MY BELIEFS – updated 2025-06-25
My beliefs about life are Christian, meaning they are based on the Holy Bible, traditionally used by the Christian church.
I realize there are many good written confessions of the Christian belief. I am not attempting to do better than any of the many good descriptions of the Christian Belief. I have some familiarity with the Belgic Confession used by many Reformed or Protestant Churches and I confess it along with many other church communities, it being my confession as well. So, why even attempt to write my own relatively comprehensive, yet brief description of what I believe, other than it being a challenge and a good exercise. Those who have read some of what I have written in my blog postings and pages may want to know something about what my beliefs about life are. A true confession of what one believes is also a confession of what one has faith in and, necessarily, comes from what one believes in their heart. This is true for all of life. If I say anything about life, and what I say in my blog is about issues of life, for these statements to be true and not hypocytical statements which I do not really believe are tue, then all I say is tied into what I believe about life. Thus, readers of this blog deseve to know what I believe about life. So, I write. I write what I believe in the language God has given me to confess with, rather than just saying I believe the Bible as articulated in the Belgic Confession of Faith, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism, etc, for it is what I believe. For the most part, I have simply written what I believe, using the Bible as it is within me, rather than directly quoting the Bible. (After my initial writing, I have begun to work at referencing where in the Bible what I have articulated can be found. This has led to some minor changes in wording)
Setting out, I thought I would develop a simple description of my belief. The more I considered it the more I found I needed to say more to be clear about what I believe. Leaving any particular detail out, other than to omit explanatory examples, seems to leave a void which cries out for an answer. Thus, a printed copy describing what I believe is several pages long. Serious consideration of what one really believes about life is not for the fainthearted or the lazy.
A simple short true statement of my belief about life is that reality is as it is described in the Bible. The Bible is about the foundation of knowledge, about reality, about right and wrong, about why the world is the way it is, why there are so many problems, about how the problems of this world can be solved, and about where we are headed. This seems fairly simple, and it is. Yet, the Bible’s description of reality, knowledge and morality is also vast. This also means that everything I confess ought to be found to be consistent with a true understanding of the Bible, with “true” defined by the Lord God, rather than by me. Using this difinition of “true,” I do not believe I can have my truth and you can have your truth. Rather that this “truth” is knowable, trustable, and does not change and is the ultimate souce of knowledge.
For those without time to consider this statement in its whole, headings are included. You can use the headings but be aware each part of this statement impacts the other parts. Under the heading, “What is the nature of reality? — About God?” one might expect to get a fairly comprehensive statement about what I believe about God. If so, you should be disappointed, for this entire statement of belief is about God. This also true of what is written under the headings of Mankind, Stuff, Creation, Rebellion, Reconciliation, etc. Use the headings, but this statement is intended to be understood as a whole. Even so, I am a mere man, with the abilities God has endowed me with, and likely, at least in some points, my beliefs need to be corrected by God. I trust such corrections will always be congruent with a right understanding of His (God’s) word.
(You can click on the headings to jump to the section.)
- What is the nature of reality?
- What is the nature of knowledge?
- What is the nature of morality, of right and wrong?
- What about sickness and suffering.
- How should we then live.
I BELIEVE:
What one believes about life can be described in terms of the nature of reality, knowledge and morality (morality refers to right and wrong). A right understanding of reality, knowledge, and morality will provide consistent answers to the fundamental questions of life such as, Where did we come from? What has gone wrong in the world? Where is the fix for what has gone wrong? and Where is history headed?
What is the nature of reality?
First is, “What is the nature of reality?” Philosophers call this metaphysics. “Meta” means “beyond” and “physics” means “nature.” Metaphysics refers to what is beyond the physical. It deals with questions like, “What is it to exist? What is the nature of man? Is he free? Is he good? What is the nature of the universe? Is it real or simply an appearance? Does God exist? What is God’s relationship to the universe? How do things change? What is history? What are the laws and concepts that govern reality?
I believe the truth that before there was anything else, there was God and nothing else. God was, as He now is and forever will be. There is nothing prior to God causing His existence. Everything, other than God, which exists is created by God and came to be from God and nothing else. There is nothing outside of Himself prolonging His existence or defining Him. God is other than everything else. For all else to come from Him, there can be no other Lord God than Him. He is one. And He has relationship. In Him, the one God, are three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These persons are distinct persons. Yet, they are not three Gods. These three persons are of the same essence. This is hard to understand. So, be it. God, being God and other than all else, cannot be fully described by us.
God is a real, infinite, eternal, unchangeable, and personal; in His being, in wisdom, in power, in holiness, in justice, in goodness, and in truth. Being infinite, means being everywhere present, at all times. Eternal means having no beginning and no end. Being unchangeable means all about God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God will not be one thing today and something different tomorrow. God will not present things one way today and a another way tomorrow. His Word can be trusted. To be personal means all God says and does takes into account who He is interacting with. He listens. He cares. He responds. His being is infinite, eternal, unchangeable and personal. His wisdom is infinite, eternal, unchangeable and personal. He is all wise. There is nothing not known to Him. His power is infinite, eternal, unchangeable and personal. So are His holiness, His justice and His goodness, along with all other attributes which rightly describe God. Being infinite also means God is not limited to a particular space. As such, He is spiritual not embodied. God is truth. He is the author of truth. Truth is eternal and unchangeable. God defines what is true, real, and right. Right is rooted in God’s love. God is Love.
