After writing my last post on the KinderGarden of Eden, and how it is that most Christians have an immature understanding of what the beginnings in Genesis is all about, I also think the same can be said of what most believe about death of Jesus on the cross, starting with the Garden of Gethsemane. Thus I hope to share some thoughts to challenge those still with a Kindergarten mentality.
Trust me when I say that I am not casting judgment on any reader of this post! In my last post I said I was caught up in the same childish understanding, and it is only by the revelation of the Spirit of God that allows anyone to see any Truth at all, and it is by His Grace and His choosing! If you find yourself sensing such an interest in learning more of Him, then follow Him where He leads, even if it seems like you are alone; because you are not alone. Trust Him to correct you.
In my last post, I said that if we got it wrong in Genesis, it would mess up our whole theology, and I believe that to be true. If we don't know what the plan and purpose of God is, then how do we know if His plan is in effect or not? If we believe that Jesus is an afterthought to save some of humanity, then it is clear that our view of God is not clear. It is plain to see that we do not see the Truth plainly! (Forgive my play on words).
I have even heard it told that when God sees sin, He is so angry that He would take all His wrath and anger out on man, were it not for Jesus to step in between, and show the Father the nail prints in His hands and feet.... then God is appeased by that, and calms back down! Good Grief!!
If you have come out of the KinderGarden of Eden, into some mature understanding, then you will know that Jesus was always plan A. God's purpose is the New Creation Man, and that plan is for ALL of His Creation, not just a select few!
In John 1:29 it says: "The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" It does not say who takes away the sin for some people, or who takes away the sin of believers, it says who takes away the sin of the world!
So, let me tell you what I think the biggest hurdle to understanding the extent of what was accomplished on the cross for all creation. That is that religion teaches there is a limited time offer to the love of God! That time limit lasts only as long as your breath in these mortal bodies! That is it! People quote John 3:16, and stop there. God so loved the world. But if you asked those same people what happens if you don't believe the same as they do, well God's love must come to an end when your life ends, because there is no hope for you!! Really?? Is that what we believe??
Okay, so I have been wanting to get this off my chest in one of these posts, so I will say it here. If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you are probably familiar with the verse "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgement." Do you know what the next verse is that comes after that? Ask anyone who quotes that verse to you what the next verse is, and I can almost guarantee they do not know. Did you know that if you read it in context it means completely the opposite of what they think it means?! Lets look it up.
Hebrews 9:27 "And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:" and now the next few words... "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for
him shall he appear the second time without sin to salvation." Do you see that?! SO CHRIST!! It is all Him not you! Now, don't get all worried about that word "many" used here, it is the same many that have sinned. You have read, the wages of sin is death, and this verse tells you that Jesus died your death. He paid your wages for sin! Oh, and He took your judgement too!!
Just as you had no part in Adam bringing the world into sin, so also you had no part in Jesus freeing the world from sin! Read what Paul says in Corinth. 15:22 "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The same all that die in Adam are the same all that are made alive in Christ!
Look what it says in Romans 5:18,19 "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." The same "all" and the same"many" applies here too!
Once you begin to see this truth, then you will be amazed as to how many verses support this, what you never saw before! The Bible is full of them!! Grace and Mercy and Love and a perfect plan of Redemption! What about your loved ones that died without believing? Let me assure you, that God's love does not end when their life or your life ends! God is responsible for your birth, and your death, and every moment in between, and before and after! God reconciles ALL creation unto Himself!! Isn't THAT Good News??
What about the Muslim? God reconciles All creation unto Himself! What about the uncivilized natives? God reconciles All creation unto Himself! What about Hitler? God reconciles All creation unto Himself! If God cannot or does not reconcile even one person He has created, He is not God!
If God failed in the Garden of Eden, He also failed in the Garden of Gethsemane! No wonder the world has such a poor view of the Christian God, because Christians have presented such a poor view of God to the world! It is time to mature, and grow beyond a Kindergarten mentality of Eden, and to mature and grow beyond The KinderGarden of Gethsemane!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The KinderGarden of Eden
As I was listening to a talk radio station today, there was a guest who had written a political book called "The KinderGarden of Eden" The title of which struck me rather funny, and I immediately began to think of the Garden of Eden from Scripture of course, and then I thought that same title would make an interesting title for a post, so here we are.
