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A NEW CREATION: DEFINING THE NEW BIRTH [Part 1]
Because original Creation was severely damaged by sin and rebellion in both the angelic and human realms, it required God’s subsequent plan for a New Creation.
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AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD
Creation does not work as intended according to the will of the Creator unless the Creator is recognized and honored by all members of His Creation. Anything less than this will cause problems, allow for faults and malfunctions, and may ultimately cause major failures. Yet the Creator has deemed that all who desire His intention and will can only agree to it voluntarily. It is why He gifted humanity with a free will. People are thus given both the authority and responsibility to choose the Creator’s will and vision or not. The correct choice also should be their top priority since it is the Creator who created everything to begin with, and everything in His original Creation extended forth and branched out from Him, that is, from His plans and creative process—and that it was good.
In this we can see that the Creator is both benevolent and non-coercive in that He never forces one to recognize and honor Him and will not violate His complimentary endowment of free will, which proves His love and His obvious understanding that love can only be freely given. He has also created human beings with the power of perception—the ability to perceive on their own—and the desire to “look around and discover” whatever His Creation has to behold. He knows that in this process, if one remains honorable and honest in one’s ongoing search, one will eventually find Him.
OF SAINTS AND SINNERS
The perfection of His original Creation was marred due to an angelic revolt. One may wonder why such a thing happened or how it could have happened within the bliss and harmony of the heavenly realm. Such bewilderment reigns until one considers the foundational culprit at the heart of it all—the sin of pride. This unfortunate trait is the result of a strange brew. It arises as an alchemical concoction formulated deep within the bowels of worshipful reflection upon self—arising from gifts such as outward beauty, lofty intellect, and/or superior attributes and abilities—that which the self had nothing to do with but takes possession of as if it did.
When one is thinking correctly, the proper response to such personal gifts and attributes is the very opposite of the aforementioned sin. It is one’s focus on the Creator and the recognition that one is a created being with no right to claim creative title nor the right to choose as one sees fit. Thus, rather than personal pride, in which one puts his or her own selfish interests first, one chooses instead to yield to the will of one’s Maker and appropriate the positive character trait of humility, which is a recognition of endowed blessings as gifts given in love. This is an acknowledgment of the Giver and an expression of gratitude to Him. Humility thus originates from the unpretentious heart of a person very aware that he or she is the blessed creation of a loving and beneficent Creator.
As such, rather than focusing laterally on self and generating rebellion, one instead looks upwardly towards one’s Maker and offers praise.
REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE
And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. [Revelation 12:7-9]
An apparent third of the angels of heaven rebelled against the Creator (Rev 12:4). This was followed by a much greater percentage of humanity throughout history. Such defiant outcomes had to be in order to allow for a dutiful Community willingly dedicated to the Creator composed of those who honored Him, appreciated Him, and loved Him. Those who refused were culled by their own choices. Each of the rebels, whether angelic or human, chose incorrectly, having been made vulnerable by personal pride, which caused their inability to withstand temptation, which further caused their descent into the darkness of deception.
THE TEMPTER’S TRICKS
The temptation tactics of the enemy are exactly the same in pretty much every respect as that which was presented to the Lord during His temptation in the wilderness, though nuanced to varying degrees to fit the person thereof:
(1) It was suggested to the Lord that He act out of character and turn stones into bread to satisfy His natural hunger, that is, prioritize natural desires and natural food over spiritual desires (serving God) and spiritual food—the Word of God.
(2) It was suggested to the Lord that He act out of character upon arrival at the “pinnacle of the temple” (having the highest level of spiritual authority and power) by operating outside the Law of God through engaging in a potentially harmful and injurious personal act, knowingly and purposely, in the sight of all, as if to prove He was bulletproof and above approach no matter what He did, in order to summon God’s unilateral protection and unconditional approval, and thus verify His official outward exalted sanitized religious image. (Sound familiar?)
(3) It was suggested to the Lord that He act out of character and accept the rule over all the kingdoms on earth in exchange for worshipping the devil, that is, trade His spiritual authority over His eternal spiritual kingdom for all the temporary perks of natural authority at the highest level over the entire planet, while serving as the devil’s flunky.
This is pretty much what Adam and Eve did. Of course, their spiritual kingdom was the Garden and the devil lied about the world outside it, which brings to mind the following:
For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside.