Love can only be expressed within a relationship. Love cannot be packaged and set on a shelf. Were there is no relationship, love cannot exist. The fact God is love supports the truth of “one God being three persons.” One God has within Himself relationship between His three Persons, who love each other and, by loving each other, are able to love others. God, who is love and has love within Himself, loves.
God defines what is true, real and right. What is not right is wrong. To be wrong is to be against God.
God does not love indiscriminately. Being holy, just, good and true, God cannot simply love what is unholy, unjust, not good, or untrue. God created all things good,. As we will see, when we consider the nature of right and wrong, it is those who turn away from God and His way who are unholy, unjust, not good and untrue. To mankind, who have turned away from God, God has made a way to reach out to them in love, without simply loving their unholy, unjust, not good, and untrue ways.
God created all things that exist other than Himself by voluntarily speaking them into existence, as He willed. God did not create by arranging an already existing soup of randomly organized molecules over a long period of time. Or by following a predetermined set of over arching physical laws. All that exists came into existence by the power of God, in the space of six days, just as He thought it, willed it and spoke it. He created the heavens, the earth, the plants and creatures, along with all of the laws which govern His creation. All He has created testify of who God is. He created physical non-living stuff and He created living stuff. All of the elements He created, which make up the heavens and the earth, as elements, are physical, non living stuff. All physical stuff are governed a by a set of natural laws. He created these natural laws in such a way that some of these elements form physically alive bodies. These physically alive things can use elements of the physical stuff to make themselves bigger or reproduce themselves. Such physical life includes plants, animals and mankind. Both animals and mankind, God bought forrth from the stuff of the created eath, giving them physical bodies. To Mankind, in addition to their physical body, God also gave non-physical, yet living, spiritual souls, making mankind body-soul beings. Animals have a kind of soul but, unlike mankind, the souls of animals, when they die return, along with their bodies, to the dust of the earth and are no more, whereas, mankind’s souls exist forever. Each of the physical beings God ceated are able to produce but only according to their kind. Altough kinds may adapt to thier surrrroundings they do not evolved into another kind. God also created spiritual beings, known as angels, with no need of a physcial body. Angels do not reproduce. Of the stuff God ceated both angels and mankind were created to have personal relationship with God. The were created to talk with God and be in right relationship with God. To have right relationship with God they need to love God. (moe on this later.)
On the earth God created a special garden where plants, animals and mankind could flourish together. He created two special trees which He placed in the midst of the garden. One was The Tree Of Life. The other was The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good and Evil. From the Tree Of the Knowledge of Good and Evil God told Mankind not to eat saying, in the day they eat of it they would surely die. from.
Unlike animals, which God brought forth from the earth, man was formed from the dust of the earth and then God breathed into man’s nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being, having both a eternal physical body and an eternal non-physical soul. Although God made man’s physical body from the same stuff He use to make animals, giving man and animal similaries in their physcial structure, man is not part of the animal kingdom. God does not even speak of an amimal kingdom. Even plants are made from the same stuff. All of crreation, plants, animals, birds, fish and mankind are all part of God’s kingdom. Mankind is set apart from animals, birds, fish, and plants. Only Mankind (men, women and children) have a soul and are moral beings with the ability to chose between good and evil, with good and evil defined by God’s moral law (more on this later). From man, God made woman, who like man then had a physical body and living soul of her own. A man and his wife (woman) are meant to be one in marriage, to walk and talk and reason together. In these ways, mankind were made with a likeness to God, while animals are not. God created mankind in God’s image, with the ability to love as God loves. One who loves God loves His law. They were created with the ability to commune with each other and with God, that is to talk to God and to understand when God speaks to them. As spiritual beings, mankind needs to love God to have a right and good relationship with Him.
But mankind, as we know mankind, lost their ability to rightly love God when their first parents, Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God and ate from The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil, which God specifically told them not to eat from. As a consequence to eating of this tree, as God had promised, Mankind died. Do to their rebellion, mankind’s ability to communicate with God was severely damaged and thier physical bodies began to die. All of God’s creation was adversly affected by Adam’s rebellion. (This is not the end of the story. Read on!
Mankind were created to, together as one body (group), to love God. God, in His wisdom created mankind to be many persons. God created mankind, each person being either male or female. Mankind was created to live in relationship with God, to love God. And to have relationship with each other. To further bear God’s image God designed that a man have a special relationship with a women and the two become like one, with a special conjugal love and then to also love others. As such, I am a male person, created to bear God’s image created to have relationship with God, to love God, to be loved by God, to love my wife, and to together love all other persons.