Kindergarden brings to mind something of a very basic level of learning. It is the first step in our education process, learning the very fundamentals from which most every thing we will learn after that comes from. The idea that kindergarden, and Eden are put together in this title brings to mind the thought that it describes those Christians that have the most basic fundamental understanding of the beginnings of Genesis. And while we would consider it very strange to see an adult sitting in a kindergarden class room, we think nothing of those who have been Christians for many many years with the same kindergarden mentality about what the story of the Garden of Eden is really all about!
I am convinced that if we get it wrong with what Genesis, and the Garden of Eden is all about, then we will have an almost impossible time with getting any other part of our theology right until we go beyond such a kindergarten mentality.
If you are like me and most Christians, you would have been taught that God created Adam in a garden out of the dust of the ground, and then He took a rib from his side, and made Eve. Then the two of them romped about naked in the garden until Eve was tempted by a talking snake, to eat an apple from a tree that God told them not to eat, and then Eve gave it for Adam to eat as well. God found out, and was very mad, and kicked them out of the garden, and made them toil and sweat in the wilderness. And now we have to live a hard life and risk the possibility of going to hell as punishment because of it; unless we believe in Jesus and then we can go to heaven when we die. Sound familiar?
So then, lets get this straight. God puts a tree in the middle of the Garden, and tells Adam not to eat from that tree, or there are fatal consequences, in order to test Adam's love for God right? Supposedly God gave Adam a "free will" to choose to obey. But, since God is all knowing, then He must have know that Adam would disobey before He created him of course. Since that is true, then what kind of God is it who would do such a thing? He builds a perfect Garden Paradise, He puts man in it to enjoy, then He puts a deadly toxic tree right in the middle, and makes sure that it is desirous; like chocolate cake to a weight watchers client. Then He tells the man not to eat it, knowing full well that he is going to eat it anyway, all to "test" his love and then we blame Adam? How do you think you would fair with such a test?
Would you do such a thing to your children? Put them in a room filled with toys to play with, but then put the most tempting toy right in front of them; which you have poisioned; and then tell them not to play with that toy; and then walk out of the room to see if they would obey you out of love? Of course not! You would do everything you could to protect them with your life! Yet, we accuse God of such a heinous act! Not only that, but that He knew the end result before He began, and did it anyway! Is this making you feel all lovey and worshipful of God yet?
No wonder we have such a screwed up theology about God! I did not realize how screwed up it was until a number of years ago, I heard a sermon about the plan and purpose of God, that completely changed my whole Christian understanding and walk! And believe me when I tell you, that when your understanding is changed, your walk will change right along with it! It has to change since we act according to what we believe, not what we say.
There is so much truth to uncover in just the first few chapters of Genesis it is impossible to do any indepth study in a blog post, so I encourage you to question the things you were told with a kindergarten mentality about what really was going on between God and man in the Garden of Eden. Consider the possiblity that God really does have a plan, and that such a plan was not thwarted whatsoever in the Garden, but rather carried out perfectly in every detail!
I covered some of these points in earlier posts, but let me start the ball rolling with a couple of points here. I believe that when God said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" that the man He was talking about was NOT Adam! He was talking about the New Creation Man! You see, the whole story in the Garden is not a patching up of mistakes, using the death of Jesus as plan B. The fact is that Adam had to fall. God set him up to fall. and when it was done, there are a couple verses that show the plan is in motion. Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:" Well, isn't that what God wanted for man to become made in His image and likeness? Well, this was only step one in the process. Don't worry, God knows what He is doing, and He has everything under control. As a matter of fact He goes on to promise this will all work out when he says "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." Gen.6:3 The strife will end, and creation shall be restored!
In fact, He does not lose even one of His creation as we find out more details in the New Testament! The death of Jesus ends the Adamic race, and begins a whole New Creation of beings! We are all Spiritual beings on this human journey! (say, what a neat title for a blog:-)) The fact is that each one of us is at a different point in this journey, with a specific detailed plan designed by our creator Himself, to bring us to a place where these momentary troubles will not be worthy to compare with the Glory that shall be revealed in us!
