God's Salvation

A friend had just read my book, God Makes Us Holy.  Something clicked, so he asked, “What is your version of God’s plan of salvation?”

He was sincere, a true seeker of truth.  Yet for decades, he struggled with this concept.  The problem was his highly conservative upbringing.  Rules restricted and condemned.  Love and forgiveness were absent.  Only the few, who followed perfectly, found salvation.  Everyone else went to hell.

He knew that view conflicted with many biblical teachings.  It rejected God’s compassion, mercy, and forgiveness.  Instead of God redemption saving us, our actions save us.

Through the years, he realized that condemnation condemned himself.  He learned the rules were blown out of proportion because they did not show God’s love.  He learned that forgiving others freed his soul.  Forgiving himself is still a goal, but one much closer than it once was.

However, his preachers still taught dogmatic rules that condemned.  They segregated those who follow a denomination’s ways from everyone else.

What I told him, I will give you.

God loves you.  God loves you so much that He wants you to live with Him forever.  Period.

Reread that statement.  It is God’s plan of salvation.  His own blood paid the price to save the worst sinner.  If you are not worse than the worst sinner that ever lived, then you qualify for His love and heaven.  He only asks that we make the choice to live His way.  It is not difficult, but culturally it is not easy.

God wants us to live a life filled with goodness, because it is good for us, and those around us.

God wants us to discard anger, hatred, lust, and all those thoughts that lead to self-centered evil, because they are bad for us and for those around us.

When bad thoughts enter our mind, He wants us to talk to Him about it, so that we can recover.  He desires that we acknowledge our sin so that we can confess and repent: to God, to “self,” and to those around us.  He will forgive instantly.  He wants us to forgive ourselves too.  We cannot control the response of others.

For us to hold on to bad thoughts and actions, we must justify their continuation.  When they become “normal,” we deem confession and repentance unnecessary.  Self-centered evil slowly kills our God Breathed spirit.  With a dead spirit, we no longer look like God.  Our choices let us become children of Satan.

When others hurt us, physically or mentally, we must work through the emotions and learn to forgive.  Forgiveness is key.  Forgiveness is God’s way.  Forgiveness is not easy for humans.  Yet, holding negative emotions hurts us more than “what happened.”  It hardens our heart (thoughts and emotions) and distorts our relationships with everyone else.  It is bad for us.  Learn to forgive as God forgives.

All the other “requirements” called for in “Plans of Salvation” are ritualistic.

Do not complicate God’s love and salvation with cultural “requirements.”  There is no “one perfect way,” except by God’s love.  Our faith to act is important to God.  Our commitment is important to God.  But, what God wants from us is our love, the reflection of His love.  All other “things” pale in comparison.

Most of the rituals are for our benefit.  I believe that “confession of belief” and baptism are important, but their appearance changes with culture.  They are points in time that redefine “self.”  They are part of our testimony where God cleansed us for a personal covenant with Him.  But, neither forces compliance.  Likewise, their absence does not require God to send good people to hell.

Trust God to save mercifully and justly.  In the parable of the sheep and goats, Jesus said compassion trumped personal beliefs and even knowledge of Him.  No religious restrictions qualified or disqualified salvation.  In the story of Cornelius, God filled the gentiles with His Spirit before they were baptized.  He accepted them before Peter was sent.  The story of Jonah tells us that God has always loved and was always willing to save, even the enemies of His people.  God knows our heart.  His salvation is for everyone willing to live His way.

Still, only His love saves us.

First and foremost, remember what He did.  God loved us first.  Learn to love Him back.  Our soft heart, filled with His Spirit, secures salvation.  Because, God loved us first.

The Pain of Dogma

As you might have guessed, I write biblical exegesis.  That “big churchy word” simply means I spend excessive amounts of time thinking on scripture.  Questions drive this pursuit.  Sometimes, things feel “not right” between what I read and the way I was taught to read a passage.  Other times I wonder why denominations believe differently.  It is my nature to figure out the problem and find a solution instead of ignoring or discarding my heritage of belief.

However, thinking that long means I dissect dogma and find most of it inadequate.

“What is dogma?” you ask.

