Justice Demands a Law

If you have not read the post before this one then stop and read “Good or Evil?”

“Justice Demands A Law”
“Good or Evil?” Continued…

Hope still remains for all the wicked and evil that crowds our lives, invades our homes, and attacks our souls. This answer is simple to anyone who already has a glimmer of truth within them. For those who have the truth already this hope actually turns out not to be hope at all but a count down. A count down to the point when God says he has had enough and will sound the trumpets and gather his warriors and fight to have us released from our bondage that we imposed on ourselves. Now for those who have lost the way and forced the truth from your heart pay close attention for this Gospel is absolute and absolutely for you. Hope means you wish for something however it may or may not come to pass but with God, all things are absolutes.

But before I get into that take a step back and breathe. I want to talk about the simple nature of Right and wrong or good and evil. This is the most basic of basics about the simple truth. Are you aware that because good exists so does the chance of evil? Yet evil cannot come unless someone establishes goodness. Romans says, “Because law brings wrath. Where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom 4:15) If simple goodness didn’t exist then how could there be evil? We never could have rebelled to begin with if absolute goodness never dichotomized right from wrong. And if good didn’t exist then how would you define what is evil, because what is wrong is opposite of what is right? Whenever any person says that an action or behavior is wrong or bad it is only because they base that judgment off of what they believe to be right. How do they know what is right? I turn again to Romans.

“Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the [Mosaic] Law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending” (Romans 2:14,15)
Also in Romans 1:19 “since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Many scholars wonder as to how we are made in the image of God. Some would say the ability to think or have freewill. Others might pose the idea of being able to have relationships. Yet don’t animals and critters think about where to get food next and then decide what to do in order to feed? And some animals even share the same partner for their full lives. Can you read the mind of an animal to say otherwise? Granted all these qualities are God like and obviously so, God made them and put himself in all creation. Yet what makes us different I think is that he has laid on our consciences the ability to reason and decide right from wrong? A law if you will put in place to govern over his creation. If anyone else has a better idea then please share it with me for I am continuously seeking out better ways to understand God.

So where does this law get us? As I stated in my prior post the human race was tricked into doing evil by the serpent in the beginning but now we chose it over what is right. So this law that is instilled in us slowly but surely dissolves until we can no longer recall the difference and follow our own will. We have transgressed we have sinned. No matter what magnitude of sin we rank on our scale, sin is sin. Romans 6:23, “for the wages of sin is death…” By this statement we all deserve death because we all went out from good and became evil. We weren’t born evil but we chose it. God has never done wrong so for this reason he is empowered with the right to judge what is evil because without good there would be no evil. According to the law, what is evil will die and what is good will live. We are evil. Again I return to C.S. Lewis, for he can explain our condition because of this law better then I ever could.
“This is the terrible fix we are in. If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again. We cannot do without it, and we cannot do with it. God is the only comfort, He is also the supreme terror: the thing we most need and the thing we most want to hide from. He is our only possible ally, and we have made ourselves His enemies.”

By being enemies of God we share the same fate as the Devil himself and the devil prides himself in his accomplishments to lead astray God’s faithful. Every day he progresses towards his goal winning souls over to darkness and deceiving the innocent. He knows his fate yet lacks understanding. I began this post with hope remains and now comes the turn of the tide.

In death comes victory. God knew that the law stated that any traitor to the law must be given over to death to be sacrificed for their sins. The Old Testament talks about the Israelites making sacrifices to atone for their sins. Those sacrifices I say did provide forgiveness of sins much like a family can forgive a murderer on trial for killing a member of their family, but even though the family forgave them the punishment still had to be paid to the courts. This draws the line that separates Christianity from all other religions or faiths. No other religion that I am aware of provides a way to redeem the peoples of the earth. This is how the Christian God did just that. God made himself flesh. John 1:1,14, “…and the word was with God and the word was God…” “And the word became flesh.” God came and revealed himself as man taking human form and by doing so limited his power and gave up his golden throne for head aches, sprained ankles, unbearably hot days, put up with human ignorance, human arrogance, and instead of being served, served everyone else. In his life on earth he defeated all temptation and did not give in to sin. Jesus was innocent of any crime. We are guilty of several crimes so a debt is due. In order for our punishment to be taken from us someone who never committed a crime would need to be willing to lift that burden from us and place it on himself. Christ fulfilled this need. 1 Corinthians 5:21 reads; “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Now, in this life people cannot achieve total righteousness, just as God cannot become sin. The idea is that for God the guilt in the end will not be placed on us but on Christ so that in God’s eyes we who are guilty are innocent and Jesus who is innocent receives the guilty verdict. For this reason Jesus died on the cross and in death served his punishment for our trespasses, and for this we are all justified, the whole world. We became automatically and immediately set free from our punishment. Every sin of every person is forgiven. Christ died for all sinners regardless if they know him or not. What the catch is we must respond to his act and those who respond will receive salvation and Jesus will take their responsibility of punishment on the Day of Judgment. If I have confused you at all know this, Christ wins and wins for you.