We are training for reigning, and there is much more to learn. Lets start with a better understanding of God's purpose, and not falsely accuse Him of failure. He did not fail, it is us who failed to grow up and graduate from The KinderGarden of Eden
Kindergarden brings to mind something of a very basic level of learning. It is the first step in our education process, learning the very fundamentals from which most every thing we will learn after that comes from. The idea that kindergarden, and Eden are put together in this title brings to mind the thought that it describes those Christians that have the most basic fundamental understanding of the beginnings of Genesis. And while we would consider it very strange to see an adult sitting in a kindergarden class room, we think nothing of those who have been Christians for many many years with the same kindergarden mentality about what the story of the Garden of Eden is really all about!
I am convinced that if we get it wrong with what Genesis, and the Garden of Eden is all about, then we will have an almost impossible time with getting any other part of our theology right until we go beyond such a kindergarten mentality.
If you are like me and most Christians, you would have been taught that God created Adam in a garden out of the dust of the ground, and then He took a rib from his side, and made Eve. Then the two of them romped about naked in the garden until Eve was tempted by a talking snake, to eat an apple from a tree that God told them not to eat, and then Eve gave it for Adam to eat as well. God found out, and was very mad, and kicked them out of the garden, and made them toil and sweat in the wilderness. And now we have to live a hard life and risk the possibility of going to hell as punishment because of it; unless we believe in Jesus and then we can go to heaven when we die. Sound familiar?
So then, lets get this straight. God puts a tree in the middle of the Garden, and tells Adam not to eat from that tree, or there are fatal consequences, in order to test Adam's love for God right? Supposedly God gave Adam a "free will" to choose to obey. But, since God is all knowing, then He must have know that Adam would disobey before He created him of course. Since that is true, then what kind of God is it who would do such a thing? He builds a perfect Garden Paradise, He puts man in it to enjoy, then He puts a deadly toxic tree right in the middle, and makes sure that it is desirous; like chocolate cake to a weight watchers client. Then He tells the man not to eat it, knowing full well that he is going to eat it anyway, all to "test" his love and then we blame Adam? How do you think you would fair with such a test?
Would you do such a thing to your children? Put them in a room filled with toys to play with, but then put the most tempting toy right in front of them; which you have poisioned; and then tell them not to play with that toy; and then walk out of the room to see if they would obey you out of love? Of course not! You would do everything you could to protect them with your life! Yet, we accuse God of such a heinous act! Not only that, but that He knew the end result before He began, and did it anyway! Is this making you feel all lovey and worshipful of God yet?
No wonder we have such a screwed up theology about God! I did not realize how screwed up it was until a number of years ago, I heard a sermon about the plan and purpose of God, that completely changed my whole Christian understanding and walk! And believe me when I tell you, that when your understanding is changed, your walk will change right along with it! It has to change since we act according to what we believe, not what we say.
There is so much truth to uncover in just the first few chapters of Genesis it is impossible to do any indepth study in a blog post, so I encourage you to question the things you were told with a kindergarten mentality about what really was going on between God and man in the Garden of Eden. Consider the possiblity that God really does have a plan, and that such a plan was not thwarted whatsoever in the Garden, but rather carried out perfectly in every detail!
I covered some of these points in earlier posts, but let me start the ball rolling with a couple of points here. I believe that when God said, "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness" that the man He was talking about was NOT Adam! He was talking about the New Creation Man! You see, the whole story in the Garden is not a patching up of mistakes, using the death of Jesus as plan B. The fact is that Adam had to fall. God set him up to fall. and when it was done, there are a couple verses that show the plan is in motion. Gen 3:22 "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:" Well, isn't that what God wanted for man to become made in His image and likeness? Well, this was only step one in the process. Don't worry, God knows what He is doing, and He has everything under control. As a matter of fact He goes on to promise this will all work out when he says "My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years." Gen.6:3 The strife will end, and creation shall be restored!
In fact, He does not lose even one of His creation as we find out more details in the New Testament! The death of Jesus ends the Adamic race, and begins a whole New Creation of beings! We are all Spiritual beings on this human journey! (say, what a neat title for a blog:-)) The fact is that each one of us is at a different point in this journey, with a specific detailed plan designed by our creator Himself, to bring us to a place where these momentary troubles will not be worthy to compare with the Glory that shall be revealed in us!
We are training for reigning, and there is much more to learn. Lets start with a better understanding of God's purpose, and not falsely accuse Him of failure. He did not fail, it is us who failed to grow up and graduate from The KinderGarden of Eden
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