed with cancer. So is the sin you committed the cause for the husband's cancer? NO!
When we sin (and I am talking post Jesus modern times) there is a direct effect from the cause. You drank too much therefore you made a dumb choice, you puked all over yourself, and feel like crap in the morning. This is how our sin has effected us personally. Along with stepping out of the will of God. This is the short term effect or punishment. Now since we have dominion over humanity and creation our sin effects these things progressively and in the long term. Five thousand years of this has resulted in disease, deformity, natural disasters, global decay and death etc. So when you sin personally the immediate result is never a long term effect. Get it? You friend's husband getting cancer is NOT a result of the sin that you committed. A tsunami is not the wrath of God on a certain town. A couple that has a "special needs" baby is not being punished. These are all long term progressive effects of sin on creation and humanity. But do keep in mind some sin has the immediate result of death and disease but only when it is in direct correlation with your sin. For example...if you shoot someone in the head with a gun they will die. If you eat poorly and lack exercise you may develop type 2 diabetes. Do you see the difference?
The good news is that no matter what the sin or the effect we have Jesus. By His blood we are forgiven. The record of our sin is cast away. But Jesus is only applicable to those who choose Him. We still live in a fallen creation and fallen humanity. Therefore the long term effects of sin are still in effect. They will still have an effect on you even if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. So it is most important that you do not think that the long term effects sin are punishment on you personally. This world and humanity will continue to die and decay until Jesus returns. This is simply a result of the sin, not God's punishment.
In the meantime the best thing that we can do is use our dominion to glorify God. Make choices that correlate to His will. The less that we step out of the will of God, the less we contribute to the fall of humanity and creation. The less we pledge allegiance to the devil. Moreover the more people that we lead to Jesus the less the world and humanity are effected by their sin. Really we are all in this together to the end. This is the order of things that has been in play since the garden because of our choice to sin and step out of God's plan. When the end finally comes we have hope in knowing that God will "wipe the tear from every eye. There will be no more death or mourning or crying, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev. 21:4
OK... so that "point" took a little longer than expected to make! Ah well...more tomorrow!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
We Were Not the First To Fall (Part Two)
Click here to read the first part of this blog.
Now notice the words out of God's mouth after this event takes place. Gen 3:9 "Where are you?" He did not say "You idiot!", "Damn you to hell", or "What a mistake you were!" No. God said to His beloved created "Where are you?". Now why is an all-knowing God asking where Adam and Eve are? Because he senses the separation that the sin has put between them. God is grieved not angry. Well take that back...He is angry. Not at Adam and Eve, but at the Devil. "Because of you" He says "cursed are you" he goes on. God proceeds to let the Devil know that he will now be an enemy to man. Also that Eve's offspring will crush his head. See the moment that we sinned Jesus came into play. God immediately gave us an "out" from our sin. I will discuss this more a little further on.
So God blames the devil for what has taken place in the garden. This is further confirmation to me that the devil put the tree there and NOT God. Next the Lord addresses Eve. Now this is another verse that I have looked up in the original Hebrew. I do not see in the Hebrew that God is personally cursing Eve. He is simply stating that now she is cursed because of her choice, not by God's. In the Hebrew Gen. 3:16 sounds like this "to the woman said-greatly multiplied your pain-childbirth pain will bring children-will be for your husband your desire-he will have dominion."
To Adam He says "cursed is the ground because of you." Gen. 3:17 Not cursed are you, Adam. So I don't believe God cursed Adam or Eve. God is simply stated the consequence of the choices they made. Remember they had dominion over the entire earth. They were in a sense CEOs of this corporation called EARTH. As we know when the CEOs make bad decisions it isn't long before the whole corporations goes down. So I believe God is saying to Adam and Eve is "Darn it you guys, now that you have made this choice things are going to be really hard for you. This planet is going to suffer because of you."
So we were the ones that choose death. We were the ones that choose a life of hardship and pain. We were the ones that "subjected creation to decay" Rom 8:21. We were the ones that choose to separate from God. God never intended any of that for us! And it grieved His heart that it ended up being anything other than perfect relationship with Him.
As we move on in Genesis God's love for Adam and Eve abounds. The fact that they choose something other than Him breaks His heart, but God still seeks relationship. He did NOT kick them out of the garden on their naked butts. Gen 3:21 says "The Lord God made garments for Adam and his wife and clothed them." See the Hebrew word for garden is "gan" from the root word "ganan" meaning to cover, protect, defend. God put a covering of protection over them before they left the garden. That doesn't sound like a pissed off God to me. That sounds like a loving, good God. It goes on to say in Gen. 3:23 "God sent him forth from the garden..." That is the King James Version. NIV uses the word "banish" which I believe is inaccurate given what the original Hebrew word means. The Hebrew word "shalach" means to let loose, let go or set free.
So why did Adam and Eve have to leave the the garden? Well we know that one of the reasons they have to leave is because they choose to leave. Choosing sin is choosing not to be with God. Remember the Devil? Sin is what caused the separation from God. Same with Adam and Eve. But at the end of chapter 3 its says that God needed to protect the tree of life. Remember the tree of life is "healing for all nations" Rev. 22:2. So this tree is more important now than ever given the events that just took place. The tree of life is eternal life. As it stands now Adam and Eve are in a progressive state of separation from God. The end result is death. Sin=death. So if God allows Adam and Eve the choice of staying in the garden...the tree of life is at risk. Gen 3:23 says "He (Adam) must not be able to...take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." It sounds like God wants them to die. But it is quite the opposite. God wants them to live. See if they eat of the tree of life now, in their sinful state, they would eternally be separated from God just as the Devil is. God does not want that for Adam and Eve.
Keep in mind that even though God is all-powerful and sovereign, He still chooses out of love to operate within the confines of our freewill. So yes God could destroy the Devil right now. Yes God could have started over after Adam and Eve sinned. But that would be control. Out of LOVE he is letting our freewill choices ride.
So God had to guard the tree of life. As I said before the instant that we sinned Jesus came into play. The seed that would strike the Devil's head. The tree of life is part to that redemption. The tree of life is eternal life without the separation of sin. This is what God had planned for us in the first place. That is why I believe death in the physically sense is so traumatizing. When some one you know dies, it is extremely hard to get over. I think that is because we were not created by God to experience death. But we choose against God's warning that we would die. We choose the punishment of death by sinning. The sin is the punishment. Death is not the punishment of God. Adam had dominion therefore his choice was for all humanity.
The final thing that I would like to point out in in Gen 3:16. God is speaking to Eve after she has sinned. "[Her] desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over you." I do not believe that God is making a sexist remark here. In the grand scheme of things we know that man has no more God given dominion in this earth than woman do. So God is not saying woman must now be controlled by man. What I believe God is saying is that humanity will now desire wisdom and intimacy from themselves. That in a state of sin they will no longer desire wisdom and intimacy from God. This is soooo true. The entire rest of the old testament is God trying to restore intimacy with His creation. This is why Jesus is sent! To take away the barrier of sin and restore intimacy. Moreover this is still the case today. God wants nothing more than to have relationship with you, but sin is the barrier. How do I know this? Because when Adam and Eve left the garden...God left the garden too. He came out of the garden just to be close to His beloved creation. He wanted to be close to you.
I am going to continue to explore the relationship of sin and punishment in the old testament. I want to show that God was never punishing people. People were punishing themselves. Yes God does convict us. Conviction being God saying "Careful I don't think this is a good idea!" But the punishment part is simply us pushing past God's advice to make our own sinful choice. The punishment is the sin. So stay posted...
