2006-Oct-26
Choose the Light
Earlier, on this page... 'Enough
hate in the World', i talked about our 'human condition'
and i asked...
"Can
we humans on this
small planet,
deal effectively with our underlying human nature of both
aggression,
and unbounded greed?
How?"
THERE
IS A WAY
For many of us, this life is a
great mystery.
What is this life?
What is it all about?
Who are we, really?
Some people claim there is no way to really know what we are.
Though some will admit, there is something mysterious about us...
humans.
Some other people claim that we are all just animals.
That we live and then, when we die, we die.
Whatever we believe, it is
what we have chosen to believe!
What i am saying is that, it is self evident, that we have the power to
reason, and the power to choose!
And i am saying that this too, is a part of the mystery!
This is what i believe...
We humans, all we humans, are God's children.
Do not doubt this.
What are we doing here, in this life???
Well, [i believe] here on this little planet we are learning how
to..... be.
And we are also learning how to choose.
And, we are also
demonstrating to God, how we
choose, to choose!
It has all got to do with something about a couple of 'trees' in "a garden eastward in Eden", and
the
knowledge
of good and evil.
Read the account of our 'story' in the Bible - Gods Word. [KJV is used
here]
see...
Genesis
2:17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat
of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Genesis 3:22
¶And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to
know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also
of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden,
to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the
garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way,
to keep the way of the tree of life.
Deuteronomy
30:19
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
20 That thou mayest love the
LORD thy
God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave
unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou
mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
And below, the account is given that we [mankind] chose separation
from God!
And the consequence of man's walk, in his separation from God, what was
that consequence?
So, did man create a paradise
on earth for himself?
No.
Psalms
53:1
¶<<To the chief Musician
upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of
David.>> The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.
Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that
doeth good.
2 God looked down from heaven
upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand,
that did seek God.
3 Every one of them is gone
back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good,
no, not one.
Romans
3:16
Destruction and misery are in
their ways:
17 And the way of peace have
they not known:
18 There is no fear of God
before their eyes.
WHAT
THE BIBLE REALLY SAYS TO MANKIND
The Bible tells us that we are all God's children.
And it tells us that yes, we are oh so clever children, children who
have
endeavoured to take a 'path' of separation from our parent.
And the emphasis in that last sentence should be on the word...
children!
The story also reveals that without the influence of God, our human
pride and our
human greed
will win out in this life.
And also, this is a story [an example to us] of our 'failure', to be!
It is a dark story about our underlying human nature.
And it is a story about where our nature can lead us, through our own 'clever' choices.
For the proof of the veracity of this being a dark 'story', just to
look at
our recorded human history.
Just look at the example of man's dealings on this earth - even to this
day.
Largely it is a history of human conflict.
God [in his Word] has warned us [again, and again] that if we go our
own way, we will just
make a mess of
things.
We can not help it, it is in our nature.
Isaiah
66:3
.......Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth
in their abominations.
A
SOLUTION
God's desire is that, as
individuals, we 1st acknowledge our nature, and
then 2nd accept his gift.
That gift is his love, and his [spiritual] guidance.
It is that simple.
God wants us to acknowledge our 'sin', to acknowledge our mistakes as
'children' here, in this life.
He wants us to acknowledge, that we have come to understand, that our
separation
from God is a mis-taken path.
There is a better path that we can take.
Micah
6:8
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is
good; and what doth the LORD
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?
But, we have to individually, choose this better 'path' for ourselves.
And then God will help us.
BUT
HOW TO CONVINCE US 'CUNNING', WAYWARD, CHILDREN???
How to convince such proud and 'clever' children to choose truth and
love [over selfishness, 'profit', 'mammon']?
And yet still let it be our
choice.
It has been said:
"It
is always better to learn from other peoples mistakes!"
But sometimes, willful children will choose to ignore good
advice.
Sometimes 'children' need to learn their own [painful] lessons.
The human story, our story, in the Bible [in the Old Testament] is the
story
[told again, and again]
of mans tenuous
relationship with God.
And it is the story of God's desire for our re-approachment to our
creator.
A desire that we might walk with God, in truth, in love.
God wants us to choose,
that much better 'path' for ourselves.
God's design, God's intention [i believe], is that we should [in the
end] choose
well in this
life.
So God has put before us the 'story' of mans relationship with God.
But saying this, we are not slaves [nor robots], and we are not to
forced to obey him.