I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God
Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. [Psalm 84:10]
Therefore, we must understand that there are basic natural tendencies endemic to every person which can be utilized by the enemy to gain advantage. The serpent in the Garden knew this, of course, since he was a fallen angel who had failed his own temptation battle. He was very aware of personal makeup and knew the newly created humans had a similar nature in that they were free will beings made in the image of God. It is why temptation always starts in one of three overall areas:
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [John 2:16]
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate… [Genesis 3:6]
IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. [Genesis 1:27]
One might take a step back here when thinking of the devil and demons as somehow being like God but one must also understand that such fallen angels were at one time bright shining sinless creatures who dwelt in heaven and that in his previous personification the devil was apparently the most gifted angel among them. We must also understand that God Himself has a particular distinct and unique nature and that He draws from Himself to create those whom He would be in relationship with, which, again, means that both angels and humans are at least similar to Him if not predominantly like Him (until they rebel against Him). It is why both have such wondrous abilities in both the spiritual and natural spheres.
Human beings, “made, lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7), are intelligent, physically gifted, and infused with potentially tremendous spiritual aptitude including the inherent capacity for accomplishing the things we see the Lord doing in the Gospels. The first man was like that, whose attributes also included immortality before his fall into sin, and was “a type of Him who was to come” (Romans 5:14). It is why the apostle Paul related the first created man to the Lord Jesus, calling both Adam:
So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [1Corinthians 15:45] [1]
Adam was made in the image of God. The Lord Jesus IS the Image of God.
This puts things into greater perspective regarding God’s original intentions for humanity and also how very different humanity was originally. What we see in the Lord Jesus is an absolutely perfect Man but also One who is a type of what all people should be. In fact, Christians are instructed by the Lord’s teachings to strive to be just like Him, as impossible as that may appear. What He means by this is one must appropriate the same divine nature that Adam and Eve had before the fall. It is also why the Lord Jesus taught that every one of His followers must undergo a new spiritual birth in that they must be born again, which means “born from above” (John 3:7).
The Lord’s mission is thus the process of transforming humanity back to its original state and condition.
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE LORD’S REAL COVENANT MODEL AND DISCIPLESHIP STANDARD [Part 2]
The rebellion of Adam and Eve manifests itself as well through the many diverse forms of Christianity which purposely differ from the original and oppose the Lord.
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“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” [John 14:15]
COVENANT AUTHORITY
We know from the historical account of Adam in Genesis, which the Lord Jesus referenced during His ministry (Matthew 19:4-6), that in the very beginning there was perfect spiritual covenantal relationship between this man and God. The same relationship with God transpired with Eve. Directly afterwards, a new covenant was created by God, the marriage covenant between Adam and Eve which was also a perfect covenantal relationship.
Now, regarding the stipulations of these two covenants, and due to the fact that God gave Adam and Eve free wills (because they were sentient beings made in the image of God and not robots), the respective covenants could only work and remain in effect if the parties thereof remained true in heart to one another. This means their close covenant connections were founded upon an eternal adherence by each party to the basic terms thereof which promoted and maintained ongoing good relationship, which, primarily, is Faithfulness (fidelity, devotion, commitment, loyalty, etc.).
Yet, the foundation for such faithfulness is Love. It is why whoever would be in covenant with God must love God (with all one’s heart). Without this love, regardless of great effort and doing everything else right, this covenant could not possibly work. It is the same with marriage. Therefore, these two highest of all covenant relationships are unlike any other. The first creates spiritual life. The second creates human life.
DIAGRAMS
To get a better perspective of these three parties and their original covenant connections, one might consider the simple illustration of a three-sided pyramid. Each point of the pyramid is a covenant partner. At the top is God. At the lower left is Adam. At the lower right is Eve. Each side of the pyramid, represented by a straight line, is the relational connection. Thus, according to this illustration, God has separate direct relationships with both Adam and Eve, as represented by the left and right outwardly descending lines, and Adam and Eve have their own relationship as represented by the base line. Remember, the spiritual covenant Adam and Eve each had with God superseded the one they had with each other (marriage).
So, the pyramid figure starts with the highest point (God). God then creates another point on the lower left upon the creation of Adam. He then creates a line between these two points (the spiritual covenant relationship between God and Adam). Later, when God created Eve, He created a third point on the lower right, followed by a second line between these two points (the spiritual covenant relationship between God and Eve). Only after all this is accomplished is the final connecting line drawn at bottom, (the marriage covenant relationship between Adam and Eve extending left to right). One may notice there is no one else between each covenant party. Adam and Eve each have their direct line of relationship and communication with God and a separate direct line of relationship and communication between each other.