Now notice the words out of God's mouth after this event takes place. Gen 3:9 "Where are you?" He did not say "You idiot!", "Damn you to hell", or "What a mistake you were!" No. God said to His beloved created "Where are you?". Now why is an all-knowing God asking where Adam and Eve are? Because he senses the separation that the sin has put between them. God is grieved not angry. Well take that back...He is angry. Not at Adam and Eve, but at the Devil. "Because of you" He says "cursed are you" he goes on. God proceeds to let the Devil know that he will now be an enemy to man. Also that Eve's offspring will crush his head. See the moment that we sinned Jesus came into play. God immediately gave us an "out" from our sin. I will discuss this more a little further on.
So God blames the devil for what has taken place in the garden. This is further confirmation to me that the devil put the tree there and NOT God. Next the Lord addresses Eve. Now this is another verse that I have looked up in the original Hebrew. I do not see in the Hebrew that God is personally cursing Eve. He is simply stating that now she is cursed because of her choice, not by God's. In the Hebrew Gen. 3:16 sounds like this "to the woman said-greatly multiplied your pain-childbirth pain will bring children-will be for your husband your desire-he will have dominion."
To Adam He says "cursed is the ground because of you." Gen. 3:17 Not cursed are you, Adam. So I don't believe God cursed Adam or Eve. God is simply stated the consequence of the choices they made. Remember they had dominion over the entire earth. They were in a sense CEOs of this corporation called EARTH. As we know when the CEOs make bad decisions it isn't long before the whole corporations goes down. So I believe God is saying to Adam and Eve is "Darn it you guys, now that you have made this choice things are going to be really hard for you. This planet is going to suffer because of you."
So we were the ones that choose death. We were the ones that choose a life of hardship and pain. We were the ones that "subjected creation to decay" Rom 8:21. We were the ones that choose to separate from God. God never intended any of that for us! And it grieved His heart that it ended up being anything other than perfect relationship with Him.
As we move on in Genesis God's love for Adam and Eve abounds. The fact that they choose something other than Him breaks His heart, but God still seeks relationship. He did NOT kick them out of the garden on their naked butts. Gen 3:21 says "The Lord God made garments for Adam and his wife and clothed them." See the Hebrew word for garden is "gan" from the root word "ganan" meaning to cover, protect, defend. God put a covering of protection over them before they left the garden. That doesn't sound like a pissed off God to me. That sounds like a loving, good God. It goes on to say in Gen. 3:23 "God sent him forth from the garden..." That is the King James Version. NIV uses the word "banish" which I believe is inaccurate given what the original Hebrew word means. The Hebrew word "shalach" means to let loose, let go or set free.
So why did Adam and Eve have to leave the the garden? Well we know that one of the reasons they have to leave is because they choose to leave. Choosing sin is choosing not to be with God. Remember the Devil? Sin is what caused the separation from God. Same with Adam and Eve. But at the end of chapter 3 its says that God needed to protect the tree of life. Remember the tree of life is "healing for all nations" Rev. 22:2. So this tree is more important now than ever given the events that just took place. The tree of life is eternal life. As it stands now Adam and Eve are in a progressive state of separation from God. The end result is death. Sin=death. So if God allows Adam and Eve the choice of staying in the garden...the tree of life is at risk. Gen 3:23 says "He (Adam) must not be able to...take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever." It sounds like God wants them to die. But it is quite the opposite. God wants them to live. See if they eat of the tree of life now, in their sinful state, they would eternally be separated from God just as the Devil is. God does not want that for Adam and Eve.
Keep in mind that even though God is all-powerful and sovereign, He still chooses out of love to operate within the confines of our freewill. So yes God could destroy the Devil right now. Yes God could have started over after Adam and Eve sinned. But that would be control. Out of LOVE he is letting our freewill choices ride.
So God had to guard the tree of life. As I said before the instant that we sinned Jesus came into play. The seed that would strike the Devil's head. The tree of life is part to that redemption. The tree of life is eternal life without the separation of sin. This is what God had planned for us in the first place. That is why I believe death in the physically sense is so traumatizing. When some one you know dies, it is extremely hard to get over. I think that is because we were not created by God to experience death. But we choose against God's warning that we would die. We choose the punishment of death by sinning. The sin is the punishment. Death is not the punishment of God. Adam had dominion therefore his choice was for all humanity.
The final thing that I would like to point out in in Gen 3:16. God is speaking to Eve after she has sinned. "[Her] desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over you." I do not believe that God is making a sexist remark here. In the grand scheme of things we know that man has no more God given dominion in this earth than woman do. So God is not saying woman must now be controlled by man. What I believe God is saying is that humanity will now desire wisdom and intimacy from themselves. That in a state of sin they will no longer desire wisdom and intimacy from God. This is soooo true. The entire rest of the old testament is God trying to restore intimacy with His creation. This is why Jesus is sent! To take away the barrier of sin and restore intimacy. Moreover this is still the case today. God wants nothing more than to have relationship with you, but sin is the barrier. How do I know this? Because when Adam and Eve left the garden...God left the garden too. He came out of the garden just to be close to His beloved creation. He wanted to be close to you.
I am going to continue to explore the relationship of sin and punishment in the old testament. I want to show that God was never punishing people. People were punishing themselves. Yes God does convict us. Conviction being God saying "Careful I don't think this is a good idea!" But the punishment part is simply us pushing past God's advice to make our own sinful choice. The punishment is the sin. So stay posted...
Monday, November 16, 2009
We Were Not the First to Fall (Part One)
So in my studies for this book I wanted to take a closer look at sin. What is sin? Where did it all start? Is this thing our fault? Did God trick us or did the devil? What is the consequence of sin? How does God decide how to punish us? Is it really fair? So this is the beginning of my journey to hopefully answer these questions.
Where to start? At the beginning? NO. Let's start with Jesus. Jesus led a perfectly pure life. How do we know this? Well because Jesus is God in human form. And God is pure and holy without blemish. See our God is not like the gods of other religions. He isn't half good and half bad. He is ALL good ALL the time.
When looking up the word sin on "Blue Letter Bible" in the original Greek and Hebrew; I came across the Greek word "anamartetos". It is a Greek word for sin used in the new testament only ONE time. So it must be pretty special right? It is a familiar story of a woman about to be stoned to death. Jesus steps in and says "Ye without sin cast the first stone..." John 8:7. Now in the original Greek the word for "sin" is "anamartetos" which means " he who has not sinned". Jesus was talking about Himself. "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone..." In other words, let me be the Judge. Now this is our PERFECT God.
Now as discussed in prior blogs Satan was an angel that God created. I think he was created prior to the creation of the earth. Job 38:4-7 basically says the the angels rejoiced when God laid the foundations of the earth. I also think that angels were created with a freewill. Why? Because it is the only way for a creator God to create something out of love. And also because Satan was the first sinner. Ahhhh...isn't that a nice load off your chest; to finally know that man wasn't responsible for screwing everything up! Well...hold that thought.
"Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth..." Ez 28:17 So Satan's sin was that he thought he could be higher than God. The result of his sin was eternal separation from God. Pretty harsh? Not really. First Satan choose to leave by sinning. The separation is just the result of his sin, not the punishment of God. Also the extremity is due to how much wisdom Satan had of God. You know the old saying "the more knowledge...the more responsibility". Satan KNEW God! He was there when the earth was created. He was in God's heavenly kingdom. It says in Ez 28:14 that God anointed him as the guardian angel of heaven. So Satan was not only an angel in the presence of God, he was an angel with special responsibility and power! So when he sinned it had HUGE consequences. The result was eternal (since angels don't die) separation from God. Several of the other angels decide to go with Satan. "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandon their own home..." Jude 6. Now their sin has separated them eternally from God as well.