After our response we receive the PROMISE of salvation; salvation can only be given on the day when God judges us. So the gift of salvation is specially held for those who accept the Holy Spirit into their hearts and live out their lives in devotion to God. This is where our deaths come in. As I said, in our current state we cannot receive salvation during the living. Think about it. For this very reason God purged Adam and Eve from the garden. We must lose life to receive it. “And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever”” (Genesis 3:22). God had to send humanity into death so that we can escape the now fallen world. If Adam and Eve or any person lived forever then they could never be redeemed. We only receive salvation on the Day of Judgment because here and now our bodies are tainted; they are dirty, filthy, and tied to the fate of this world, which will be cleansed with fire. In our death we can finally receive our salvation!

So many people fear death and I can understand why, it is scary, unknown and possibly painful, but look at what greatness has come from the unknown. Christ died for you and I because of love. A love that put his glory aside so that Greatness would dwell amongst men. Yet the greatness was overlooked and instead was spit on by those who claimed righteous. In God’s death and our death we reunite and once again; all that once was, may be again. All that was blemished will be made new and righteous. Pursue the path of righteousness, and instead of the truth being forgotten the perversion of purity will be broken, now for this reason love God!

Those who live a life in devotion towards Christ and His father will live. This digs at the heart of Paul’s Gospel and the very thesis of his letter to the Romans. “The Righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17b). So the hope of the world, all the lost souls, those without faith, those in darkness, and those who have twisted the truth into a lie, lay in the hands of all Christians. The truth that Christians hold is power, and we have a responsibility to expose the absolute truth and display for all to see. A responsibility to deliver the gospel and when we complete that mission, when every ear has heard this message then every person will be responsible for themselves. Keep the next generation from becoming a deprived generation and teach people to live by faith, for that is the path to righteousness. So you see God died for all and because of that, hope is extended to all. The hope of salvation is what to live for so go and learn to listen to the law inside you for it is your road map to righteousness. Amen.

(Sorry for it being so long, I got carried away)

Good or Evil?

Have you ever looked at the world in horror? I mean when you take the time to sit down and turn on your local news station how can you not? Every day the hatred and evils of men are displayed for all the world to see and like a frightened helpless sheep you cower on your sofa and wonder what the world is coming too. For man has done all evil deeds and has thought up new ways to accomplish evil. If a scientist from another world or an ignorant being in order to learn more about the human race were to study the natures of man what would it find? Would this “being” be able to witness the good amongst all the corrupt, or classify us all as a species bent on the path of self-destruction?

The simplest of questions in life are always the hardest to answer; what is the soul, does God exist, why, and where do babies come from? The question I ask sometimes and wonder about comes from desperation to not lose faith in the next Generation of “bastards.” I promise I normally do not use swear words however this phrase serves a purpose. According to my dictionary another use for the word can refer to (of a thing) no longer in its pure or original form. The question I ask myself is, are people naturally evil and born with evil inside of them?

About a year ago I attended Sunday school at my home church and the lesson came from Matthew 18 and some how or another the instructor wondered into the discussion about people being separated from God at birth. I was not so quick to let this comment go by. I asked if he believed in original sin and he basically ended up saying yes in the end. I found it hard falling into sync with his idea about the human condition. To say that people enter this world already in sin, equals the plea that people are predestined damned. You can say that because if you believe that people are born with sin then with out their choice they are already damned and are without a chance to resist sin. More importantly the person can plea an excuse to the mighty creator on judgment day and Romans one tells us otherwise. For those who believe in original sin I would like them to explain to the parents of a dead infant exactly where that infant will go. If they are born with sin and then die with out chance to plea for forgiveness for the state they had no choice of being in then according to the justness of God are sentenced to death for eternity. I do admit that the infants are born into a fallen world. Since the world is physical that physical infant is therefore tied to the same fate of that world. Yes, if they survive to a state to realize their fallen ness then they have the chance to respond to God’s call and receive grace in the end but there is no chance for them to be obedient from the beginning. Now with this said it leads me into my point.