Yes, I was created to love according to the love of God but, as one of Mankind, my ability to love is affected by sin and rebellion against God’s goodness. In this state I too was unable to rightly commune with God and was headed for death, if not by God’s definition, already dead. (This is not the end of the story. Read on.)
As well as animals and mankind, God created a large number or spirit beings called angels. Like God, angels do not have physical bodies. Unlike God, angels are not infinite, are not all powerful and are not all knowing. Angels were created to desire to know God’s plan and to work with God carrying it out. In doing so, angels show their love for God. As spiritual beings, angels need to love God in order to have relationship with Him.
An important angel, named Lucifer, or Satan, decided, rather than to love and serve God, that he wanted to be God. He rebelled against God. A number of angels decided to follow Satan rather then God. These are what are known as evil spirits. Angles and evil spirits are real and at work in the world.
God’s creation is not random. Along with all He created, God also created a set of natural laws designed to govern how the physical parts of creation interact with each other. An example of such law is the law of gravity. He did not simply create and leave creation to run on its own according to this natural law. God also governs His creation supernaturally.
All of creation, “all the facts and laws of the universe are only properly understood in terms of their relationship to God…[such that] every thing in the universe has [its] meaning within the overarching, divinely-ordained, all-encompassing plan of God, in which they exist.” (Pushing the Antithesis)
Through His natural and supernatural law, God upholds and governs all He has created ,such that all comes to pass according to His Word. All things God says in His Word have come to pass, or will come to pass, just as He said they will. What God says can be depended upon. As creation unfolds, what God says has happened and will happen, according to His plan.
Creation unfolds and changes over time according to God’s plan. God being infinite, eternal and unchangeable is outside of time. God said His name is “I am.” He is always present. He is outside of time. He is! As such, He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Time is part of creation. God has no beginning, whereas created things do. Although God is the same and does not change, what He has created is designed to change over time. This is God’s story, His Story , History. It has a past, present and future. There is only one true story. It is God’s story. Any story or description of history not consistent with God’s story cannot be true. God’s story, the true story, true history, The evolution or change over time of what God has created, is not random. This change never contradicts God or who God is and, as indicated below, never contradict His laws.
What is the nature of knowledge?
The second question that needs to be answered is what is the nature of knowledge? Philosophers call this epistemology. “Episteme” means “knowledge” and “logos” means “word or discourse.” Epistemology refers to what we can know. It deals with questions like, what is the nature of belief and knowledge? What are the standards that justify beliefs? How do we know what we know? What proof of evidence is acceptable? What are the proper procedures for science and discovery? Another way to phase this is, “How do we know what is true?”
Since it is God who created all things, including the way these things interact with all other things, it is God who defines how things can be truly known. It is God who has made it possible for us to even know anything. We know what is true reality because God, who created it, reveals it to us. “This revelation is God’s personal, supernatural act of self-communication by which He voluntarily and actively makes Himself and His will known to mankind.”[1] God reveals Himself indirectly through His creation (Some call this God’s general revelation about Himself) and directly through His Word (Some call this God’s special revelation about Himself). His word is given to us in both written form and incarnationally, which will be explained below.
Through creation, including all things and how they “naturally” relate to each other, God shows His eternal power and His divine nature, leaving mankind with no excuse but to know God. Although God’s creation clearly reveals who He is, mankind, due to what they lost as a consequence of their rebellion which began in their first parents, Adam and Eve, mankind no longer easily see what God has revealed about Himself through creation. Actually, in their rebellion against God, mankind try to to see, in the naturally created realm, power and reason whose origin is other than God, They try to say that all power is found within the created stuff, and see the power within the stuff of this world (universe) as the origin of life and reason. Such explanations of life which leave appeal only to man’s explanation of nature, leaving God out, will not lead to the Truth. Attempting to explain life this way deny the One True God His right place as The Creator. upholder and director of what He has created.
God also makes Himself known directly and specifically by special revelation through His written Word, as its understanding is opened to believers by God though the Person of the Holy Spirit. God’s written Word is what I referred to at the outset of this statement of belief as the Holy Bible traditionally used by the church and as I stated, everything I confess should be consistent with a true underrstanding of this Word of God. This Word is divided into what is known as the Old Testament and the New Testament, which together are the Holy Word of God, the Bible. At the time Jesus Christ walked on earth, the 39 books which make up the Old Testament were well established and accepted and are still today known as the Hebrew Scriptures. Their authenticity has been confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ, by God Himself, in His use of them and reference to them when He walked on this earth. The books of the New Testament were all written within a 100 years or so after Jesus walked on the earth. The 27 books of the New Testament were basically agreed upon by the church by about 300 to 400 AD. How was this done? Just as the understanding of the Bible is opened to Believers by God, the Holy Spirit, the determination of which books make up the Bible was also directed by the Holy Spirit’s work in men of the Christian Church. All the 27 books of the New Testament are in complete agreement with the Old Testament books. There are many other letters and books written which were considered and excluded primarily because they were not in complete agreement with rest of the scriptures. Although the words of the Bible were written down by the hands of men, even using the personal language and literary style of these writers, the word was formed by God “breathing” it into the minds of the writers, much like God breathed life into the bodies of Adam and Eve after created them, such that the Bible is THE WORD OF GOD.