Now I believe that this separation took place in Gen. 1:4 "God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from darkness." Genesis continues with God creating the whole earth. God affirms with each day that what He has created is good. Next God creates man. He creates man in His own image. He creates man out of love and with the ability to choose. Free will. God never controls His creation that is not love. To man he gives dominion and rulership over the whole earth. To me this implies that this earth will operate differently than heaven. God is still sovereign but with this creation He is allowing us to rule as humans via our own choices. The first example of this is God allowing Adam to name all the animals. (Gen 2:19-20). God could have named the animals but He didn't. He wanted us to be in charge of this new creation. He wanted us to use our intelligence and take ownership. God is not insecure. He his confident enough in His sovereignty that He was willing to sacrifice some power out of love for His creation and man. There was only one rule! Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now if we read Gen 2:9 "God made all kinds of trees grow out the ground; trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." What do these trees mean? And who put them there? Well in Rev. 22:2 it says that the leaves of the tree of life are "healing for all nations". So the tree of life is really just how it sounds. It is God's perfection and life eternal. Notice God never tells Adam that he can not eat from this tree. He does however tell him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he does he will die, the Hebrew word here means "doomed to die". Simple as that.
So what is this tree all about? Well lets not forget about Satan. Remember at this point he has chosen separation from the goodness and perfection of God. This in turn has made him a sinner and evil- not by God's judgement but simply as a result of rejecting God. Now I PERSONALLY believe(and this is new to my brain as of the last week or so studying) that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the "tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil". In other words knowledge of the battle between God and Satan that at this point was in full swing!
Let me explain. Satan has left God of his own free will. Satan is allowed in the garden via his freewill. Satan is pissed at God. Satan wants to be God. Satan is seeking dominion. Satan sees his opportunity to have dominion over the earth through man and for man to worship him instead of God. We know that Satan has degree of power via being created by God as an angelic being. Satan has the power to create evil. He does this by twisting or manipulating the perfection God created. Therefore I believe that Satan took a tree that God had created and twisted or manipulated it for his own purpose. The tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil was in the garden because of the devil not because of God. God put the tree of life, the devil put the tree of death. Now this does not mean that God didn't want to have knowledge. Our totally intricate, intellectual brain is NOT a result of sin. God made us that way from the beginning. The knowledge of this tree was simply the knowledge that the devil existed and there was a battle.
Now where in the world did I come up with something like that!?! Well let me point out a few things that I have come across in my study for the last couple of weeks. This is new to me too. So stick with me...
Remember God says that he created "all kinds of trees that are pleasing to the eye and good for food". But He also makes it very clear NOT to eat of the tree of knowledge or you will die. So the tree of knowledge is NOT good for food. The trees God created were. Therefore He did not create this tree! Remember that God can not sin, there is no evil in him. So he can not create evil. Still having a hard time swallowing this? Well let's move on to Eve.
Eve is created by God out of the same love and with the ability to choose. Eve is the second part of the equation of Adam or humankind. She is for relationship, co-rulership and gives Adam the ability to multiply. In other words have sex. Oh my! See God could have decided to populate the entire earth Himself, but he didn't. He made it that man and woman would create something together out of love in God's image. All babies are the image of God when born. Whether they decide to keep that image is a different story.
So there were Adam and Eve naked before the Lord with no shame because they were without sin and fear. They were in the perfection and protection of God because they were in the secure, loving presence of God. God walked with them.
Then who screws it all up? Ah the devil! We forgot about the devil! Wouldn't it be nice if we could pretend that the devil didn't exist? Well he does. And a spiritual battle has been going on ever since he sinned.
So the devil comes to Eve and tempts her with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil. Now the fact that this fruit is "tempting" is further confirmation the the devil put the tree there and NOT God. God will never temp you. James 1:13-14 says "When tempted, no one should say 'God is tempting me'. For God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." It goes on to say that the result of sin is death, and that every GOOD gift is from God...not evil. This is exactly what happened in the garden.
The devil by his own free will created this tree to tempt man. He wanted dominion over the earth. We saw us as his meal ticket and blood lust ensued. If he could get us to trust him and not God he gains worship of God's creation and dominion over the earth via man's free will.
Now what is interesting are the original Hebrew words used to describe the fruit. Remember God says that the trees HE created were "pleasing to the eye and good for food". Now in Gen 3:6 it says "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom she too some and ate it." The Hebrew word for "pleasing" when God is describing the fruit He created is "chamad" which means desire, precious, to take delight in, beauty. The Hebrew word that is used to describe the "pleasing" fruit Eve takes a bite from is "ta'avah" which means desire, lust, covet. "Ta'avah" is from the root word "avah" meaning crave, be greedy or prefer. So God would NOT create something that would make us covet or lust. This is the fruit he told us not to eat! So why was the tree there? Because Satan put it there via his freewill.
God would have never created something that would have tempted us to sin. That would NOT be a loving, good god. And our God is. God intended perfection for us without sin and death. This sin caused Adam and Eve to step out of the perfection of God. Sin is injecting imperfectness(if that is a word) into the perfection of God. So what was once perfect is now tarnished. This was NEVER God's plan for you...it was Satan's.
Now what are the first words out of God's mouth after this event with the fruit? Continued in Part Two...
Where to start? At the beginning? NO. Let's start with Jesus. Jesus led a perfectly pure life. How do we know this? Well because Jesus is God in human form. And God is pure and holy without blemish. See our God is not like the gods of other religions. He isn't half good and half bad. He is ALL good ALL the time.
When looking up the word sin on "Blue Letter Bible" in the original Greek and Hebrew; I came across the Greek word "anamartetos". It is a Greek word for sin used in the new testament only ONE time. So it must be pretty special right? It is a familiar story of a woman about to be stoned to death. Jesus steps in and says "Ye without sin cast the first stone..." John 8:7. Now in the original Greek the word for "sin" is "anamartetos" which means " he who has not sinned". Jesus was talking about Himself. "let he who has not sinned cast the first stone..." In other words, let me be the Judge. Now this is our PERFECT God.
Now as discussed in prior blogs Satan was an angel that God created. I think he was created prior to the creation of the earth. Job 38:4-7 basically says the the angels rejoiced when God laid the foundations of the earth. I also think that angels were created with a freewill. Why? Because it is the only way for a creator God to create something out of love. And also because Satan was the first sinner. Ahhhh...isn't that a nice load off your chest; to finally know that man wasn't responsible for screwing everything up! Well...hold that thought.
"Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth..." Ez 28:17 So Satan's sin was that he thought he could be higher than God. The result of his sin was eternal separation from God. Pretty harsh? Not really. First Satan choose to leave by sinning. The separation is just the result of his sin, not the punishment of God. Also the extremity is due to how much wisdom Satan had of God. You know the old saying "the more knowledge...the more responsibility". Satan KNEW God! He was there when the earth was created. He was in God's heavenly kingdom. It says in Ez 28:14 that God anointed him as the guardian angel of heaven. So Satan was not only an angel in the presence of God, he was an angel with special responsibility and power! So when he sinned it had HUGE consequences. The result was eternal (since angels don't die) separation from God. Several of the other angels decide to go with Satan. "And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandon their own home..." Jude 6. Now their sin has separated them eternally from God as well.