I have to think, to believe, and have faith that the people of this world are naturally good and not evil. I even say this about the devil himself. By naturally I mean from the beginning. This is why; the creator exemplifies all goodness and is impervious to evil. God cannot create evil. To do so would be a direct opposite of his own will and God only serves his will and rightfully so. God is pure love and good, what evil can come from pure good, its preposterous to think so. Now, when an innocent infant enters the world I believe with all my heart that this new baby comes without sin and is pure good.

So then how does evil enter into what is good? Romans talks about this as well as my senior patron C.S. Lewis in his awesome book “Mere Christianity.” People chose evil over good. Maybe not realizing it at first or maybe like Adam and Eve are tricked into it, yet it never fails, people turn from God to pursue their own wishes. In doing so they ignore the natural knowledge of right from wrong inside themselves and over the course of life train themselves to ignore that conscience with in them. They pervert the truth into a lie and follow their now blemished hearts desires to what is evil. This is all possible with free will; again something designed to exalt God by choosing his love now used against him by man and man now is consumed by evil. So this brings me back to the beginning. The world we live in today, the horrors that filter through our TV’s and shake us into fear is a product of our own choice to seek out evil. Every person now has two paths to follow. Two paths to chose from, good and evil. Unfortunately we chose evil over good and because of that people say we are naturally evil. That is just not the truth; we pervert the truth because we don’t know how to chose good anymore. Some follow into evil further then others to the point every nature about them is evil. A perfect example is the devil. He has followed so far that every thing about him, which was once good and perfect, is now the opposite of his creator.

This generation will give birth to the next and so on till the return of Christ. Each generation will give themselves over to evil, not that they were evil from birth but at some point become influenced by the prior generation and tricked into doing wrong becoming bastards, an object no longer in its pure original state. For this reason I am ashamed, scared, sad, and angry and you who have a glimmer of truth left should too, but fear not, there is hope.

To be continued…

My Sermon Psalm 118

You can now Listen to the sermon I gave on 8/12/07 about Psalm 118 at woccthenextlevel.blogspot.com. Use the link in the Other Options link list on this page entitled Next Level Sermons. The name of the sermon is "Faith, Hope, And Love." Click the date under the name to download and listen too. I hope you all enjoy.

One Person, Two Homes.

One person, two homes. Can you see the predicament that has conjured up over the last two years? I consider myself to have two homes, the one where I lived for 17 years and where I grew up, the other a place of great atmosphere and good friends. I’m not saying that I don’t have that at my home with my parents but at school it just seems that I am my own person.
I enjoy being with friends. I like doing things with them and just hanging out. The problem is that I have several friends at home and several friends at school. Whenever one place draws or drags me away I am forced to leave behind a whole set of friends and I always seem hesitant to leave. When traveling back to school this year I looked back at the great summer I had. Honestly, I didn’t have to work that much and my friends and I capitalized on every opportunity. Things like Cake Day, and Star Wars Monopoly night, going out to breakfast, playing tennis until sunset, endless games of Frisbee Golf, or just staying out night just to wait and watch the sunrise are memories that I will forever carry with me and reflect upon. So when packing up to return to my home at Johnson I got sad and almost hated to leave.
I love dorm life. I enjoy being with the guys late at night sitting around the room either watching some awesome movie or talking about pointless theology yet we argue still. Life is very different at Johnson. Weekend retreats into the mountains with friends my friends there are amazing. At school I have two jobs, one is being R.A. and the other is working for General Maintenance. The two jobs are simple and not to hard so I don’t complain. Dollar fifty movies and half Apps are the big night on the town. So Johnson has much to add to life that my home can’t.
When I am at one place and leave to go to the other I find myself wishing I were back. Whether I am at home and leave to go to school I desire to be back home at first; or if I am at School and head home I wish to be back at school. The two homes are difficult to transition because I hate tearing myself from the place I was before. So now I am back at school missing all the wonderful times I had at home with all my friends however, I know when the time comes for me to return to my home at my parents house, I will dread leaving Johnson. I guess a house divided is hard to live in.