Humans define things and ideas.  Dogma is the end of a progression of thoughts.  It is not isolated in one religion or even to religion.  Atheists have their dogmas too.  Every endeavor of man is filled with dogmatic beliefs.

“Where does dogma come from?” you ask.

Dogma is not dogma until someone decides it is dogma.  In an ideal state, this is how it forms.  We believe in “something.”  We teach that “something” is good or bad, or simply a better way of thinking.  The next generation agrees and builds upon that teaching.  They emphasize its attributes as good for everyone to know and call that doctrine.  Then it becomes a “must know” for understanding.  Eventually, a future generation says this is the only way to know that “something.”  Once the “something” is no longer questioned, we call it dogma.

However, that is also the problem with dogma within Christianity.  It ends discussion.  It ends thinking.  A concept that should bind us together in unity actually forms division and denominationalism.

“How could that happen?” you ask.

Too many of the concepts called dogma should never have been given that status in the first place.  Traditions turn dogmatic.  They once had a reason, but after a few generations, the people no longer think of them with reason.  They just keep the tradition.  They add rituals to make it more impressive, more “holy.”  Those become dogmatic too.  Nothing wrong in that, except when it is forced on someone else who questions the reason behind the tradition.

Discussions to solve a question develop into arguments about arguments until the original problem is no longer discussed.  Then, one group picks one side of the argument.  Another group picks the opposite side.  Each group believes their beliefs are true; therefore, their adversary’s beliefs are heretical.  The groups become theological enemies.

Corrupt leaders control a populace using dogmatic beliefs.  We must accept dogma without question.  We must plug our ears to opposition or be in rebellion.  We must condemn those who think differently.  If not, our group will reject us.  Ignorance makes compliance easier.  All we need to know is what we are told.

However, not thinking about their covenant with God led the Israelites to worship their neighbor’s idols.  Not thinking of a better solution let religious rituals become more important to salvation then God’s mercy and forgiveness.  Not thinking about the meaning of God’s commandments made people “act right” but not love a neighbor or even parents.

No subject that segregates the body of Christ into denominations should be considered so holy it cannot be discussed.  If there are many “solutions,” then the final solution to the original question is yet to be found.  The reason for the belief is lost in dogma.  We simply stopped thinking.

I pray we find God’s solutions and once again be unified.

Hometown Identity Crisis

What is in a name?  How about your hometown?  The place you grew up.  The area all your family and friends still live.  What is the level of pride there?  How do others view it?

Jesus came from the small town of Nazareth in the region of Galilee near the lake of the same name.  Capernaum in Galilee held a large rabbinical school.  Jesus began His ministry in this area.  Yet, in derision, the chief priests and Pharisees of Jerusalem asked Nicodemus, “Are you from Galilee, too?  Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”  (John 7:52 NIV).

Nicodemus belonged to their council, however he was no longer one of them.  They judged against a “so called” prophet, from which they had not yet heard testimony.  He asked if Law condemned a man of heresy on hearsay, knowing the answer should convict them.  Mosaic Law required them to listen to someone considered a prophet before they rejected the concept.  In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, the proof that God sent a prophet was not about the miracles or proclamations that came true.  It required the prophet’s words to focus the people’s thoughts on God’s ways, not lead them away from Him.

Instead of repentance, the chief priests and Pharisees used ridicule and a veiled threat to move blame onto Nicodemus.  They refused to see their own faults.  However, they were the ones who needed remedial scripture lessons.  In 2 Kings 14:25, the prophet Jonah came from a town called Gath-hepher in Galilee.  Isaiah 9:1-7 proclaimed Galilee would be honored when David’s successor was born.  Strange they forgot these important details.  About five miles away from Gath-hepher sat Nazareth, the place Jesus grew up.

The people of Israel knew and respected Jonah.  They believed the ancient Ninevites accepted his words as truth.  Nevertheless, not even those who grew up with Jesus believed He might be a prophet, let alone the Messiah, because nothing good came out of Galilee.

[Lesson from a new unpublished book by Jo Helen Cox that connects Jesus to Jonah, (no title yet).]