Now I believe that this separation took place in Gen. 1:4 "God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from darkness." Genesis continues with God creating the whole earth. God affirms with each day that what He has created is good. Next God creates man. He creates man in His own image. He creates man out of love and with the ability to choose. Free will. God never controls His creation that is not love. To man he gives dominion and rulership over the whole earth. To me this implies that this earth will operate differently than heaven. God is still sovereign but with this creation He is allowing us to rule as humans via our own choices. The first example of this is God allowing Adam to name all the animals. (Gen 2:19-20). God could have named the animals but He didn't. He wanted us to be in charge of this new creation. He wanted us to use our intelligence and take ownership. God is not insecure. He his confident enough in His sovereignty that He was willing to sacrifice some power out of love for His creation and man. There was only one rule! Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil.
Now if we read Gen 2:9 "God made all kinds of trees grow out the ground; trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." What do these trees mean? And who put them there? Well in Rev. 22:2 it says that the leaves of the tree of life are "healing for all nations". So the tree of life is really just how it sounds. It is God's perfection and life eternal. Notice God never tells Adam that he can not eat from this tree. He does however tell him not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he does he will die, the Hebrew word here means "doomed to die". Simple as that.
So what is this tree all about? Well lets not forget about Satan. Remember at this point he has chosen separation from the goodness and perfection of God. This in turn has made him a sinner and evil- not by God's judgement but simply as a result of rejecting God. Now I PERSONALLY believe(and this is new to my brain as of the last week or so studying) that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the "tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil". In other words knowledge of the battle between God and Satan that at this point was in full swing!
Let me explain. Satan has left God of his own free will. Satan is allowed in the garden via his freewill. Satan is pissed at God. Satan wants to be God. Satan is seeking dominion. Satan sees his opportunity to have dominion over the earth through man and for man to worship him instead of God. We know that Satan has degree of power via being created by God as an angelic being. Satan has the power to create evil. He does this by twisting or manipulating the perfection God created. Therefore I believe that Satan took a tree that God had created and twisted or manipulated it for his own purpose. The tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil was in the garden because of the devil not because of God. God put the tree of life, the devil put the tree of death. Now this does not mean that God didn't want to have knowledge. Our totally intricate, intellectual brain is NOT a result of sin. God made us that way from the beginning. The knowledge of this tree was simply the knowledge that the devil existed and there was a battle.
Now where in the world did I come up with something like that!?! Well let me point out a few things that I have come across in my study for the last couple of weeks. This is new to me too. So stick with me...
Remember God says that he created "all kinds of trees that are pleasing to the eye and good for food". But He also makes it very clear NOT to eat of the tree of knowledge or you will die. So the tree of knowledge is NOT good for food. The trees God created were. Therefore He did not create this tree! Remember that God can not sin, there is no evil in him. So he can not create evil. Still having a hard time swallowing this? Well let's move on to Eve.
Eve is created by God out of the same love and with the ability to choose. Eve is the second part of the equation of Adam or humankind. She is for relationship, co-rulership and gives Adam the ability to multiply. In other words have sex. Oh my! See God could have decided to populate the entire earth Himself, but he didn't. He made it that man and woman would create something together out of love in God's image. All babies are the image of God when born. Whether they decide to keep that image is a different story.
So there were Adam and Eve naked before the Lord with no shame because they were without sin and fear. They were in the perfection and protection of God because they were in the secure, loving presence of God. God walked with them.
Then who screws it all up? Ah the devil! We forgot about the devil! Wouldn't it be nice if we could pretend that the devil didn't exist? Well he does. And a spiritual battle has been going on ever since he sinned.
So the devil comes to Eve and tempts her with the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of the battle between good and evil. Now the fact that this fruit is "tempting" is further confirmation the the devil put the tree there and NOT God. God will never temp you. James 1:13-14 says "When tempted, no one should say 'God is tempting me'. For God cannot be tempted by evil nor does He tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed." It goes on to say that the result of sin is death, and that every GOOD gift is from God...not evil. This is exactly what happened in the garden.
The devil by his own free will created this tree to tempt man. He wanted dominion over the earth. We saw us as his meal ticket and blood lust ensued. If he could get us to trust him and not God he gains worship of God's creation and dominion over the earth via man's free will.
Now what is interesting are the original Hebrew words used to describe the fruit. Remember God says that the trees HE created were "pleasing to the eye and good for food". Now in Gen 3:6 it says "When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom she too some and ate it." The Hebrew word for "pleasing" when God is describing the fruit He created is "chamad" which means desire, precious, to take delight in, beauty. The Hebrew word that is used to describe the "pleasing" fruit Eve takes a bite from is "ta'avah" which means desire, lust, covet. "Ta'avah" is from the root word "avah" meaning crave, be greedy or prefer. So God would NOT create something that would make us covet or lust. This is the fruit he told us not to eat! So why was the tree there? Because Satan put it there via his freewill.
God would have never created something that would have tempted us to sin. That would NOT be a loving, good god. And our God is. God intended perfection for us without sin and death. This sin caused Adam and Eve to step out of the perfection of God. Sin is injecting imperfectness(if that is a word) into the perfection of God. So what was once perfect is now tarnished. This was NEVER God's plan for you...it was Satan's.
Now what are the first words out of God's mouth after this event with the fruit? Continued in Part Two...
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
A Few More Thoughts On Suffering
I have gathered several quotes on the subject of suffering. I think it is a good way to see a broad worldview of how others feel about the subject. It is interesting that some of the quotes I have have chosen were written by people directly attacking Christianity and God regarding why we suffer. Basically saying that people are crazy to adhere to a religion that has such an angry God. Why would anyone want to believe or trust in a God that is the cause for all our suffering? Well you know what I think they are right. I am happy to say that I do not believe in a God like that. I believe in a good, loving, just God who would never use His power to abuse me. So where does suffering come from? I break it down like this...suffering(in general) comes from these 4 things...
1) A direct result of exercising our free will to sin. In the Old Testament when this sin multiplied to a national scale it was usually the cause for exile. But not exile by God, exile because they made the choice to step out of the protection of God and His law. In turn enemies had the chance to move in. God always gave several warnings to come back into relationship with Him to be protected. This was the cry of the prophets to the people...as we know they usually didn't listen until it was too late. Today we still incur our own suffering due to sin and choosing to break relationship with God.
2) An attack from the enemy, meaning the devil. As in the book of Job. Click here to read that blog. The devils mission is always to destroy us and defame God. He was doing it 5000 years ago and he is still doing it today.
3) An attack from someone else exercising their free will to do evil. This was in the old testament and the new. In the new testament this is the suffering most often discussed. The suffering they were enduring was the actual persecution of anyone trying to spread the gospel. They were literally being hunted, tortured and killed if caught! We are not talking about having back pain for Jesus. These people were being fed to the lions in arenas, made into human torches by Nero, and being physically crucified on the crosses of the Romans. All for their faith.
Today this is the suffering of abuse, neglect, oppression, war or any other human caused suffering.
4) Natural disaster. In the garden of Eden we were given dominion over all creation, then we choose with our free will to sin. This in turn effected all creation and is why I believe we have natural disasters. In Romans 8:20-21 it says "...for creation was subjected to futility; not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay..." This won't happen until Jesus returns.
So notice none of the suffering is from God. Yes, God corrects us, but He is never abusive. Remember "there is no fear in love" 1 John 4:18. Also remember He will never compromise our freedom to exercise our free will. Whether the choice be good or bad. He will not control us. That is not love and God is always loving. He will however work all suffering for good and restore what was stolen from us. That is a good God! That is my God!