The Word of God is also a Living Word. It is the Word of a living person, that being God. The Word is applied to those who hear it by the Holy Spirit. The Word penetrates into the “heart” of mankind, always accomplishing what God intends it to accomplish, including, teaching, rebuking, correction, instruction, conviction of sin, encouragement in right living, and so much more. Living does not mean it grows and changes over time. God does not change over time. None of His attributes change over time. God is truth. Truth does not change over time, although our understanding of Truth can become clearer and more accurate over time. (If we are not careful, our understanding can also become less accurate.) As God is infinite, not everything that can be known about God is included in the Bible. But everything God wants us to know about Himself and about Mankind’s relationship with God, God has included in the Bible.
Through incarnation: (The Word Became Flesh)
Most amazingly, God has also made Himself known by extra-special incarnational revelation. The origin if the word “incarnation” is the Latin word meaning “to make flesh.” The Word became flesh. This extra special incarnational revelation was given to mankind when God, who is other than creation, (having created everything other than Himself,) entered into creation at a particular time and place, by taking a flesh-and–blood human body, became like one of us, born a baby and walked among us, such that, like us, as Jesus Christ the living Word. Jesus has a place in history. Through this place in history, He is, and can be, known. As such, He is known to believers as the Word become flesh, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, being God took on a human body and lived among mankind.
The living Word, Jesus Christ, makes known the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. If you know the Son, you know the Father, for the Father and the Son, while being distinct persons, are One. When Jesus’ time on earth was done, He ascended to His throne and sent the Holy Spirit to live within those who believe the Word and to teach them, through the Word, the things they need to know about God. Jesus Christ, in heaven, is the living head of the true church and those who believe are His body, the true church. The true church on earth are a living body, the body of Christ. In the true church, the body of Christ, the living Word can be experienced (known). Christ’s body, the true church does not bring new words and add to the Bible, but Jesus Christ, using His body, the church, brings the Word, the Bible, to people. The Holy Spirit opens one’s understanding of the Word.
God’s special revelation of Himself is not limited to those who believe. As God’s revelation about Himself through creation leave all mankind without excuse and so does God’s word. For God has written His Word, the law, on the hearts of all Mankind. If this conscience does not teach them it accuses them, also leaving them without excuse but to seek to know the Lord God. (Romans 2:15)
Through History: (Creation and the Word Unfolded, the Scroll Unrolled)
Another important aspect of God’s revealing what can be known is the unfolding of events over time. Some refer to this as chronology. In God’s plan, events unfold in a certain order, as He has determined. A correct, or true, understanding of the reason and purpose of this order or plan is a testimony of God, is a revelation of who God is and of His ways. This is true history. According to one source, history is comprised of past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Of course true history is based on true memry, discovery of the truth, collection of what is true, a right organization of events, presenting as they were meant to be presented and interpreted as they were meant to be interpreted.
True history never contradicts God’s written word, the Bible. It never contradicts the true reality of Jesus Christ and His part in history. More than this, through a right understanding of history, one can come to know God better, seeing something of His way. Not that one comes to know something new and previously unknowable about God. But that God uses the unfolding of events (history) to shed light on His being, on who He is.
Although “history” is not derived from the two English words “His” “Story,” True History, that is the true story, is, indeed, God’s Story. It unfolds over time. We live in this story. It is within this story that God has revealed Himself to us and gives us opportunity, not just to learn about God, but also about who we are and to learn about our place within His Story.
Just as mankind, in their rebellion against God, try to see in creation a power and reason whose source is other than God, they also change the telling of the story. They exchanging the truth of God for a lie and tell a story (or stories) placing creation and mankind as the source and sole reason for history, rather than God.
Confirmation of the truth of what God has revealed is found in the fact that, as history unfolds, what God has said will happen happens. Also, science research repeatedly reveals evidence consistent with this truth. Unlike evolutionary theory of the history of the origin & purpose of the world, whose telling of the story has had to be repeatedly adjusted, as facts inconsistent with their theory come to light: the true story, including that of creation remaining the same is supported by the facts and continues to provides a coherent explanation of reality.