Okay. Is this model actually true? Not really. Is the flaw in this pyramid diagram readily apparent? It is certainly there. This illustration may appear as a good example but is actually in violation of the Lord’s teachings. To discover the flaw, if you have not already, the Apostle Paul addressed the correct covenant relationship model in the eleventh chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians:
…Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [1Corinthians 11:3]
Consider the following full explanatory passage from the Amplified Classic:
Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah). I appreciate and commend you because you always remember me in everything and keep firm possession of the traditions (the substance of my instructions), just as I have [verbally] passed them on to you.
But I want you to know and realize that Christ is the Head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the Head of Christ is God.
Any man who prays or prophesies (teaches, refutes, reproves, admonishes, and comforts) with his head covered dishonors his Head (Christ). And any woman who [publicly] prays or prophesies (teaches, refutes, reproves, admonishes, or comforts) when she is bareheaded dishonors her head (her husband); it is the same as [if her head were] shaved. For if a woman will not wear [a head] covering, then she should cut off her hair too; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her head shorn or shaven, let her cover [her head].
For a man ought not to wear anything on his head [in church], for he is the image and [reflected] glory of God [his function of government reflects the majesty of the divine Rule]; but woman is [the expression of] man’s glory (majesty, preeminence). For man was not [created] from woman, but woman from man; Neither was man created on account of or for the benefit of woman, but woman on account of and for the benefit of man. Therefore she should [be subject to his authority and should] have a covering on her head [as a token, a symbol, of her submission to authority, that she may show reverence as do] the angels [and not displease them].
Nevertheless, in [the plan of] the Lord and from His point of view woman is not apart from and independent of man, nor is man aloof from and independent of woman; For as woman was made from man, even so man is also born of woman; and all [whether male or female go forth] from God [as their Author].
Consider for yourselves; is it proper and decent [according to your customs] for a woman to offer prayer to God [publicly] with her head uncovered? Does not the native sense of propriety (experience, common sense, reason) itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is a dishonor [humiliating and degrading] to him, But if a woman has long hair, it is her ornament and glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.
Now if anyone is disposed to be argumentative and contentious about this, we hold to and recognize no other custom [in worship] than this, nor do the churches of God generally. [1Corinthians 11:1-16][1]
Thus, the correct illustration of God’s covenants is not a pyramid but a vertical line.
It is the only spiritual hierarchy mentioned in the New Testament (a very limited hierarchy) and is uncomplicated and brief. It begins with God’s supreme presiding authority in heaven and descends to humanity on earth.
DEFINITIONS
Before going further, I must first address the meaning of the English word denoting this authority—“head”—used in 1Corinthians 11:3. It is from the Greek root word κεφαλή kephalḗ (kef-al-ay’). It is defined as: “the head (as the part most readily taken hold of), literally or figuratively:—head.” With regard to this verse, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states:
“Metaphorically, anything supreme, chief, prominent; of persons, master, lord: τίνος, of a husband in relation to his wife, 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:23; of Christ, the lord of the husband, 1 Corinthians 11:3 (cf. Buttmann, 124f (109)).”
To clarify this, think of the authority the Lord Jesus has over His disciples. Also, think of the Lord Jesus as the Groom and the authority He has over the Bride of Christ. With reference to God or the Father, keep in mind that the Father-Son relationship is a package deal. These two cannot be divided. In fact, the Apostle John writes that whoever does not have the Son does not have the Father, and vice versa. God is not three people but He did manifest Himself in three principal ways. The Lord Jesus is Immanuel: “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He is the Image of God (2Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15). During His ministry, the Man (the Son) subjected Himself to the Father. However, He often equated Himself with the Father. He even said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, this issue must be looked upon in a covenantal sense. For example, Paul stated:
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [Galatians 3:26-29]
This means, in spiritual terms, that every actual member of the Lord’s real Community is equal regardless of nationality, gender, or social standing. However, a Christian slave remained subjected to his master. Workers remained subjected to whoever hired them. Citizens remained subjected to governing authorities. This also extends to marriage, but again, the marriage covenant is superseded only by one’s personal covenant with the Lord, which means it is obviously a covenant based on love and faithfulness. Nevertheless, the Word of God is clear that the husband is to have authority over his wife:
…Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [1Corinthians 11:3][2]
CONNECTIONS
However, for the covenants to be in effect, the man first must be as Adam was before the fall, that is, in right relationship with God, and not as Adam was afterwards. And the woman first must be as Eve was before the fall, that is, in right relationship with God, and not as she was afterwards. The marriage covenant thus extends or emerges from the primary covenant with the Lord and is connected to it, just as the overall hierarchy of authority, the vertical line model, is connected through a series of links.