So keep all that in mind while reading these quotes...
"Love never claims, it ever gives, love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself. Where there is love there is life; hatred leads to destruction" Gandhi
"Vice has more martyrs than virtue; and it often happens that men suffer more to be lost than to be saved." Charles Caleb Colton
"Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of overcoming it." Helen Keller
"Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather it is a spirit that bears all things-with resignations; yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope."
Corazon Aquino
"Suffering is not a punishment, it is a result." Robert Green Ingersol
"You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will." C.S. Lewis
"To be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings ans arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of trouble, and by opposing them, end them." Hamlet...William Shakespeare
"A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain." Samuel Johnson
"Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is a sense of ownership, which is loves opposite."
Antoine de Saint Exupery
"The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live."
Ayn Rand
"Fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Yoda...Star Wars
"Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in this world." Oscar Wilde
"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked." Machiavelli
"I am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things sorrow, misfortune, and suffering are outside my door. I am in the house and I have the key." Charles Fletcher Cummis
1) A direct result of exercising our free will to sin. In the Old Testament when this sin multiplied to a national scale it was usually the cause for exile. But not exile by God, exile because they made the choice to step out of the protection of God and His law. In turn enemies had the chance to move in. God always gave several warnings to come back into relationship with Him to be protected. This was the cry of the prophets to the people...as we know they usually didn't listen until it was too late. Today we still incur our own suffering due to sin and choosing to break relationship with God.
2) An attack from the enemy, meaning the devil. As in the book of Job. Click here to read that blog. The devils mission is always to destroy us and defame God. He was doing it 5000 years ago and he is still doing it today.
3) An attack from someone else exercising their free will to do evil. This was in the old testament and the new. In the new testament this is the suffering most often discussed. The suffering they were enduring was the actual persecution of anyone trying to spread the gospel. They were literally being hunted, tortured and killed if caught! We are not talking about having back pain for Jesus. These people were being fed to the lions in arenas, made into human torches by Nero, and being physically crucified on the crosses of the Romans. All for their faith.
Today this is the suffering of abuse, neglect, oppression, war or any other human caused suffering.
4) Natural disaster. In the garden of Eden we were given dominion over all creation, then we choose with our free will to sin. This in turn effected all creation and is why I believe we have natural disasters. In Romans 8:20-21 it says "...for creation was subjected to futility; not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay..." This won't happen until Jesus returns.
So notice none of the suffering is from God. Yes, God corrects us, but He is never abusive. Remember "there is no fear in love" 1 John 4:18. Also remember He will never compromise our freedom to exercise our free will. Whether the choice be good or bad. He will not control us. That is not love and God is always loving. He will however work all suffering for good and restore what was stolen from us. That is a good God! That is my God!
So keep all that in mind while reading these quotes...
"Love never claims, it ever gives, love never suffers, never resents, never revenges itself. Where there is love there is life; hatred leads to destruction" Gandhi
"Vice has more martyrs than virtue; and it often happens that men suffer more to be lost than to be saved." Charles Caleb Colton
"Although the world is full of suffering it is also full of overcoming it." Helen Keller
"Faith is not simply a patience that passively suffers until the storm is past. Rather it is a spirit that bears all things-with resignations; yes, but above all, with blazing, serene hope."
Corazon Aquino
"Suffering is not a punishment, it is a result." Robert Green Ingersol
"You must believe that God is separate from the world and that some of the things we see in it are contrary to His will." C.S. Lewis
"To be or not to be that is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings ans arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of trouble, and by opposing them, end them." Hamlet...William Shakespeare
"A wise man will make haste to forgive, because he knows the true value of time, and will not suffer it to pass away in unnecessary pain." Samuel Johnson
"Love does not cause suffering: what causes it is a sense of ownership, which is loves opposite."
Antoine de Saint Exupery
"The purpose of morality is to teach you, not to suffer and die, but to enjoy yourself and live."
Ayn Rand
"Fear is the path to the dark side, fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." Yoda...Star Wars
"Now it seems to me that love of some kind is the only possible explanation of the extraordinary amount of suffering that there is in this world." Oscar Wilde
"Men are so simple and yield so readily to the desires of the moment that he who will trick will always find another who will suffer to be tricked." Machiavelli
"I am bigger than anything that can happen to me. All these things sorrow, misfortune, and suffering are outside my door. I am in the house and I have the key." Charles Fletcher Cummis
Monday, November 9, 2009
A Mystery Of Suffering
Everyone loves a good murder mystery. Trying to gather clues to solve the crime. I used to love to play the board game "Clue" when I was younger. The game centered around solving a murder mystery. You had to come up with WHO did it, WHERE they did it and with WHAT weapon. So an accusation would sound something like..."I think it was Professor Plum in the conservatory with the candlestick." The answer was hidden in a little mini manila envelope that wasn't opened till the end of the game. So exciting to see if you were the one that figured the whole thing out.
Now what does this have to do with our friend Job? Well I think the book of Job is written like a murder mystery. We "the audience" know from the beginning who the guilty party is for causing Job's suffering. But the characters(Job, his family and friends) in the play don't. So the whole "play" is these characters trying to figure out who has caused the suffering. All the while we "the audience" know the answer to the mystery. We go through the whole book of Job with God being falsely accused for Job's suffering. This is much to the delight of the guilty party, the Devil, whose name actually means accuser or slanderer. But God states His case towards the end of the "play" and redeems His name. Job and his friends retract all the false accusations against God, and repent for their slander. The Devil is found out, justice is served and Job and his family are restored. Easy huh? Well let's take a closer look at how this all plays out.
Job is an awesome book in the way that it gives us a peak behind the scenes and into the spirit realm. It starts out with Job who is a righteous man that loves the Lord. So the Devil comes along one day to challenge God. Big surprise! God says "where have you come from?" "Oh roaming the earth to and fro" the Devil responds. See when you are out of relationship with God there is no rest and you wander through life. Remember Cain after he kills his brother. Cain says to God "Do not cast me from Your presence...I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer of the earth..." Interesting huh? OK back to Job. So the Devil is in the presence of God via his own freewill and proposes a test for Job and for God. The Devil says that the only reason Job is righteous is because God has put "a hedge of protection around him" Which this is good to know...that when we are in the will of God there is a super natural protection around us...to a certain extent. We are protected more than we would be if we were not in relationship with God, but even with the hedge of protection the freewill of others(in this case Satan) can override that protection. Meaning that even if you are in close relationship with God; you can't walk out in front of a bus and not expect to get hit. Get it?
So back to this little chit chat between God and the Devil. God gives the Devil permission to attack Job. Now keep in mind...the Devil is doing the attacking NOT God. What is also interesting is how the Devil carries out part of his plan. He uses the freewill of man to attack Job. It says in 1:17 that the Chaldean's formed raiding parties and that the Subeans attacked Job. It also looks as though the Devil has some control over nature to cause natural disasters against Job. Remember now that we(man) were given dominion over the earth and we choose to sin. So creation is fallen as well.