The Sign of Jonah - the Days

Jesus became highly frustrated at the Temple.  The people wanted signs that He was the Messiah sent from God.  So, He gave them the Sign of Jonah.

Three days and three nights, then Jesus would rise victorious.  Christians find this exhilarating, but everyone else rolls their eyes.  Why?  Because, any way it is counted, Jesus was not entombed for three days and three nights.

In the traditional counting of days, they buried Jesus Friday before sunset (the start of the Jewish day) so that the dead would not remain hanging on the Sabbath.  He arose pre-dawn Sunday morning.  That makes two days and two nights, the very end of Friday through Saturday night.

To obtain three days and three nights, an alternate solution places Jesus’ death on a Wednesday.  This is possible since the Passover Sabbath is based on the rising of the full moon and is separate from the weekly Sabbath.  For a Wednesday death, Jesus had to have died in the year 0030 or much later in 0037.  However, this interpretation does not account for the detail stated in John 19:31, which referred to this as a “special Sabbath,” meaning the Passover Sabbath occurred on the Saturday Sabbath.  The “special Sabbath,” occurred in the year 0033.  On that night, the full moon rose in full eclipse, a blood moon (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:21).

Does that mean the prediction was false?  No.  It means looking at the surface details fails to illuminate the sign Jesus gave.

Prophets regularly spoke in parables.  Jesus was a prophet.  These stories taught righteousness and wisdom to young and old, to the studious and the uneducated.  They relay information more meaningful then simple facts.  Parables convict the soul to fear God and keep His ways.  However, people only learn these things if they ponder the deeper meaning within the stories (Psalm 78:2; Proverbs 1:1-7).

The people Jesus addressed looked for fault not insight, so concluding the sign must only mean “in the tomb” is myopic.  Jonah did not die.  Jesus did not mention death.  Instead, He used the idiom, “in the heart of the earth.”

Jesus explained this phrase in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:1-15).  The earth represented the hearts of men in which God sowed the living word.  Therefore, three days and three nights encompasses more than physical death.  He meant the entire event where God exposed the true hearts of men.

The apostle Paul called that event the ultimate sacrifice of atonement.  Jesus became the sacrifice as well as the only high priest capable of presenting that sacrifice.  He entered the hearts of men and covered their transgressions.  (Romans 3:21-26; Hebrews 2:14-18; Hebrews 9:11-14).

Thursday, Jesus entered Jerusalem and asked His followers to remember as they shared the Passover meal.  Thursday night, He was betrayed by a kiss and solders took Jesus to the High Priest’s house.  There, as law prescribed, the first drops of sacrificial blood fell at dawn.  Then, blood splashed at the hands of governmental leaders.  His blood anointed the public all the way to Golgotha.  As Jesus hung in agony, He asked God to forgive those who committed murder and those who followed their leaders.  Before dawn of the fourth day, Jesus arose as our high priest capable of presenting His blood sacrifice in Heaven’s Holy of Holy.

“The Passion” took three days and three nights to expose the hearts of men.  Only then could anyone see Jonah as a sign that God sent Jesus.

Why Did Jesus HAVE TO Die?

For years, I asked people, “Why did Jesus HAVE TO die?  Why did God insist that was the only way?”  Jesus even begged for a different way.

I received a variety of answers but they all boiled down to one thing: Sin required death.  A holy God cannot let sin go unpunished, we all have sinned, and therefore deserve hell.  The ancient way was animal sacrifice.  Then, God provided a perfect sacrifice to atone for sin, His Son.  For only a sinless sacrifice can take on the curse, thus Jesus had to be sinless and die on a tree.

However, that answer still does not explain why God let sin exist or why it requires death.  The death of Jesus did not end death or sin.  To this day, both happen and will continue to happen.  In fact, it is difficult to prove His death did anything.  We cannot even prove He lived, let alone was resurrected.  All we have physically is the hope that what the Apostles said was true.

Perfectionistic theologies insist that we CANNOT hold God responsible for sin or death.  However, that makes the Creator a fool for starting creation in the first place because one event messed everything up.  If God is not responsible for sin happening, then He is not in control of this universe or our lives.  Sin mastered the Creator.