It is why the Lord’s real covenant model is overarching and so important, since every other covenant in the life of a real Christian is based upon it.
© 2025 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued…]
[1] © 1987 Amplified Bible Classic Edition. Used by permission.
[2] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
THE TRUTH DIALOGUES (COMPILATION)
In early to mid-December of 2017 I posted a three-part series called The Truth Dialogues. These posts are parabolic in nature revealing hidden truths for those with eyes to see.
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In these posts one will discover figurative indicators of hidden subterfuge currently being revealed in the real world in real time. There is an exposing process taking place on the national scene as preparatory to a national cleansing process. The corruption had reached massive levels with next to zero accountability. The bold hubris of the people involved reached astronomical proportions, both for what was never before attempted and also for the complete disregard for the law, individual rights, common decency, and basic morality.
The Lord told anyone who was listening during His ministry that the massive corruption of His time was about to be exposed and dealt with, and He was the first one on the scene after John the Immerser to begin the process. His ministry not only featured the presentation of truth and the hope of salvation being made readily available for those who were willing, it was also greatly reformative. He would shine His pure Light on all the hidden vermin, rats, and roaches that had wrested control for monetary controlling purposes and selfish, immoral personal agendas, and expose them for all to see. He would also, in the end, bring everlasting judgment on the cabal in question.
Here is your opportunity to revisit these posts and discover light for our present times as new information of relatively recent misdeeds keeps rolling in:
December 01, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 1
December 05, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 2
December 19, 2017: THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: EPISODE 3
© 2018 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: Episode 3
“In discussing people beyond the reach of justice and majorities uninterested in truth, where does that leave the endeavors of honorable individuals intent on necessary reform?”
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“Reformation is always an enterprise of individuals. It is always the individual who sees the need for reform. Though there are usually a great many individuals who see such a need, only very few actually act upon it. The larger part of that equation—the decision-making process which chooses eventually to not act—is most often based on mere self-preservation. Most people would rather not rock any boats because they know they will receive bad reactions and negative feedback and some of it may be severe. Most are intelligent enough, if that’s the right word, or at least aware enough, to figure this out ahead of time.”
“Even though they know there is an injustice, they would rather keep quiet?”
“Yes. Of course. It is almost never the case that grave injustices are performed in the dark and stay there, hidden from everyone. It is that the perpetrators thereof deal in a very high level of intimidation.”
“They use fear to keep people quiet.”
“Everyone knows this. It is why the bad guys are often so bold in their schemes. They know someone always notices what they do, even if done in secret and in the dark, and it is often many someones, but they also know most will never act to expose or stop them. It is like that famous case several decades ago, though in microcosm, of a murder that took place late at night in a teeming city in which many people heard the screams of the victim but no one acted to save her.”
“There is the phrase, ‘I don’t want to get involved,’ and the operative word there is involved, in that becoming involved in another person’s problem could potentially cause too much personal discomfort.”
“Yes, and it is not at all just discomfort, or even pain that they fear, but also concern for one’s reputation. This is why most people prefer to run in groups in which everyone thinks and acts roughly the same and in which there are no deviations from the norm.”
“And thus no deviants.”
“Yes. Most people would rather be part of a crowd and not deviate from the parameters or mores of the crowd because such a deviation would be a pox upon their reputations. They know the members of their own group would look askance upon such behavior and might even rebuke them. Such efforts are initial lead-ins to possible further censuring in order to do whatever may be necessary to keep such wayward members in line.”
“Because wayward members may cause a chink in the group’s armor, so to speak.”
“Yes. The group must protect itself, that is, its shared interests, against anyone who may attempt to subvert it and its cohesion, even if it comes from within. This is why it is always the case that the first enemy a reformer faces comes from his own group and never from without. And there are always very strong members in the controlling circle of the group with the most vested interests who bring the strongest attack. As a perfect case in point, the Lord Jesus was betrayed and killed by members of His own nation, though they used an outside political intermediary, the Romans, to get the job done.”
“And that is quite the irony, is it not?”