Now when it gets to 1:16 it says "The fire of God fell from heaven" Ah Ha...see told you God did it! No not so fast. Remember the players don't know WHO is doing it, they are falsely assuming it is God. The players are unaware of the little chit chat in heaven at this point. Just as in verse 1:21 Job says "the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away." First of all this is present tense meaning Job is saying this in regards to his present situation. He is NOT saying "well this is the way God has always been...He gives and takes away." Job was only talking about his current situation. It goes on to say that Job did NOT sin in making this False accusation. Why? Because Job doesn't know about the chit chat. Also Job is still trusting God in His goodness and not slandering Him therefore he has not sinned. So in the book of Job when anyone of the "players" are accusing God it is a false judgement. We know that because we were in on the chit chat at the beginning of the book! As the book goes on Job begins to doubt God. He begins to doubt His compassion and goodness. At the same time He can not believe that God would be doing this to him. Job is right God isn't doing this to him, the Devil is. But Job continues down the slippery slope and begins to talk himself into thinking that it must be God doing these things to him.
You see God is all-powerful, but the Devil has freewill. So the only way that God can counteract our bad freewill choices is to renew and restore us beyond what the choice took away. He CAN prevent freewill but WON"T because then we wouldn't be free. See the book of Job is the Devil trying to see how much dominion he had in the earth via our freewill and his. The Devil also takes any opportunity to defame God. This is Job's struggle throughout the book. Why is God ALLOWING this to happen to me? or Why is God DOING this to his righteous servant? Job's friends are certainly not helping matters, but Job presses on to solve the mystery.
Then finally at the end of the book God can no longer take the slander. God can see that Job is beginning to question his relationship with God. Job is also questioning the goodness of God. The last 4 chapters of Job is a beautifully written speech of the power of God and his sovereignty. It is God saying to Job that He is all-powerful and He is just. Now God is asking Job the same question "Why would I bring on injustice to a righteous man ?" Job then finally sees the big picture, or more like God says "you've got the wrong guy!" Job responds by repenting for the false accusations he has made against God. God words to the friends are "you have not spoken of me what is right" 42:7 and the friends are made to give a offering of repentance for their part in the slander. God restores to Job what the Devil has stolen and then some. The Devil looses because in the end Job did not allow his suffering to be attached to God and in turn defame Him.
See in the end it is only God who can bring life out of death. That IS the power of God. That IS how He does have power over the enemy. Restoration and reconciliation. But He will not compromise freewill. I believe that whoever wrote the book of Job was trying to show people that there is another power at work in the earth...The Devil. That is why we get to read the little chit chat at the beginning. So people would no longer assume that the "bad" stuff was from God. You see the battle is on and has been since Eden. In the end God will have the victory. But until that time we have to fight for our lives and struggle through the attacks of the enemy.
In our own trials of suffering if we believe that it is from our loving God we play right into the Devil's hand! You begin to resent God for your suffering which in turns breaks intimacy with Him. Our God is a good, loving, restoring God. He seeks wholeness and security for you. He would never do anything to take that away. The Devil is the one that seeks destruction for you. And freewill is his vehicle to do so. That is how the Devil was testing God in the book of Job. The Devil wanted to see if God would compromise freewill and take control over the situation. Now if Job right from the beginning would have recognized that the attack was from the enemy and NOT from God he would have saved himself from all the suffering. Not the suffering from the enemy but the suffering in thinking that God was the cause. He could have counter attacked with help from the almighty God by aligning his will with the will of God. He would have immediately had victory over the scheme of the Devil. Not to say the attack would have ended, but he would have been better equipped to deal with his loss. But we have to make the choice to align with God. Because even when we are making the wrong choice God can not compromise our choice. That is how the Devil gets away with so much in this world! He is doing all the dirty work and we are busy blaming God!
So when you find yourself asking "Why is God allowing this to happen?" The answer is going to always be "God is allowing EVERYTHING to happen." Not because everything is His will but because of our freewill and freedom to choose. If God only allowed all the GOOD things to happen that would be control. Likewise if He only allowed the BAD things to happen that would also be control. In order for there to be true freedom He must allow both. That is not a lack of power on God's part, but we get confused in thinking that because God is all powerful. But that doesn't mean that all good and all bad is from Him. That is Greek philosophical fatalism. Fatalism being the doctrine that all life's events are fixed in advance by God and man is powerless to change them. "What will be, will be" NO, NO, NO! This doctrine is practiced by several eastern religions and has also unfortunately leaked into Christianity. I say "NO, that is not my good, loving God!" Freewill was set into motion by US...WE decided with our dominion that WE wanted to be in control and God let us make that choice.
But God is so awesome in all of this that He has found a loophole. A trump card over the Devil if you will. God can not control that we make the right choices. But when we do make the wrong choices or someone does wrong against us...He can work it for GOOD. He loves to restore and renew because He is a good God who loves you and would NEVER do anything to hurt you.
Now what does this have to do with our friend Job? Well I think the book of Job is written like a murder mystery. We "the audience" know from the beginning who the guilty party is for causing Job's suffering. But the characters(Job, his family and friends) in the play don't. So the whole "play" is these characters trying to figure out who has caused the suffering. All the while we "the audience" know the answer to the mystery. We go through the whole book of Job with God being falsely accused for Job's suffering. This is much to the delight of the guilty party, the Devil, whose name actually means accuser or slanderer. But God states His case towards the end of the "play" and redeems His name. Job and his friends retract all the false accusations against God, and repent for their slander. The Devil is found out, justice is served and Job and his family are restored. Easy huh? Well let's take a closer look at how this all plays out.
Job is an awesome book in the way that it gives us a peak behind the scenes and into the spirit realm. It starts out with Job who is a righteous man that loves the Lord. So the Devil comes along one day to challenge God. Big surprise! God says "where have you come from?" "Oh roaming the earth to and fro" the Devil responds. See when you are out of relationship with God there is no rest and you wander through life. Remember Cain after he kills his brother. Cain says to God "Do not cast me from Your presence...I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer of the earth..." Interesting huh? OK back to Job. So the Devil is in the presence of God via his own freewill and proposes a test for Job and for God. The Devil says that the only reason Job is righteous is because God has put "a hedge of protection around him" Which this is good to know...that when we are in the will of God there is a super natural protection around us...to a certain extent. We are protected more than we would be if we were not in relationship with God, but even with the hedge of protection the freewill of others(in this case Satan) can override that protection. Meaning that even if you are in close relationship with God; you can't walk out in front of a bus and not expect to get hit. Get it?
So back to this little chit chat between God and the Devil. God gives the Devil permission to attack Job. Now keep in mind...the Devil is doing the attacking NOT God. What is also interesting is how the Devil carries out part of his plan. He uses the freewill of man to attack Job. It says in 1:17 that the Chaldean's formed raiding parties and that the Subeans attacked Job. It also looks as though the Devil has some control over nature to cause natural disasters against Job. Remember now that we(man) were given dominion over the earth and we choose to sin. So creation is fallen as well.
Now when it gets to 1:16 it says "The fire of God fell from heaven" Ah Ha...see told you God did it! No not so fast. Remember the players don't know WHO is doing it, they are falsely assuming it is God. The players are unaware of the little chit chat in heaven at this point. Just as in verse 1:21 Job says "the Lord has given and the Lord has taken away." First of all this is present tense meaning Job is saying this in regards to his present situation. He is NOT saying "well this is the way God has always been...He gives and takes away." Job was only talking about his current situation. It goes on to say that Job did NOT sin in making this False accusation. Why? Because Job doesn't know about the chit chat. Also Job is still trusting God in His goodness and not slandering Him therefore he has not sinned. So in the book of Job when anyone of the "players" are accusing God it is a false judgement. We know that because we were in on the chit chat at the beginning of the book! As the book goes on Job begins to doubt God. He begins to doubt His compassion and goodness. At the same time He can not believe that God would be doing this to him. Job is right God isn't doing this to him, the Devil is. But Job continues down the slippery slope and begins to talk himself into thinking that it must be God doing these things to him.