Science, like all other disciplines, which seek to understand the nature of things, is a tool that can help us to see and understand some parts of God’s creation, namely, some parts of the physical creation and how the natural laws of creation usually determine the interactions between the physical stuff of creation. Natural laws do not detemine all the interactions of physical stuff. There are times God has intervened supernaturally and there is a moral law and direction for moral beings, like mankind. For example, God can hold back a river and let His people cross the riverbed on dry gound. Also, mankind can redirect a river, using thier understanding of natural law and cause the river to flow where it is not natural for it to do so. True expeimental science can tell us what is likely to happen next in a sequecnce of events, as long as no-one intervenes to change the interaction of naturral laws with stuff. True experimental science can tell us what likely happened in the near past, that being the past where we have reasonalby good records of the interactions of things back to the time we are wondering about. Such records are in the realm many hundreds of years old. To go beyond this time, like say millions of years, in the name of science, we can make predictions, but only based on enormous assumptions. One assumption, which cannot be proved by science, is that natural law as we know it, and the stuff this law acts upon, has existed for the millions of yeas being considered. Another issue often ignored is that of the error limits of scientific esperimentation. If we draw a line in one dirrection, there is alwas an element of error our dtermination of direction. If we extend our line (and keep it truly straight, if that is even possible,) by the time we have gone a few million miles our line will likely have missed the mark by a long shot. Apply this truth about the error present in scinentific experimentation over only a few million years and our best guesses will, with high likelihood, miss the mark by a long shot. Applying this truth in the other direction, beginning with an event that is extremely unlikely to happen, each time the event is repeated, it will remain extremely unlikely to happen, no matter how long we keep giving it another chance to happen. True scientifice experimentation cannont shed any real light on what happened a long long time ago. We can believe such things on faith but this is not true experimental science. Rather, these are at best beliefs about what happened, as are so many of the statements claiming “sceince proves.” So, with respect to my comments on how we know what we know, true experimental science, rather than being the ultimate souce of knowledge or proof, it is just a tool that can help us undestand somthing about the created things.
Understanding Opened by the Holy Spirit:
As indicated in “The nature of reality” “About man” and “About me” and in the notes above, Mankind will not naturally see and understand what God has revealed as it is meant to be understood. Instead, they try to suppress the truth of God. Naturally, we are blind to the truth. To rightly know God, something needs to change. We need to have our understanding opened in a supernatural way.
The Word became flesh and entered creation, ascended to the throne room of God, to bring us (who are flesh) into the presence of God, and has sent the Holy Spirit to open understanding the hearts of Mankind to the truth revealed through Creation, the Word, and the Incarnation.
As already mentioned, the Word of God is truly understood only as it is opened to men by the Holy Spirit. Since Mankind rebelled against God and against their created position and lost their ability to rightly understand and know God, mankind needs to have their understanding opened by the Holy Spirit, that is to have their understanding renewed so they can begin to rightly know God. This does not just pertain to the Word of God. It is also true of the Created things, the Incarnation of Jesus and of History. Mankind, without having their understanding renewed, is so focused on self, that they do not see in these things, (in creation, the incarnation and history,) God as the author, sustainer, and finisher of them. As the Holy Spirit works with/on the hearts of mankind, their hearts begin to be changed and become open and willing to see and hear the truth. It is only as this happens that one can truly know truth.
What about the nature of morality, of right and wrong?
The third area to address is, what is the nature of morality? (of right and wrong, of obedience and rebellion?) How can what is known be used rightly or wrongly? It is important to understand right and wrong is not simply decided by and created by God. Unlike natural laws, (such as the law of gravity, law of physics, etc.,) which are part of creation, there is a moral law, which is the definition of right and wrong.
The moral law, rather than being created, is defined by the very nature of God, by who God is.
As God is unchangeable, right and wrong are unchangeable. What is morally right today cannot be wrong tomorrow and what is morally wrong today cannot be right tomorrow. Whereas, natural laws are part of creation, created by God to help govern His creation and God can change natual laws. God can and has had the movement of the sun back up. He has affected gravity, such that Jesus and Peter have walked on water. Our interaction with natural laws demonstrates, that although God supernaturally change naturral laws, for the most part he leaves the physical creation to run accorrding to these laws. On the other hand right and wrong never change. They remain the same. God’s will, which is rooted in His being and His nature, is the standard of what is right for man. The moral law of God is basically a testimony of who God is and who He is not. A review of the commandments of God, found in the Bible, reveals much about God. Consider the Lord’s commandment to honour one’s father and mother. This can be observed in God, the Son, honouring God, the Father. The command not to kill, which contains the instruction to not be angry without a cause, is seen in the fact that when the Lord God does show anger it is only with good and just cause. The command not to commit adultery is seen in the fact the Lord God will never write a certificate of divorce to His Bride, the church. The true church, the body of Christ, those who have come to love God, will always be special to God. Also, the Lord does not take what is not His to take. He never lies. And so on. If everyone followed the instruction of the Lord perfectly, then all would be good, as God is good. Since the commands of God proceed from His very nature, from who God is, those who have come to love God also love His commands and desire to keep them.
The things one speaks are part of right and wrong. Something God has defined as right and true does not become untrue or because someone other than God declares it untrue. And something God has definded as wong or false does not become right because someone other than God declares it to be true.
As stated earlier, Mankind are created in God’s image. God is love and God loves. Mankind are created to love. Love encompasses a choice to accept, obey and desire the best for the one who is loved, no matter what. God’s desire for mankind is that they love Him. Loving God includes accepting who God is, which includes accepting and obeying His commandments. The test and evidence of Mankind’s love for God is displayed in man’s choice to obey God. For obedience to be an act of love, (and the test of love,) the possibility of disobedience necessarily exists. This choice was present in the beginning, at the time of Creation, as seen in the command given to man not to eat of the fruit of The Tree Of The Knowledge Of Good And Evil. Man had a choice to eat or not to eat. To disobey this command necessarily represented, at heart, rebellion against God. If man chose to disobey, he was told it would result in death, which ultimately includes eternal separation from God and everything good.