“It certainly is, in that the group was threatened by the reform efforts of one of their own, and in order to protect the group from outside influences in order to keep it pure, it enlisted the help of the most powerful outside influence to eliminate the threat.”
“What does that say for that particular group and for such groups in general?”
“I would say that if such groups have to resort to that level of devious subterfuge to stave off its own necessary reformation, it not only proves the dire need for its reformation in the first place but also reveals that real reformation for such groups is often not even possible.”
“Then Jesus was not actually trying to reform it?”
“No. He was actually revealing it for what it was and attempting to rescue people from it. Though He would have liked to bring reform and could have, He knew it was not possible simply because the group was not willing. It works the same way with individuals. The Lord gave everything He had to save and was willing to die for everyone, but he won’t waste His time with unrepentant and unwilling people. Even so, individuals who do not hold membership in groups are easier to save in part because they are not compromised and hindered by peer pressure, and the worst form of that is religious peer pressure.”
“It is the ruling supremacy of the group.”
“Correct. And the people of the group have already bought into it to such a degree that their liberty and individual consciences have been compromised without them realizing it. People become bound. Their loyalty is misplaced. Their minds have been undermined. No one can break out of such a condition except through one process. The individual must have somehow retained in his possession something very important that the cultish control of the groupthink mechanism failed at some point to eliminate.”
“And what would that be?”
“That would be an overriding and uncompromising love for the truth.”
© 2017 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
THE TRUTH DIALOGUES: Episode 2
“At the end of our last segment you stated that majority opinion means absolutely nothing as an arbiter of truth. Perhaps you can take up today’s discussion based on that belief.”
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“To begin, the Community of the Lord Jesus is not a democracy. It is not about majority rule and never has been. It could never operate effectively that way. But on the other hand it is certainly not a so-called benevolent dictatorship, as I have heard it referred to, since such is fundamentally a contradiction in terms. Actual dictatorships always operate, and this should be obvious, according to no respect whatsoever for individual rights or freedom. The Lord has never operated that way and never will.”
“But God is in charge, right?”
“Well, of course He’s in charge but He never violates free will.”
“How can one have an actual organization under such guidelines? And does not the existence of God’s overall authority mean He is in charge anyway regardless of semantic professions to the contrary?”
“God is always in charge. He created the universe. But He also created human beings with a free will. He did this because he wants us to excel.”
“Please explain.”
“Let me start by saying we know very well what happens when one person takes control over other persons in non-voluntary situations. The controller gains power by siphoning the liberty of those he controls. In most cases the one in control always operates according to purely selfish interests and will eventually do anything to maintain control once he has it. It is the control over others that gives him his power. He uses his power for personal gain. Even in so-called enlightened societies this is true. It is why people in power must have their power checked by law.”
“And this brings us to the fact that a nation of laws is a much better place to live within than a nation ruled by people, correct?”
“Yes. Laws are put in place, agreed to by the majority, that even the leaders must abide by, and this keeps leaders from becoming lawless tyrants, because the law inhibits the leaders ability to wrest control and thus violate individual rights.”
“Okay, we agree in general, but we still have the means with which laws are created that we must deal with, since you stated that potential laws must first be agreed to by a majority. Does not the same problem develop when laws must be established in this way?”
“Is there any other way to do it? The majority decides but with full respect for individual rights. Otherwise the voters vote against their own liberty. In the beginning God only had one law and that one law was designed for no other reason than to protect the first humans and their progeny.”
“From what?”
“From evil.”
“What evil?”
“The evil arising from an invisible sinister force that had taken residence on the planet before the creation of human beings.”
“Do you really believe that, the idea of an aboriginal sinister devil or serpent or whatever, that predated man? This flies in the face somewhat of scientific advances regarding the evolution of our species and appears as a scapegoat celestial bogeyman upon which we fix blame.”
“Instead of blaming ourselves?”
“Yes, but not in the way I think you mean it. The Genesis story created a bad guy on which to fix blame instead of addressing the actual guilty party.”
“So you believe guilt was involved.”
“Of course guilt was involved and it still is. Humans must find a way to blame someone other than themselves because the alternative implication is far too dark to deal with.”
“Meaning that human beings are actually very well aware of their propensity for evil.”
“We have many centuries and even millennia telling us all we need to know in that regard.”
“In that human beings are evil?”
“As a species we certainly have proven this over and again regardless of time or place. The record is there.”
“Yes, and it doesn’t matter if we are referring to common individuals with little or no control over others or not.”