God has not put before us a command, from a master, which we must obey.
But rather a plea
from a
loving parent.
And a hope, that we will open our eyes, understand, and choose well, for ourselves.
i.e. God wants us to make an informed,
good decision.
The pattern
for this re-approachment to God is told in the Bible
through the story of God's relationship with a chosen people.
The chosen people were Israel [the children of Jacob].
But later [because of the sinful human behaviour of Israel] that
'representative' body of the chosen
people became just a
remnant of Israel, the Jews.
But saying this, Gods covenant with
Israel [Jacob] is still valid.
God has said, prophetically, that he will redeem "...all the families
of Israel".
And this prophecy is to be
fulfilled.
Jeremiah
31:1-14
But this story [of promise!] told in the Bible is a story for all
mankind, not only
Israel.
This 'story' was told [and recorded!] for our enlightenment, and for
our hope.
It is the story of Abraham and Isaac.
The story of Israel's deliverance from bondage - the Exodus from Egypt.
The story of blood sacrifice in the 'temple' [blood sacrifice was set
up as a 'pattern', in the Old Testament], in atonement for Israel's
sin.
And the story of how Jesus blood sacrifice was the fulfillment of the Old
Testament pattern
of atonement for sin.
So that we could all..... choose well!
So that we could choose
to be God's children, and choose to
walk with God.
Still not sure if you believe this 'good news'?
Look at this world today [2006-Oct],
and
look at the
affairs of man in this world!
Something is very, very, wrong.
And we humans are the
authors of all this trouble!
Isaiah
1:2
¶Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken,
I
have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
me.
Jeremiah 4:22
For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish
children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.
Choose to take a better path.
Revelation
3:19
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and
repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door,
and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in
to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
YOU
CAN FIND THE ANSWER, FOR YOURSELF
It is just a matter of choosing
to look!
The Bible [O.T. & N.T.] is God's word.
[I use, i prefer and i would recommend
to you the King James Version Bible - KJV.]
If you are a person who has lived your life with never a thought about
God, if you are a person who
does not know if you can believe in God...
Give yourself a chance to enquire...
Read Mathew, Mark, Luke and
John.
This will give you access to the spirit of discernment, and access to
God's gift.
His love.
Proverbs
30:5
Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their
trust in him.
Luke
11:9
And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it
shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of
any of
you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish,
will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg,
will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know
how
to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
After reading Mathew, Mark, Luke and
John.
Then, read the rest of the New
Testament.
Then, read the Old Testament.
Things which were hidden, will become more clear.
THIS
LIFE - WHY THE BIG MYSTERY THEN?
God
is soooooo, dumb!
Why doesn't God just reveal
himself, in our lives, and just tell us what is required?
Man, if He did that, surely we [mankind] would get this life right!!
Everyone would respect the all powerful creator - a God who is
'apparent' to
his creation!
The Word of God [the Bible] records that there was a time, when mankind
had direct
knowledge of God.
But that knowledge of God made little difference to the behaviour of
men.
Genesis
2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 ¶And the LORD God planted
a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the
LORD
God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of
knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis
2:15
And the LORD God took
the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 ¶And the LORD God
commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the
knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Genesis 3:1
¶Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which
the LORD God had made....
Some among men were beguiled, by
an
evil influence, and the rest is history.
In that time when mankind had direct knowledge of God, mankind chose
[to do] wickedness...
Genesis
6:1
¶And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of
the earth, and daughters were born unto them,
2 That the sons of God saw the
daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all
which they chose.
3 ¶And the LORD said, My
spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet
his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
4 ¶There were giants in the
earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in
unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same
became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:11
¶The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted
his way upon the earth.
But why does God hide himself, .....now?
Things in this life [being real] are hid as it were, from our
understanding.
As if being behind a 'veil', beyond our 'sight'.
Matthew
13:10
And the disciples came, and said unto
him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto
them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom
of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him
shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath
not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall
not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear
with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes,
for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Why?
If this account is true, isn't God playing a 'game' with us?
Deceiving us?
So that [being tempted] in this world we will fall into a 'trap'?
Well, there is a saying, that if you want to learn a mans true
character give him power!
And [i believe that] this is what God has done with us.
But, this 'game' [we play] is
not exclusively for
God's benefit.
i.e. This is not done, so that God may know our character.
God knows perfectly, what is in our hearts... ['...as
we live and breathe' ! ].