Those who choose to rebel against God, as displayed in their rebellion against God’s ways, against His law, are separated from the fullness of His goodness. This is true for all spiritual beings including angels and mankind. Animals do not have the ability to carry out such rebellion and thus live within the bounds God has given them. Satan who was created an angel, a spirit being, rather than living in the joy of serving God, instead wanting to be God, He rebelled against God and has ever since been trying to take God’s rightful place. Satan, led some of the angels with him in this rebellion. These are the evil spirit beings still present today. Yes, Satan, and evil spirits exist and work in the heavens and the earth at trying to turn the hearts of mankind to rebellion against God. They have no part in God’s goodness. As such, they have no light and no life, as God is light and life. Their dominion is that of darkness. They promote death rather than life. In their rebellion, they have separated themselves from all things good.
Satan encouraged Adam and Eve to rebel against God and eat the fruit of the tree that God told them not to eat, for if they ate of it they would surely die. Mankind, in their first parents, Adam and Eve, chose to disobey God. As a result, they lost their good relationship with God and entered into a state of damnation, a state in which they cannot enter into the presence of God. By their disobedience mankind lost the lives they were created with and were left dead in sin, unable to make things right again, just as someone dead cannot bring themselves back to life. They lost their affection for and their desire to love God. In a sense, they became like Satan, wanting to be God, rather than to live in the joy of serving God, as they were created to do. This change of heart now affects everything mankind does. With disobedience to God came death. Mankind, who were created to live, now face death, of both the body and the soul. Left in this condition, after physical death will follow a spiritually dead existence totally separated from God and all things good.
When mankind have children, their children are like them, having a physical human body and a soul that is bent toward rebellion against God. This is the really of all who have descended from Adam. They are born in this same state, that is they are born dead in sin and unable to make things right. This is the state I was born into. This is why evil continues to affect so much of what happens in the world. It is why some leaders attempt to control and force people to follow their ways. It is why we so easily find ourselves doing things we know, in our heart, we ought not to do. Being spiritually dead in sin, given opportunity, all in some way do the wrong things and, as sinners, fall short of God’s way. God’s word says, “the wages of sin is death.”
This does not mean the image of God, mankind was created to be, is no more. Because of sin, the image of God is marred but it is still present in mankind. As such, mankind remains a unique and special part of God’s creation.
A comment on the biblical definition of death:
A comment on the biblical definition of death is important. The ultimate definition of death, rather then the end of exiting, is complete separation from God. As God is good, ultimate dead is eternal existence completely separated from all things good, with no way back, described as outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Above, mankind is described as having an eternal physical body and an eternal non-physical soul. After God created Mankind, He was alive, with a living body and a living soul. With Mankind’s fall into sin, Mankind became a dying body with a dead soul. When one’s soul is “born again” their dead soul becomes a living soul. Their body is still dying. Everyone’s physical body will die and be returned to the ground. On the last day, every person’s body will rise again from the ground. Those with living souls, will rise to renewed physical bodies to be fully alive forevermore, to live in the new heaven and the new earth. The bodies of those whose souls have not become alive will not be renewed and will be united with there dead souls, to exist forever in a stated of eternal death, an eternal existence completely separated from all things good forever.
Also, as a result of mankind’s rebellion, all of God’s creation was adversely affected, such that creation is broken and has become, in many ways, a hard place to live. We have to work for our food. Bringing into and raising children in this world is hard. Mankind’s ways are destructive to the world. Part of the consequence and the solution to the problem of sin, as will see, is that the world, as we know it, will not last forever.
God’s Love does not fail: (Reconciliation, The Cross)
Although mankind fails to love God, God’s love for mankind has not failed. God has a plan, an expression of His love, which He has carried out to reconcile some of mankind to Himself. God the Father worked out this plan with His Son (God the Son). The Father planned to send His beloved Son, His only Son, to take on Human flesh. God the Son with love for His Father willingly agreed to become a man, born as a baby, to grow up and live among sinful mankind like one of them. Being God and a man, Jesus was the first of mankind, who, unlike all of the rest of mankind, was able to keep the law of God and live as a perfect man. As man Jesus never sinned, He was the first of mankind who did not have to die to pay for His own sin. He willingly agreed to take the sin(s) of mankind upon Himself and bear in Himself the full punishment this sin requires, even including the full wages of sin, which is death. As God, He is all powerful and is more than strong enough to bear, through His death on the cross, the full punishment of all of Mankind who believe in Him. Jesus gave up His life and died to pay the price that God requires for sin, making it possible for mankind to be justly freed from eternal death and to look forward to eternal life. God the Father and God the Son did this out of love. God the Holy Spirit is involved in the plan too, as discussed in the next section.