If God is all-knowing and His plan did NOT include the opportunity for sin, then why place a potential threat to perfection within reach of humans.  Why let Satan have the opportunity of access.  If God did not expect sin to happen, then He is not all knowing, because He did not comprehend the danger of the tree, Satan, or the strength of desire in humans.

Perfectionistic theologies make God weak, because an all-powerful God could have ended sin before or after it happened.  The theology makes God evil because He condemns every sinner to the torment of Hell for an event He should have controlled.

I do not believe that is true.  I do not find God spoken of like that in the Bible.  Actually, I don’t find Perfection Theologies taught in the Bible.  Therefore, there must be a different answer to why Jesus had to die.

God is in control, even when things seem out of control.  God let sin happen.  He let it continue to happen.  Satan did not, and cannot, slink in while God sleeps.  God knows everything that can happen in this universe.  He set up the garden to let humans choose to obey or not.  God did not force anyone to sin, but He is responsible for letting sin happen, every sin.

Death was the legal punishment for sin, either the death of the person who sinned or a sacrificed animal.  But people stopped “cleansing the camp” of those who spread sin.  Occasionally the Israelites purged the country, but the effects were always short lived.  If God wanted the Israelites to stay pure, why did He not step in more often and more dramatically?

From the beginning, God was always quite willing to forgive and occasionally, forget any sin.  That included murder: murder of brother, murder of friends, murder of babies, and murder of Jesus.  Throughout the Bible, God begged for repentance instead of “pass the blame,” lies, or arrogant blindness.  With repentance, comes total forgiveness.  He wants us to know good from evil, as He does.  He believes we can choose good over evil, as He does.  God desires people to be responsible for their sins, just as He is responsible for letting us sin.

Jesus did not die for sin under Mosaic Law.  If so, only the Jews would have been saved.  Plus there is no Mosaic Law that required an innocent person’s death in response to the personal sin of another.  The Jews have always been adamant about that detail.

However, in Genesis 15, God made covenant with Abraham.  God promised Abraham a child and a huge future nation.  All Abraham had was his faith and the promise that all those kids would be faithful.  In a bizarre twist, Abraham did not participate.  God took the responsibility of transgression for both parties.

That is the point where death is required, the price that needed paid.  People sinned; God had to die.  Since God is alive, no one could take His place, therefore Jesus must be God, not a separate person.  God the Father died on the cross.  He did this for every human, past and future, not just for the Jews.

In this death, the Creator of everything showed us how He felt about sin.  Suffering is not God punishing us.  Each sin tortures God like a stripe across His back, like another nail driven in.  Yet, He loves even the worst human.  That is why Jesus had to die a horrible death.

From the beginning, God always took responsibility for letting us sin.  He forgives those who place Him on the cross: past, present, and future.  Forgiveness is available when we acknowledge our need.  The death of Jesus proclaims that death is not the end.  His love gives us reason to repent.

[Lessons learned from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.  This book is available on Amazon.]

How I View Creation

I prefer a science based creation.  Science describes the world around us, what we can see, taste, hear, and touch.  It also describes what composes our “world,” the subatomic to the cosmic.  When knowledge gets to the edge of understanding, science admits it does not know.  Everyone can make a guess.  Eventually, it rejects theories that the natural evidence does not support.  It holds onto or revives theories that new evidence confirms.  This produces a “standard” of knowledge that modifies as we learn about nature.  Science is based in the reality that anyone, from any background, can study.

That does not mean I reject the Bible.  It contains information that lab tests cannot evaluate.  But we still must discern what we are told.  If Genesis 1 is true, then God created everything, and everything should point to God.  However, that is not what the church teaches.  Most denominations preach a perfect beginning that was corrupted by sin.  Yet, if nothing perfect remains, then there is no physical way to determine if that belief is true, partly true, or completely myth.  Not even believers can prove perfection existed, and they want non-believers to simply accept it as true..  Without any evidence, we must have blind faith in the first chapter of the Bible, the one that tells us God created everything.  That is not a great way to start.

For most of my life, Genesis One, and many other passages, irritated me until I researched what I had been taught.  I needed to find out if what I believed was a myth.  What I found was equal parts frustrating and amazing.