“In that human beings have proven themselves to be evil because they perpetrate evil acts.”
“The Bible calls it sin. Non-Christians make fun of the concept. But sin is obviously real, as is evil.
“These are merely different terminologies for the same problem and the same potential darkness in people that people feel greatly uncomfortable acknowledging.”
“From a Biblical perspective, sin is defined as missing the mark. Philosophy calls it the problem of evil. Without going into great detail or falling into the trap of endless posturing and casuistry, let us simply acknowledge that evil exists and must have had a point of origin. From a purely amoral scientific perspective in which there is no God and everything exists as the byproduct of billion-year geologic and biological processes, evil still exists. It could be that we have affixed a label to undesirable actions but the undesirable actions still exist, and it is we humans who label such actions as undesirable. Most of us don’t like them. We say they are wrong. We get convicted when we do them, most of us anyway, and wish we had not. So regardless of terminology or belief systems, all human beings the world over have this exact conviction. We know evil exists and we wish it didn’t but we don’t know how to eliminate it.”
“But Christianity does, correct?”
“Before I answer that I want to address the idea that human beings became aware of their sin from the beginning and tried to do whatever they could to eliminate it. At first they tried very hard to simply stop doing bad things. That didn’t work so well but it did slow it down somewhat by those who put forth the effort by simply not obeying the ever-present seemingly natural impulses or giving in to bad desires. Then they tried using ultra-discipline techniques which as a byproduct created like-minded groups, some of which grew into ancient philosophical schools, predating Greece by multiple centuries, of course, and also man-made religions. These did not work so well either. Then we entered into the advent of Law. Law did nothing about the presence of evil. All it did was define it specifically and attach penalties, some very severe, to practices deemed bad or evil which the majority labeled as such. Thus, the fear of violating the law and facing stiff penalties, which would grossly violate personal liberty, kept many people from breaking the law.”
“And this is still the case today. One wonders then, how many people would revert to evil actions characterized as ‘breaking the law’ indiscriminately if there was no longer any law.”
“We already know the answer to this from what happened before law and by the actions of those who refuse to obey the law now. Many such people today are imprisoned because they are a constant unrepentant threat to the law-abiders who wish to live morally in peace.”
“Meaning evil can be checked by disciplined personal choice.”
“Yes. This is what the majority is left with. Not a complete elimination of bad behavior but the choice to try one’s best to be an agent of good. Yet there are still people on the planet who engage in whatever bad behavior they want, including great evil, in that they unofficially violate the law as a matter of course and never have to pay for their crimes.”
“Because they are above the law?”
“No. But because they are beyond the reach of the law.”
© 2017 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.
Portals of Progress (Part 5)
For those who have read the full series thus far, you may have noticed the roundabout nature of the subject matter, in that what started out in Part 1 as an urging to step forth through a portal of spiritual growth has gone full circle regarding what happened to our first parents.
The devil fooled ‘em. No doubt about that. And for those who desire a real walk with God, the enemy will attempt to fool them too.
As a result, for many, a wholesome healthy fear of getting it wrong has resulted in an unwholesome unhealthy paralysis brought on by fear that one will get it wrong. And rather than possibly mess up one’s life by seeking to climb a spiritual mountain by the Lord’s direction and fail, one will almost always obey the tendency to leave well enough alone and be satisfied with much less or dead religion.
In that light, we must always remember that the Lord is trying to get us back to the Garden.
This process, dubbed by the Lord as the narrow road with a small narrow entry, is mandatory for the real Christian, of course, but substitutes are much more comfortable. The majority of that which is called Christianity, which I call Unreal Christianity, has institutionalized the comfortable way, as a third way, of which none actually exists.
The Lord called this comfortable way the broad way. It is the way of the world, the way so easy anyone can walk it, and the way leading in the direct opposite direction of the Garden. Due to such overpowering religious indoctrination and conditioning, most “Christians” fear the real road and thus see the real gate as the wrong gate.
Here is the Lord’s instruction:
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” [Matthew 7:13-14]
Sadly, Christians who drive down Broadway end up at the same place as unrepentant sinners. Imagine all the wasted effort that went into a Christian life that never included full obedience to the Lord, as if some could invent their own more suitable path, and one will understand better what Adam and Eve wasted. They had it all and then they blew it. Believe it or not, they got religious. The forbidden fruit was said to make them wise and be like God and the angels, but it did just the opposite.