From death to life:(Being born again)
Since, mankind, who are dead, are unable on their own to see and believe this great plan of God, the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, works in the hearts of mankind, of God’s choosing, making them able to see and believe His great plan. Through the enabling power of the Holy Spirit they become able to see what they were not able to see. They now begin to see the truth of their rebellion against God and the truth of God’s love demonstrated in His great plan of salvation. Seeing how amazing God’s love is, they are drawn to Him. Seeing how terrible any rebellion against such love is, they chose to repent of their sin, acknowledging it, confessing it and strive to turn from it to do what is right. They chose to believe God and accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour and as their Lord. Some call this being born again. I thank God for this change in me.
The Holy Spirit does more than enables us to see and believe. He then fills those who believe in this great plan of God, such that they are filled to overflowing with God’s love. Filled with the Holy Spirit of life, they love life. They love God’s Word and His ways, which are always good. God’s love which fills them to overflowing, leads them to share God’s great plan of salvation and His love with anyone who will listen.
God’s plan involves, by the power of Jesus, more than just a reconciling of mankind to Himself. It also involves the reconciling of all of creation to Himself, as will be fully revealed when heaven and earth, as we know it, are replaced with a new heaven and a new earth. At the end of this age, the bodies of all of mankind who have believe God’s plan, having embraced it, accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as the only way, truth and life, will not remain in the grave. Their dead bodies will raise from the grave and be renewed and joined with their now living souls to continue forever in the presence of the Lord and all things good, in the new heaven and the new earth.
All sin and evil will be dealt with:
God’s plan, in its fullness, not only includes the reconciling to Himself, those people who come to believe and love Him, to one day, commune with Him in the new heaven and new earth for eternity, but it also includes the eternal banishment and separation of all sin and rebellion from Himself. For those who love Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, the fullness of God’s wrath against their sin has been fully poured out on Jesus, fully satisfying God.
At the end of the age not only will the bodies of those who love the Lord be raised, the bodies of those of mankind who do not come to believe and embrace God’s great plan of salvation and reconciliation, and do not accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, will also be brought forth from the grave. But they will not be renewed. In some way, the brokeness of this life will remain with them. Their bodies will be united with their “dead” souls and they will have no part in the new heaven and the new earth. In the end they will see the truth of God, they will bow before him, but it will be too late to join with those who believe and love God. Instead, they will be banished from the new heaven and the new earth to exist forever for eternity, forever, completely separated from God and all things good.to a place of total darkness, where it is said there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The fall of mankind into the damned state of sin, was preempted by Satan and those created angels who followed Satan’s lead, rebelling against God and desiring to take God’s place rather than remain in the service of God into which they were created. Although man is responsible for his rebellion against God, Satan did what he could to encourage rebellion against God, as He continues to do. Satan, along with all the angels who also rebelled against God, and along with all of mankind who do not believe or desire to be part of God’s plan of salvation and reconciliation, face a banishment, including punishment of eternal existence in horrible horrible total darkness where there will be no quenching of thirst and no peace. Where is it said, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Satan, the one who instigated mankind to rebel, along with all those who remain in rebellion against God, will have no part in the new heaven and the new earth, as nothing that remains in sin, will be there. None of mankind whose sins are not paid for, who are not cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ, who do not believe and desire to follow God’s great plan, none of these will have a place with God in the new heaven and the new earth.
What about sickness and suffering:
With this foundation of Truth; the truth about what is real, about how we can truly know what is real, along with the truth about right and wrong, which includes a right understanding of why there are problems in the world, in our communities, in our families and even in our own lives, along with at least a beginning appreciation of God’s solution; we should be able to begin to understand and gain direction and begin to make good decisions, leading to good eternal outcomes, in all areas of our lives. Since, the foundation of truth is known from what the true God has revealed in His word, the Bible, one could describe this as living from a Biblical perspective. The the byline of my blog is World View and Ethical Issues from a Biblical Perspective. We could go on and tackle any number of issues. For now, we will apply truth to the issue of sickness and suffering.
Although God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them good, we learn, as a result of Adam sinning, that brokenness and death became part of creation. As a result, as descendants of Adam, all of us will experience death. The death was not part of God’s good creation. Death is not natural. It came as the consequence of sin and rebellion against God. All of our bodies will die. Before death comes, our bodies quit working properly. This is physical sickness. There is also emotional sickness tied into brokenness of our soul or spirit, also resulting from sin entering into the world. Actually, mankind are body and soul leaving physical and emotional sickness are intrically intwined. Since both sickness and death entered the world as a result of sin, these should not be embraced as natural. They should, in a certain way, be fought against. At the same time, although sickness and death should not be embraced as natural, there is a sense that they should be accepted, as even these are part of God’s plan.
An example of this brokenness is the physical brokenness diabetes, where sugar metabolism fails to occur properly. Medicine can help but ultimately, during life on earth as we know it, diabetes has no cure. We see the same with heart disease. Over time our hearts fail. The body will ultimately die.