Christian Creationism is not one doctrine, but many.  Several exist today.  Doctrines contradict each other on how to interpret the Bible and nature.  Some even contradict themselves.  Creationism changes as theological beliefs change.  All those things are problems, as it shows Creationism is not simple or straightforward.  If Christians cannot agree on what the Bible says about God’s creation, how can an unbeliever trust anything spiritual in the Bible as true?

Like science, Creationism changes with our knowledge of nature.  That is understandable.  Even Augustine of Hippo said it would (in c. 400 AD).  However, religion resists and rejects change.  It will hold onto tradition even when the tradition is not useful, even when it is a lie.  They hold on so tight that tradition becomes dogmatic.  Promoters of Creationism say they have the truth, but they distort the evidence to fit their concept of nature.  They twist what scientists say to make them sound foolish.  Anyone who opposes their conclusions is promptly condemned.  Why would a believer or an unbeliever choose to follow such people?

For most of the last 600 years, European science (naturalism) was a Christian institution run by priests and clergymen.  Those people actually looked at the world and discovered that their beliefs about nature were wrong.  Yet, Christianity slowly lost its leadership in science because too many leaders rejected the evidence because it did not match their interpretation of Genesis.  There are Muslim groups who do the exact same thing.  How is “our” belief better when both reject parts of what is found in nature?

Because of the various beliefs, I wrote down all the creation details I could find and hunted for biblical reference.  I also wanted to see how much of the text matched science.  Sadly, I found very few details from Creationism as biblical.  However, many of the biblical details “almost matched” science.  There was something I was missing.

After about five years of daily searching, I had an epiphany.  Genesis One never used the word “perfect.”  Removing perfectionism let Genesis 1 match science perfectly.  Not just almost, but every detail in the chapter matched.  Removing perfectionism let Genesis 2-11 match science almost perfectly.  Only a few details do not align.

That in itself is miraculous.  Science actually verified Bronze Age creation stories as truth.  But removing perfectionism did something more amazing.  It changed my perception of humanity.  The God of creation stopped being angry.  He loves us with joy.  We are part of His good creation.  Our Creator turned into the Abba Jesus adored.

[Lessons learned from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

To Blame Monsters

Sunday, a small lizard sat in the middle of the church parking lot.  My thought, “Oh, little cutie, you will get squashed by a big car if you sit here!”  A little nudge and it moved a few inches.  Then it stopped.  I repeated my efforts.  It repeated its pathetic progression.  That is when I realized it was overheated.  It could not move farther.

I bumbled but finally caught the critter.  As I stood, a lady came up and asked, “What did you drop?”  I showed her the lizard.  Her hands shot out in resistance.  Her face lined in horror.  “I do not do bugs!”  She exclaimed.

I was confused by her miss-classification, so replied, “No, it’s a gecko.”

She backed away in terror, still with raised hands and head shaking.  She turned to flee, insisting she did not do bugs.

I looked at the lizard and saw only beauty.  It had settled on my hand, calmed by the reduction of heat.  Its spots glistened in the sunshine.  Its tail stripes draped across my palm.  How could anyone disapprove of such a wonderful animal?

Like the lady, too many Christians fear the world.  She calls non-mammals “bugs,” monsters that fill nightmares.  Some people add mammals too.  Phobias distort reality and produce overwhelming panic.  The fear is real.  The reason for fear is not.  Deep distress keeps them from examining God’s creation.

Some religious beliefs instill cultural phobias.  Logic distorts reality.  “Lizards are snakes with legs.  Snakes are evil.  Therefore, lizards are evil.”  However, snakes are not evil.  Evil is a thought or action that requires a choice to reject goodness.  God did not give any animal such a choice, only humans.  Animals must act as God made them to act.

The voice of the serpent in the biblical garden came from someone, but not the serpent.  That voice required an entity that had choice.  The animal did not loose arms and legs.  It’s DNA did not suddenly change to condemn all generations to follow.  That would be cruel of God, evil.  Instead, the one who spoke through the serpent was cursed to look like the innocent creature it occupied.  Follow that whisperer distorts a person spiritually.  We grow to think like him.  Then, he uses their arms, legs, and mouths to carry out his evil plans.