[And this is another mystery. With 6+
billion human souls on the planet atm. How can this be? I do not know,
how this is.
But i KNOW that it is.
Perhaps it has something to do with the consequence of,
1 Corinthians 3:16 ? ]
Our present circumstance [in this life], in this 'game', is for our edification.
So that we may [come
to] truly understand what is in our own hearts.
Why?
Because God also knows that we, mankind, have an ability to learn
[acknowledge], and [choose
to]
change our path.
Our God wants us, to 'walk' with him.
But also...
Galatians
6:7
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that
shall he also reap.
Think back
again to the 'garden' story in Genesis...
What went wrong?
It all went wrong, because 'Adam', man, the created being, 'in the
garden', had no experience
to know how to choose good over
evil.
Adam had been 'commanded' by God not to
choose [to do] evil.
God 'had knowledge', that there would be consequences to doing evil,
but
clearly Adam [mankind] did not 'have knowledge'.
Is this what was meant here, in the
following verse?...
Genesis
3:5
For God doth know that in the day ye
eat thereof, then your eyes shall
be opened, and ye shall be
as gods, knowing good
and evil.
And instead of following God's advice, Adam 'did what was right in his
own eyes', when Adam
[mankind], was
beguiled by the 'promise', of evil.
Adam did, that which, it was in
his nature to do.
And that, that, that, is what this life
[for us] is about too!
Making choices, gaining experience, making mistakes, and
learning about our nature.
And this
life, this
life, this
life, gives us the opportunity, and the experience, of choice
[choosing good or evil]
-
in spades!!
And what is more, [here in this
life] there is no
'apparent', all powerful God, forcing
us to do the 'right thing', at every turn in
the road.
[I believe that, God wants us to learn from our experience
in this world. And then to make an informed,
good choice, for ourselves. About how to 'conduct' ourselves.]
In this 'reality', we
get to choose, and we get
to make
the mistakes!
And we get to learn,
.....of the consequences
of our choices.
We come to learn,
that our 'fate', is tied to
our choices.
So, our fate will be determined from [the action of] our own choosing.
Our individual fate is not due to any predestination by God.
[Though YES, the Bible does say, that
God knows who of us are to be
his spiritual children - from
the beginning of this world!
Isn't this more 'cheating' against us, on God's part?
Hmmmm....
Do you know that the
sun will rise tomorrow?
Are you somehow 'cheating', in being in
possession
of that knowledge?
Though we may not comprehend this completely [i do not], we are told
[in the Bible] that in all of Gods dealings
with man, He is righteous.
That
knowledge is enough for me. And i believe God.]
Our fate is not
'imposed' on
us by God.
Why is it not?
Because again, we can
learn [acknowledge], and [choose
to]
change our path.
And yet, we do not 'save' ourselves, but are saved [justified] by choosing to accept God's
offered gift.
As i have stated previously,
i believe that...
God
gave us humans 'power', here, in this life [and on this little
planet], to
do what we will.
He gave us all, a freewill to make
choices.
That is his design.
That is his intention.
That we should have choices, and that
we should
freely make choices in this life.
Freewill to choose what we will do.
And, a freedom to judge
ourselves
here, now, and 'later'.
I believe that the real purpose of our life here, is that it is a
preparation, for a different life, for a
different... reality.
And I believe that God wants
us to
learn, here,
here,
here,
the real consequences
of our actions, the real
consequences of our choices.
And yes,
God knows that we will make
mistakes.
Yahweh [God] made provision
for
that.
[God in His wisdom, has
offered his gift of
forgiveness, his gift of
mercy, to
all men.
God's love for us, is
a 'spiritual' gift
which is discarded by some, by
many!,
as 'foolishness', ....it is a gift, discarded by the
'wise'
of this world!
They are those, who choose to do 'what was right in their
own eyes'. ....And we
have all, 'been there, done that'!]
Again, choose...
to do this.
Seek your God.
Yet more.
All
about the 'pattern' of
atonement
for sin, through blood
sacrifice
[which was a stumbling block for me,
the blood
sacrifice bit]
Above on this page, i mentioned that there was a pattern for our
re-approachment to
God, a pattern that is revealed in the Bible...
"....the
story of how Jesus blood sacrifice was the fulfillment of the
Old
Testament pattern
of atonement for sin."
Atonement
for sin, through blood sacrifice?
What
is that about???
Blood
sacrifice - atonement for sin