Faux Christians have a very hard time seeing this, but it was the exact problem embraced by the Pharisees. They ate the forbidden fruit. They continued to eat it. They turned eating it into religious practice. As a result they became children of the devil.
This is why the Lord made the following curious statement to the religious hierarchy—the chief priests and elders:
“But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went.
“The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go.
“Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.
“For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.” [Matthew 21:28-32] [1]
These religious people were so bound up in religion they repeatedly rejected the kingdom, exactly the same way so many “Christians” reject the kingdom and the real portal to it.
And remember, the Lord Jesus called Himself the Door, so He is the Real Portal.
This rejection of the real road for the sake of honoring one’s religious tradition is the height of spiritual blindness, something the Lord talked about often.
Adam and Eve saw everything from the opposite perspective of us and still got it wrong. They already had Paradise and went through a portal they thought would lead to greater paradise, which of course did not exist. Most Christians see the kingdom of heaven the Lord Jesus brought to this world as whatever they might currently possess even though the kingdom they claim to be within has none of the evidence the real kingdom possesses.
Unreal Christianity is a faux spiritual kingdom and its leaders warn their subjects to never venture outside it, just as the Lord teaches we must do the opposite. Hence, such unreal Christians are afraid to enter the Real Portal and travel the straight and narrow road as commanded by the Lord. They routinely violate His commands, and have been taught to refuse the full instruction of the Lord and the original apostles, just as the Pharisees did.
But the disparaged tax collectors and prostitutes were not burdened with any religious yokes and were thus able to enter the kingdom relatively quickly compared to the religionists, who for all practical purposes in this day and age are predominantly “Christian,” since such people claim to already have the full Gospel when they don’t, and religious pride keeps them bound up in grave clothes even though the Lord continually tries to call them forth from their respective tombs.
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Portals of Progress (Part 2)
Hesiod’s story of Pandora’s Box was an obvious take on the Genesis account.
Pandora had been granted authority.
She possessed the freedom to choose.
Freedom allows for the making of evil choices.
Eve discovered evil in exactly this manner.
Evil gives clear perspective to goodness.
Before people know evil, however, they are only vaguely aware of evil in an abstract sense.
This is how God presented evil to Adam—in the abstract. He never taught Adam about evil directly, because Adam could not possibly have known what He was talking about.
There he was—fresh from creation—Adam! Bright and pure and strong, perfectly innocent, with large open eyes and a big smile. He was astounded by the beauty around him and most especially by the majesty of the Lord before him, his Creator.
The Lord and Adam were very close, a very loving Father and son. Though Adam was made of earthly elements in the physical realm, he was filled with the Spirit of God. The very life and presence of God lived within Adam. He was a true son of his Father, and as his Father, the Lord did all possible to teach Adam properly and protect him.
Regarding evil though, the only option God had was a commandment:
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” [Genesis 2:16-17]
Commandments are just that—they are commands. The reason commands regarding evil must be presented as commands is because the recipient of the command has no understanding of the far-reaching consequences of its violation.
In this, Adam had to learn obedience, and in that He had to trust God.
And this is what faith is.
Of course, Adam had no reason whatsoever to doubt God. He did not blindly obey, either. He knew He was loved. God created him and gave him a great place to live and work.
Adam chose to obey God. He loved his Father.
He must have also understood that his Father should and must be respected, and that his Father knew a whole lot more than he did. He knew the command he received against evil was for his own benefit and protection, though he had no understanding of what those things—evil and death—were. As in the hearts of innocent children, evil and death were only abstractions to him.
In Genesis 2, God reveals Adam’s initial purpose:
Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. [Genesis 2:15] [1]
Adam obeyed the Lord regarding his purpose also. He took good care of the garden in which he lived. As a result of his work, the garden was very fruitful. It grew. It produced.
As Adam continued on he saw the good consequences of his choices, that good things happened as a result, and he saw good fruit come forth that he had never previously seen. It was all new—astoundingly and wonderfully new—and abundant.
But Adam also had to grow. He had to progress. And he did. He became more knowledgeable though remaining in a state of perfect innocence.
There were often times he had to do things, however, that he had never done before. He had to choose. It was always a new portal for him, one in which there was the usual trepidation. Like any of us, he had to figure things out. He put two and two together. He no doubt sometimes learned by trial and error, error being not an evil thing but simply an unfruitful thing. In academic terms, it is referred to as gaining knowledge empirically.
Without making correct decisions, there is no possibility of progress.