Religious phobias run deep in Christianity.  Anything that causes pain, suffering, or death must be “natural evils.”  Theology then sets blame.  “It happened because of sin” or “Satan did it.”  Our culture rejects blaming God.  Blame is bad.  Blame condemns.  God is too good to blame.  Such a perfect God cannot be responsible for creating bacteria that infect or cancer causing mutations.  We shift the blame and remove responsibility from God.

Christianity fears insulting God.  However, the Book of Job says such theologies insult God.  The Creator takes responsibility for creating everything, even the big bad scary things.  His “hedge” holds back problems.  He removes the barriers to let problems arise.  God is in control, and Satan must ask permission to cause trouble.  Illness and distress are not always punishment, but often a time of spiritual growth.

Being responsible is not the same as blamed.  God made the universe to function with natural laws to govern its existence.  Within those laws, randomness is allowed.  That means earthquakes, tsunamis, and tornados happen on a “living” planet.  Evolution requires randomness in DNA to produce variations and transform a species into something new.  Randomness gives humans the gift of free will.  God can use or tweak any part of creation, but generally, he lets randomness happen.  God retains responsibility for the bacteria that infects animals.  Humans have the responsibility to learn how to defend ourselves from infection.  That is the natural way.  Taking responsibility is God’s way.  No blame is required.

As I pondered our cultural aversion to things that frighten, I wanted to share my view of God’s good creation.  However, no children were around, not one person who cared.  I finally found a spot with shade to let the small lizard go.  Yet, it had found security.  I, the monster in its eyes, was now a place of safety, and it climbed my arm away from the grass. 

I think, humans are like this creature.  If we experience suffering, then we resist a repeat experience.  We cannot imagine how another change might possibly be good.  Fear forces us to run from beauty.  Panic distorts goodness into evil.  People cling to theologies that teach us God is not in control because that would mean He let us feel pain.  They reject Paul’s joy found through suffering.

But, as God knows what is truly good for us, I knew what was good for the lizard.  No food would be found on my arm.  The gecko would not be free living in a cage.  I forced the frightened animal from its clinging hold and the beautiful little lizard disappeared into the darkness, to recover.

Whom do you blame for the problems outside of your control?

[Lessons learned from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

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Courts of Heaven

I have spent the better part of this week reading a book recommended highly by a trusted friend.  She raved about Operating in the Courts of Heaven by Robert Henderson.  She gave it five stars and said it was filled with God’s love.  She wanted us to share the same wonderful journey.  But that was not my experience.  I had to force myself to read the second chapter, and every chapter thereafter.

I have read badly written books.  Some were even enjoyable.  This was different.  I was angry.  While, Henderson’s style was tolerable, his apologetics were appalling.  Apologetics is a presentation of reasons to defend one’s faith or belief against objections.  Everything Henderson could do wrong, he did wrong, which included circular logic and jumps to conclusions.  From the very beginning, this put me in “critique mode.”  I wrote nineteen pages of objections and felt spiritually sick the entire time.

I am finally finished and am inflicting that irritation onto you.  Sorry about that.  But as the body of Christ, we need to be aware of these kinds of twists taken to build a theology.

Henderson’s basic premise sounds good.  I actually agree with the principle idea.  Intercessory prayer should not start on the battlefield screaming at Satan or demons.  Those guys don’t want to listen to God, why should they listen to a human.  Such prayers should start in the heavenly courts, where quiet humility and deep repentance are required.  The intercessor pleads the case to the Judge of judges and answers any objections Satan might propose.

That is where my agreement ends.  Henderson insists this is the only way to pray to get results.  Legalism is the key.  We must speak the language of heavenly lawyers.  We must be versed in how to answer questions meant to impede our progress.  Henderson sets up multiple courts and insists only those who have proper authority can enter, give testimony, or witness in them.  Otherwise, we fail.  Our loss means God does not have legal permission to act in our favor.  He cannot grant what He wants, even though He wants to act.

