Sorry, we've not had the blog for a few weeks. Judy had surgery, doing fine now, so we're back in business.
Christians must learn, believe, defend and proclaim four seminal Bible truths. The first is God’s direct creation of humans in his image. The second is God’s judgment against all sin, in every generation, in any person of accountable age. The third is Christ’s forgiveness of sin in every person accepting him as Savior and Lord. The fourth is God’s refusal to allow any unforgiven sinner into his Presence. As unpopular as the terms sin and sinners are, Christians must fearlessly proclaim that all people of accountable age, 12-14, but particularly adults, must be either forgiven by Christ or be subject to God’s wrath. No third alternative exists. When Adam and Eve chose Knowledge over Faith—their opinion over God’s word, they roused a deadly egotism in their descendants crucified only by Christ’s demand of self-denial. Where Faith in God would have led their innocence into eternal life, zeal for Knowledge that they misinterpreted as wisdom altered their genes and infected every generation afterwards with arrogant pride! Genesis 3 summarizes the entire Fall from innocence into guilt and from sin into forgiveness. They knew the rules: they could eat from any tree in Eden but ONE. Had God been a liberal theologian, he would have blamed himself for not making his position clear—the charge Bertram Russell leveled against God. But God gave clear rules, the duo understood them and had one chance to get it right. And when they chose their will over God’s word, the first response was SHAME with each other followed by GUILT before God. Not at all what they expected. They felt no awareness of nakedness in innocence. We understand that. Like children unaware of their bodies, Adam and Eve felt comfortable being unclothed. But being a sinner in the company of another sinner instantly became SHAME! And both felt GUILT when hearing the previously comforting footsteps of the Incarnate Jesus “walking in the Garden.” Both shame and guilt continue in humanity. When we see ourselves AS WE ARE, not as we PRETEND, shame proliferates and guilt deepens. Even men and women who publicly and shamelessly bare their bodies don’t readily admit their inner guilt. No, the privacy of our inner self, so important to our individuality, becomes a vault in which we secrete what we want none to know, and sins we dread confessing even to God—though he knows it all and wants to forgive I John 1:9. Like politicians, we boast of strength and deny weakness, though God has mercy on all who deny any strength and admit all weakness. All of this is why God forbade eating the fruit. He knew that once humanity replaced FAITH in his word with KNOWLEDGE of themselves, guilt and its shame would result. Which we see in everyday life any time our opinion replaces God’s truth. And in our fig leaf-excuses or explanations, we cloth ourselves in humanity’s oldest response to disobedience: fear, flight and furtiveness. Followed by shifting blame. Only Eve admitted being deceived. Which offered no defense at all since God’s clear instructions gave her every reason to resist the tempter. End Part I
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