An example of brokenness of soul can be depression and anxiety. These often have a spiritual bases more closely tied to sin, but can also have physical origins due to brokenness of our brains. Yes, our brains are part of our physical body.
All sickness entered the world because of sin, but not all sickness, both physical and spiritual, are tied to specific sin. There are examples in the Bible of both physical and spiritual sickness resulting from specific sin. There is also examples of sickness occurring independent of specific sin.
God is the source of life. The Bible tells us one of the reasons Jesus came to live in the world was to heal sickness. While on earth, Jesus healed many and even brought some back from the dead. But these people eventually became sick again and died. Like the rest of creation, complete healing and restoration of our bodies and our souls will not occur until heaven and earth, as we know it, come to an end and are replaced by the new heaven and the new earth. Our goal should not be to live forever in the brokenness of this world, or even to be forever remembered as we were on earth. We should, rather, look for and wait expectantly for the time when God restores all of the brokenness of Creation and replaces it with all things new, where there will be no more destruction, sickness or death, and there will be no more sin. One good thing about the death of our bodies includes the end of the opportunity to sin. Also, for those who trust in the Lord, there is the beginning of life in the presences of the Lord and, in due time, eternal life in the new heaven and earth with completely restored new bodies.
We should not seek death or embrace death as natural, but neither should we fear death. We should, if we believe and love God, look forward to the passing from this life to the next. On the other hand, those who do not believe in and love the Lord God are promised an ultimate terrible eternal existence which is worse than the worse existence one can imagine in this life.
As recorded, when Jesus walked on the earth, Jesus’ response to sickness, suffering, and death, show that God is in control of even these things, and through, or in spite of suffering, suffering is used by God as one way of revealing His power, goodness, grace, mercy and love to those who will believe in Him. God being eternal, all powerful, everywhere present and all knowing, continues to reveal Himself, His grace, mercy, and love even today, as is seen and appreciated by those who believe in Him. So much more can be said about God with respect to sickness, suffering, death and life. What I have written here is but a beginning. Remember the truth. God is good.
More important than overcoming physical sickness we should be concerned about loving the Lord. If we love Him we will desire to be directed by His commandments, which are summarized as “love the Lord God and to love those around us.” We learn how to truly love the Lord and to love others in His special revelation, in His revealed Word. In God’s Word, the Bible, there is direction to us pertaining to every thought we have, to every thing we speak or write, and to everything we do. God’s Word is living and powerful, able to cut through every doubt and defense and able to expose and guide the thoughts and intents of our hearts. No one is hidden from God, the giver of His Word. (Hebrews 4:12-13 paraphrase). God gives direction for every situation.
With respect to the contents of my blog, in His Word, God tells us we should promote life, protect others and hate murder. Thus, we should promote life and not abortion. Thus, people should wait on the the timing of Lord God and not promote the ending of life by the hands of mankind. We should not pronounce people dead while life blood is still flowing through their bodies, so that we can take their organs. God is the true author and finisher of life. We may think we can control death, but before the face of God, If we actively take life from a person, in God’s eyes we take on culpability or are guilty of murder. We may think we can control the beginning of life, but all we are doing is manipulating the way egg and sperm get together. Ultimately it is God who is the author of the of every life. When we try to manipulate the normal created process of procreation, for us to get one baby we want, many, many, many tiny humans die or are discarded in the process. Putting these tiny humans in such hostile environments may be no different than child abuse in the eyes of God. When it comes to helping those who are suffering, God’s Word instructs us to strive to be kind and gentle, Each of the situations mentioned above, unexpected pregnancy, the aftermath of abortion, poor health with expected death, organ failure, the struggle to bear a child, etc, are hard and distressing. As we bring God’s truth to bear in our thoughts, words and actions, we are to strive for kindness and gentleness.
Not yet complete……
[a] From The Confession of Saint Augustine – Chapter IV—The Majesty of God is Supreme, and His Virtues Inexplicable
What are You then, my God? what, but the Lord God? For who is Lord but the Lord? or who is God save our God? Most highest, most good, most potent, most omnipotent; most merciful, yet most just; most hidden, yet most present; most beautiful, yet most strong, stable, yet incomprehensible; unchangeable, yet all-changing; never new, never old; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; all-renewing, and bringing age upon the proud, and they know it not; ever working, ever at rest; still gathering, yet nothing lacking; supporting, filling, and overspreading; creating, nourishing, and maturing; seeking, yet having all things. You love, without passion; are jealous, without anxiety; repents, yet grieves not; are angry, yet serene; changes Your works, Your purpose unchanged; receives again what You find, yet did never lose; never in need, yet rejoicing in gains; never covetous, yet exacting usury. You receives over and above, that You may owe; You pay debts, owing nothing; remit debts, losing nothing. And what had I now said, my God, my life, my holy joy? Or what says any man when he speaks of You? Yet woe to him that speaks not, since mute are even the most eloquent.
Augustine, S., Bishop of Hippo. (1996). The Confessions of St. Augustine. (E. B. Pusey, Trans.). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.