Legalism is irritating.  It is like intertwining rabbit trails that lead to ritualistic dead ends.  But what made me so mad?  He abused scripture.  Henderson quoted verses containing words he wanted to emphasize.  Out of context, he changed the verses’ meanings to fit his beliefs.  The worst, and there were many, were in paraphrase as he reversed the relationship between man and God.  Each time, Henderson bound God to the legal system he proposed and elevated the intercessor to a primary position.  The supremacy of the Creator was degraded to comply with the whims and frailties of creation, both human and demonic.  Henderson said God could not break His own laws, but the laws stated were those Henderson decreed.  Within this legalistic system, God needed our permission to act.  All the details were left to a hoard of busy angels.  God was not even permitted to give mercy without an intercessor pleading a case.  God just sat in judgment, aloof.  Yep, I got angry, repeatedly.

Henderson used some common but regularly misinterpreted verses.  All of these were to “prove” the existence of a war between heaven’s angels and an army of demons led by Satan, ruler of hell and earth (Daniel 10; Ephesians 6:12; Colossians 2:13-15).  However, none of these passages actually states these rulers and authorities, etc. were spiritual.  If the idea was not even implied, why must we believe it as truth?  The only biblical passage that relays that content is Ephesians 3:10, but in verse 6:12 Paul reverses that interpretation where the spiritual is separate.  He is not fighting a human in an arena (flesh and blood).  He fights faceless government, merciless religious dogma, and some spiritual stuff.  Colossians 2:8 even tells the reader to reject such stories.  Actually, not one biblical writer claims this massive war exists.  It is Judeo-Christian mythology, based on non-biblical spiritualism.

Spiritualism insists that forces and spirits (not just God’s Spirit) control our existence.  Some of these are good; some of these are evil.  A religion based on spiritualism, grows quickly into something very complex.  Every turn requires more rules and more fear of the unknown.

The Bible repeatedly and bluntly says to reject such teachings.  Yet, humans like to make up demigods.  These beliefs give God’s authority to things within creation and divide our devotion.  That is idolatry.  The Bible proclaims God is in complete control, even when everything seems to be out of control.  The Bible declares our Creator is intimate with every part of the universe, especially our lives, even when we do not feel His presence.  The sin within us finds that concept repellent instead of comforting.  We prefer a legalistic demigod that we control.

Another aspect of spiritualism is that it is esoteric by nature.  That means only a few people can discover, discern, and understand the secrets within religion.  Everyone else must follow blindly or go to hell.  Henderson believes that to understand what God wants we must find and read spiritual “books.”  At the dawn of time, God dictated to an angel the contents written for each person, church, city, and nation.  They contain God’s vision for our lives.  Without that knowledge, we cannot manifest our true destiny.  Most of these books are hidden in heaven.  Some are captured by demons.  Only a spiritual seer/prophet can find and read them for us.  Sorry, that is divination, fortunetelling, a practice bluntly rejected by God.

Instead, the biblical passages describe a person willing to take a message to the people.  God shows an image.  A question is asked and answered, no reading involved.  These books are not to store information in heaven that we must “battle to retrieve.”  They are metaphors of God’s knowledge.  Others are not even spiritual books.  In Psalm 40:6-8, David sees his devotion as aligning with Mosaic scrolls.  As in, “Wow, I see myself in scripture!  I delight in your will.  I have your law in my heart.”

Legalism kills our relationship with the Father.  Spiritualism dilutes our devotion.  Esoteric theology segregates people into casts.  God wants everyone to feel free to worship Him and know how to follow His ways.  Our Creator made His rules simple so that children can remember and adults can live them without fear.  Love is the key.  Everything else is burdensome religion.

My friend desperately wants what Henderson is selling, an effective way to guarantee God’s quick and favorable response.  This I find honorable.  However, Henderson’s way goes down a rabbit hole.

Fear

I heard a new teaching recently.  It says, “Fear is not an emotion; it is an attack from the enemy.”  I disagree.  Such theology burdens us with fear about fear.  Too few have enough faith to fight such a dogmatic demon.  Everyday fears will produce guilt until a person gives up, condemned by their own theology.

Followers quote 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (NKJV)  Since God did not give us a “spirit of fear,” fear could not be part of our soul, not part of our God-given nature.  It must not be natural.  They concluded with, “All fear comes from Satan.”