He discovered that as long as he kept choosing correctly, good stuff kept happening. In time, he became somewhat less concerned about walking through such new portals, and even began to approach apparent risk with much fervor. He was, after all, obeying God.
Through obedience, faithfulness, personal experience, hard work, dedication, and seeing the fruitful results of planting good seed, he learned that life kept producing good fruit as long as he stayed true to the Lord in his heart and in his work. He saw how fruitful the garden was, and was thankful that every tree was acceptable and good, except one.
And because he trusted his Father, he refused to go down that path.
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Portals of Progress (Part 1)
The Lord sometimes sets a door before us through which we must pass. It often arrives as a result of much prayer and searching. Upon arrival, we sometimes do not recognize the door as the answer we seek because it doesn’t necessarily appear as an opportunity, but something to avoid.
Walking through such a portal begins a journey into the unknown.
It portends a Door of Discipleship—an Avenue of Advancement—a Portal of Progress.
Going through such a door will cause one to surrender one’s supposed security. It will demand the leaving of one’s safe and guarded sanctuary composed of the known, where all is seemingly predictable and routine, and head into uncharted territory.
This moment will demand great faith. Though one must receive clear confirmation that such a move is God’s will and though one may feel a great tug in the spirit and the Lord’s leading, the much greater tug must actually be a push, in that even though we feel something drawing us forward, it is never enough to force us or carry us along.
We must act. We must choose. We must compel ourselves. We must obey. We must step through.
I wrote a post two years ago entitled He Steadfastly Set His Face To Go To Jerusalem. The Lord knew all along the cross was His fate. It was a portal through which He had to pass. None of His loved ones agreed with His choice, though the choice was made eons before.
We know that God had already integrated the cross into His master plan before He began creating anything.
Regarding the fate of humanity, long before He created Adam, God planned His own crucifixion.
…Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. [1Peter 1:18-21]
The Lord knew in advance of His creation that a sacrifice would be called for. He knew as soon as He began planning to create free-willed beings like Himself that such beings must be allowed to choose, even to the point of choosing against Him, or they would have no such thing as a free will. In this—choosing against God—choice allows for the opposite of what God intends.
We know what Adam and Eve eventually did. We know that at some point they both violated the command against choosing evil. But we also know that prior to their spiritual fall, Adam and Eve spent an undetermined age in perfect purity and union with the Lord, a time in which they continually chose correctly. It was their time of obedience, and thus, innocence.
The Word of God says that Adam and Eve were made in His image. God had created two people who were like He was, with the ability to choose as He did, and thus with a completely free will. He had granted them the ability to make their own choices.
They were thus not robots. Robots, no matter the level of sophistication, are programmed. They are built and programmed by a higher intelligence. Human beings, as the creators of robots, continue to make them as “intelligent” as possible. But regardless of appearances, robots will forever be the result of programming—robots cannot possess free will.
Even so, people who think deeply about such things have long speculated about the possibility of robots eventually gaining the upper hand and becoming so intelligent and pervasive they will somehow take over. After a century or so of such speculation, of predicting the future, and of science-fiction writers coming up with all manner of end results regarding the subject, we can now fully appreciate just how far-thinking many of them were. Most people back then never believed our present was possible and had very little to do with its arrival.
And this is the problem with humanity. People in general have a strong tendency to remain with the tried and true and traditional, to remain in their zones of comfort, to lasso life to their liking and drive it into a small and crude corral. In this they can control their lives, as rudimentary and small as they are.
Now, in their defense, there are certainly good traditional things to establish and limits one knows will cause great problems if transgressed. There is a reason the ancient Greek writer Hesiod penned the tale of Pandora’s Box (actually a jar), in which all the evils of the world were contained. As long as the large jar remained unopened all would be okay. For those who have not heard of the story, it’s not hard to figure out the ending.
This is why some people insist on a low level of progress or none at all. They fear the bad consequences of wrong choices. They see the terrible results of sin in the world and some human beings becoming total idiots as a result of stupid choices. They know well that stupid is as stupid does and would rather do nothing regarding progress for fear of doing something wrong.
They’ve also seen much “progress” that was not progress at all, but the opposite. Thus, they’re content with less instead of risking an advance toward better things and possibly upsetting their small gains. Fear of failure has shanghaied their necessary discipleship, progress, and advancement.
In their effort to stay a million miles away from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they also stay a million miles away from the Tree of Life.
© 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved. [To Be Continued.]
Real Christianity 