You see God is all-powerful, but the Devil has freewill. So the only way that God can counteract our bad freewill choices is to renew and restore us beyond what the choice took away. He CAN prevent freewill but WON"T because then we wouldn't be free. See the book of Job is the Devil trying to see how much dominion he had in the earth via our freewill and his. The Devil also takes any opportunity to defame God. This is Job's struggle throughout the book. Why is God ALLOWING this to happen to me? or Why is God DOING this to his righteous servant? Job's friends are certainly not helping matters, but Job presses on to solve the mystery.
Then finally at the end of the book God can no longer take the slander. God can see that Job is beginning to question his relationship with God. Job is also questioning the goodness of God. The last 4 chapters of Job is a beautifully written speech of the power of God and his sovereignty. It is God saying to Job that He is all-powerful and He is just. Now God is asking Job the same question "Why would I bring on injustice to a righteous man ?" Job then finally sees the big picture, or more like God says "you've got the wrong guy!" Job responds by repenting for the false accusations he has made against God. God words to the friends are "you have not spoken of me what is right" 42:7 and the friends are made to give a offering of repentance for their part in the slander. God restores to Job what the Devil has stolen and then some. The Devil looses because in the end Job did not allow his suffering to be attached to God and in turn defame Him.
See in the end it is only God who can bring life out of death. That IS the power of God. That IS how He does have power over the enemy. Restoration and reconciliation. But He will not compromise freewill. I believe that whoever wrote the book of Job was trying to show people that there is another power at work in the earth...The Devil. That is why we get to read the little chit chat at the beginning. So people would no longer assume that the "bad" stuff was from God. You see the battle is on and has been since Eden. In the end God will have the victory. But until that time we have to fight for our lives and struggle through the attacks of the enemy.
In our own trials of suffering if we believe that it is from our loving God we play right into the Devil's hand! You begin to resent God for your suffering which in turns breaks intimacy with Him. Our God is a good, loving, restoring God. He seeks wholeness and security for you. He would never do anything to take that away. The Devil is the one that seeks destruction for you. And freewill is his vehicle to do so. That is how the Devil was testing God in the book of Job. The Devil wanted to see if God would compromise freewill and take control over the situation. Now if Job right from the beginning would have recognized that the attack was from the enemy and NOT from God he would have saved himself from all the suffering. Not the suffering from the enemy but the suffering in thinking that God was the cause. He could have counter attacked with help from the almighty God by aligning his will with the will of God. He would have immediately had victory over the scheme of the Devil. Not to say the attack would have ended, but he would have been better equipped to deal with his loss. But we have to make the choice to align with God. Because even when we are making the wrong choice God can not compromise our choice. That is how the Devil gets away with so much in this world! He is doing all the dirty work and we are busy blaming God!
So when you find yourself asking "Why is God allowing this to happen?" The answer is going to always be "God is allowing EVERYTHING to happen." Not because everything is His will but because of our freewill and freedom to choose. If God only allowed all the GOOD things to happen that would be control. Likewise if He only allowed the BAD things to happen that would also be control. In order for there to be true freedom He must allow both. That is not a lack of power on God's part, but we get confused in thinking that because God is all powerful. But that doesn't mean that all good and all bad is from Him. That is Greek philosophical fatalism. Fatalism being the doctrine that all life's events are fixed in advance by God and man is powerless to change them. "What will be, will be" NO, NO, NO! This doctrine is practiced by several eastern religions and has also unfortunately leaked into Christianity. I say "NO, that is not my good, loving God!" Freewill was set into motion by US...WE decided with our dominion that WE wanted to be in control and God let us make that choice.
But God is so awesome in all of this that He has found a loophole. A trump card over the Devil if you will. God can not control that we make the right choices. But when we do make the wrong choices or someone does wrong against us...He can work it for GOOD. He loves to restore and renew because He is a good God who loves you and would NEVER do anything to hurt you.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Choices, Choices, Choices...
So I'm at Target combing the toothbrush isle looking for a new toothbrush. I don't know whether I should try something new or get what I always have. But I'm not sure that my "soft" bristle brush is doing the same work that a "medium" or "hard" bristle brush would do. Ahhhh...decisions, decisions. There are a million different toothbrush brands, colors, manual, battery powered...you name it. I even found one that plays music while you brush. The question is, do all the bells and whistles do the job any better than the old standby.
Now when I'm looking at all these choices am I to assume that they are all equally as good for my teeth and gums. That my choice really just boils down to personal preference an aesthetics. Well I wanted to get to the bottom of this burning question, so I held off on my toothbrush purchase. I went home and started clicking away at dentist websites to find some answers.
After combing though several sites(even the VERY impressive American Dental Association) I keep getting the same "strongly recommended" answer. A good old fashioned SOFT bristle toothbrush is the best for your teeth and gums. As a matter of fact some of the other harder bristle brushes could actually be harmful and damage my teeth and gums. So why all the different choices in the stores? Why not just sell the one the experts (in this case being the dentists) agree is the best for your oral health?
Ah the joys of freewill! The reason there are so many choices is because we like there to be a lot of choices. We as a society would almost be offended if we walked into a store with only ONE type of toothbrush. We deserve to have our choice...right? If I want to brush my teeth with a hard bristle, neon pink, battery powered, music playing toothbrush I can! It's my choice! I don't care what the experts say, they are my teeth not yours! They can't control what I do with MY teeth!
Is any of this sounding familiar? See we have grown into a society that has choice just for choice sake. Most of the choices aren't even good for us sometimes even harmful. But we feel cheated and controlled if we don't get to make the choice ourselves. Now I am all for freedom and the right to make my own choice. However with that freedom I want to learn to make the best choices I can for myself. I want to know what the experts say. I mean we do trust the experts right? Wait! How do I know my expert is an expert?
I bought a magazine the other day that's main title was "Editor's Picks--Best of The Web". Oooo had to buy that one. I wanted to know what all the fancy, cool, urban, east coast people thought was cool. We love this though right? If something has a "Seal of Approval" on it you feel more apt to buy it. Approved by whom is a different story. Your happy with the fact it is approved! Anyways, the magazine was filled with "best hotels", "best travel website", "best shopping", "best restaurants" etc. So the question is out of millions of different possibilities on the web how did they come up with the best? See this is a little more dicey than the toothbrush. How can you be sure these were really the best. The bottom line is we fall for it hook, line and sinker. I bet all the sites she had listed in her magazine got tons more hits this month from readers looking for the BEST!
This is a strange dichotomy in our society. We want to have the right to make our own choice, but for the most part we want to know what the best choice is. That is the beauty of an all loving, creator God. He has given us the ability and the freedom to choose. He also happens to be the EXPERT on all things human. This is an expert that you can trust. Why? Because He created you. Simple as that. Look if you can trust some lady in a corner office in a high rise in New York that the best hotel in Fiji is "Ocean Palace"...you can trust God. Moreover it's quite possible this lady has never even been to this hotel and you have never seen or met her...you can trust God. Still having a hard time? Well then trust Him the same way you do your dentist. At least you have met your dentist right? I mean he at least went to school and everything, has a big diploma framed on the wall. You would never think your dentist was trying to control your life by "strongly recommending" a certain toothbrush. Would you? He's your dentist! He is looking out for your health and well being! Right?
Really what it boils down to is... do you want to make the experts choice? OR For sake of choice go against the expert. I advise that someone who created you is a pretty trustworthy expert. In the end the choice is always yours alone; that is your God given freewill. But be warned going against the expert advise may result in your teeth falling out by age 40. Although you will still have your HARD bristle, neon pink, battery powered, music playing toothbrush as a souvenir.
Now when I'm looking at all these choices am I to assume that they are all equally as good for my teeth and gums. That my choice really just boils down to personal preference an aesthetics. Well I wanted to get to the bottom of this burning question, so I held off on my toothbrush purchase. I went home and started clicking away at dentist websites to find some answers.
After combing though several sites(even the VERY impressive American Dental Association) I keep getting the same "strongly recommended" answer. A good old fashioned SOFT bristle toothbrush is the best for your teeth and gums. As a matter of fact some of the other harder bristle brushes could actually be harmful and damage my teeth and gums. So why all the different choices in the stores? Why not just sell the one the experts (in this case being the dentists) agree is the best for your oral health?
Ah the joys of freewill! The reason there are so many choices is because we like there to be a lot of choices. We as a society would almost be offended if we walked into a store with only ONE type of toothbrush. We deserve to have our choice...right? If I want to brush my teeth with a hard bristle, neon pink, battery powered, music playing toothbrush I can! It's my choice! I don't care what the experts say, they are my teeth not yours! They can't control what I do with MY teeth!
Is any of this sounding familiar? See we have grown into a society that has choice just for choice sake. Most of the choices aren't even good for us sometimes even harmful. But we feel cheated and controlled if we don't get to make the choice ourselves. Now I am all for freedom and the right to make my own choice. However with that freedom I want to learn to make the best choices I can for myself. I want to know what the experts say. I mean we do trust the experts right? Wait! How do I know my expert is an expert?
I bought a magazine the other day that's main title was "Editor's Picks--Best of The Web". Oooo had to buy that one. I wanted to know what all the fancy, cool, urban, east coast people thought was cool. We love this though right? If something has a "Seal of Approval" on it you feel more apt to buy it. Approved by whom is a different story. Your happy with the fact it is approved! Anyways, the magazine was filled with "best hotels", "best travel website", "best shopping", "best restaurants" etc. So the question is out of millions of different possibilities on the web how did they come up with the best? See this is a little more dicey than the toothbrush. How can you be sure these were really the best. The bottom line is we fall for it hook, line and sinker. I bet all the sites she had listed in her magazine got tons more hits this month from readers looking for the BEST!
This is a strange dichotomy in our society. We want to have the right to make our own choice, but for the most part we want to know what the best choice is. That is the beauty of an all loving, creator God. He has given us the ability and the freedom to choose. He also happens to be the EXPERT on all things human. This is an expert that you can trust. Why? Because He created you. Simple as that. Look if you can trust some lady in a corner office in a high rise in New York that the best hotel in Fiji is "Ocean Palace"...you can trust God. Moreover it's quite possible this lady has never even been to this hotel and you have never seen or met her...you can trust God. Still having a hard time? Well then trust Him the same way you do your dentist. At least you have met your dentist right? I mean he at least went to school and everything, has a big diploma framed on the wall. You would never think your dentist was trying to control your life by "strongly recommending" a certain toothbrush. Would you? He's your dentist! He is looking out for your health and well being! Right?
Really what it boils down to is... do you want to make the experts choice? OR For sake of choice go against the expert. I advise that someone who created you is a pretty trustworthy expert. In the end the choice is always yours alone; that is your God given freewill. But be warned going against the expert advise may result in your teeth falling out by age 40. Although you will still have your HARD bristle, neon pink, battery powered, music playing toothbrush as a souvenir.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Suffering Is NOT Your Destiny
This is a bit of a follow up on my post..."Trauma, Life In The ER" read here. All of us have endured some trauma in our lives. What I want to tell you is that it was NEVER God's plan that you would endure trauma. He can and does teach us good things out of traumas that we have endured. That is His grace to us "to work all things for good". But God never initiates those traumas just so He can teach us something. That is NOT our loving God.
Man has freewill to do what he wants on this earth. We all know the craziness that has got us into. Not only crazy things, but horrible, hurtful things. Horrible and hurtful are never from God! God will not go back on his promise of free will just to snap us all into submission. That wouldn't be free will, that would be control. So why doesn't God step in to prevent someone from hurting someone else? Greg Boyd puts it this way "A freedom which was prevented from being exercised whenever it was going to be misused simply wouldn't be freedom". Yes, God is all powerful and sovereign but just because you have power doesn't mean you always use it. I have the power to murder someone, but that is not the most loving choice for me to make in regards to my neighbor. So it is with God...using His power to control us isn't the most loving choice for us.
So along with our freedom comes the choice to use it for evil. This was the same freedom that the angels were created with. That is why Satan was able to make the choice to leave heaven. This is also the same reason why Satan was allowed to make the choices that he has made. God loves his creations so much and he is so just, that he will not go back on His promise of freedom.
So why doesn't God just put us all out of our misery and kill us all? Because he loves us and it is not in the nature of a Creator to destroy. But that is also why Jesus and the Holy Spirit were made available to us. The Spirit to minister grace to us on this earth. Jesus to show us the way to the Father...so that we my live out eternity with no fear, pain or sorrow. Hard to swallow for some, but it is the truth.
The bottom line is that God is never in favor of trauma in our lives. It was and is never his plan for you. His plan for you is to prosper and be whole. Why would a loving God break us down just so He could restore us? That is totally twisted! Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted and set the captives free. He didn't come to plunge you into a life of despair and misery.
So this doesn't make God less powerful or sovereign. Really it is a display of his power and love for us. That He keeps His word in regards to us. That word is always LOVE. Anything other than LOVE is NOT from GOD!
Man has freewill to do what he wants on this earth. We all know the craziness that has got us into. Not only crazy things, but horrible, hurtful things. Horrible and hurtful are never from God! God will not go back on his promise of free will just to snap us all into submission. That wouldn't be free will, that would be control. So why doesn't God step in to prevent someone from hurting someone else? Greg Boyd puts it this way "A freedom which was prevented from being exercised whenever it was going to be misused simply wouldn't be freedom". Yes, God is all powerful and sovereign but just because you have power doesn't mean you always use it. I have the power to murder someone, but that is not the most loving choice for me to make in regards to my neighbor. So it is with God...using His power to control us isn't the most loving choice for us.
So along with our freedom comes the choice to use it for evil. This was the same freedom that the angels were created with. That is why Satan was able to make the choice to leave heaven. This is also the same reason why Satan was allowed to make the choices that he has made. God loves his creations so much and he is so just, that he will not go back on His promise of freedom.
So why doesn't God just put us all out of our misery and kill us all? Because he loves us and it is not in the nature of a Creator to destroy. But that is also why Jesus and the Holy Spirit were made available to us. The Spirit to minister grace to us on this earth. Jesus to show us the way to the Father...so that we my live out eternity with no fear, pain or sorrow. Hard to swallow for some, but it is the truth.
The bottom line is that God is never in favor of trauma in our lives. It was and is never his plan for you. His plan for you is to prosper and be whole. Why would a loving God break us down just so He could restore us? That is totally twisted! Jesus came to bind up the broken hearted and set the captives free. He didn't come to plunge you into a life of despair and misery.
So this doesn't make God less powerful or sovereign. Really it is a display of his power and love for us. That He keeps His word in regards to us. That word is always LOVE. Anything other than LOVE is NOT from GOD!
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