Part of the problem with this theology is it takes a passage out of context.  It emphasizes theology over what the writer said.  It emphasizes one word, “fear,” over the others used in translation: timidity, cowardice, and dread.  Paul did not deride the people for having justifiable fear.  Jail, torture, and death were their reality.  He saw fear as the obstruction of perseverance.  So, Paul prepared Timothy to preach the Gospel with knowledge; he probably would suffer.  Paul emphasized that God’s Spirit would help overcome fear with power, just like it did in his own life.

The other objectionable aspect of this reasoning is it does not accept that God made humans in the same way He made all the animals, out of dirt.  The natural evidence shows only one process was involved (evolution).  Genesis One and Two do not contradict the evidence.  We are the same, yet something is different.  We contain our animal instinct with a soul, and then God added our spirit, His Breath.  When we choose good over evil our spirit projects His image.  Fear is part of our selfish animalistic nature.  God wants us to grow beyond that nature.  When God’s Spirit baptizes a believer, He provides power to excel beyond our capabilities.

The Bible never declares Satan has enough power to create anything, even something as basic as fear.  If God made everything, then God made fear.  However, Satan takes advantage of our natural emotions.  He twists fear into a paralyzing force.  He laughs as WE build fear into a mountain of unfocused paranoia.  The frustration that comes with fear turns into anger, which we hold onto as if it were necessary.  Trust dissolves.  Love, mercy, and forgiveness become despicable.  Development falters.  We then inflict that burden onto the next generation as truth.

The Bible repeatedly says, “Do not fear.”  This encouragement always comes at the bleakest times, when rational fear is at its greatest.  Our Creator knows us intimately.  He does not condemn us because we fear.  He wants us to rely on His word as true, His power as great, and seek His willing help.  Even when terrible events occur, and they will, we can trust in Him.  God does not want our animal instinct to guide us any more then He wants us to listen to Satan.  He desires that we persevere to mirror His Image.  When we observe God’s presence in extreme times, it influences our day-to-day lives.  His peace becomes our normal.

To outsiders, such devotion seems foolish.  We should panic.  But knowledge of God’s ways calms our souls.  We learn to “not fear” the darkness and the unknown.  He lights our way through life’s large and small problems.

The Bible never says we must live a completely fearless life.  We simply learn to live beyond our natural emotions.  God’s power helps us accomplish great things despite our fears.  In doing so, we soon see molehills instead of mountains. 

That knowledge is worth passing onto the next generation.

P.S. While writing this blog, God emphasized several fears that have paralyzed me, past and present.  Writing a book was impossible, but I have a book published, with more on the way.  Writing a blog was impossible, yet here I am.  This month was marketing.  It is impossible for me to promote my book.  I just don’t know how.  However, with His help, I will learn marketing so that more people will read my writing.

That last paragraph sounds entirely to serene for my emotional status.  Frustration and panic have been common.  Fear of failure.  Fear of ineptitude.  Fear of fear.  Yes, Satan is in the mix, laughing.  My friends think I am being ridiculous, resistant, and maybe a bit crazy.  They know I can do this.  I do not.  I see each obstacle, too many boulders to count.  Yet, I will persevere to see the mountain moved and the way made smooth.  I will trust in my God’s power to get me through.

I am simply on the up-hill side of a learning curve.

To Worship God

Church services are changing.  Someone replaced the old songs with new ones.  The preachers tell jokes instead of screaming hellfire.  Even building structures look different.  Does that excite or irritate you?  Has it stopped feeling like church?  Or, does it finally feel like church?

I was raised in a denomination that was quite restrictive.  We sang beautifully, but never expressed the emotions mentioned within those songs.  Communion was quiet, solemn, reflective, but it lacked any actual communing.  Bible readings were formal, dramatically monotone, as if the words never mentioned anything sad or funny.

Expressing emotions during worship was disrespectful to God.  Yet, the emotion too often experienced was boredom.  If the service ran long, then the “wrist twitch” crossed the room.  Would the roast burn or the ball game start?  Could we sit fifteen more minutes without falling asleep?

Once the service was over, particularly after leaving the sanctuary, people changed.  They greeted each other in friendly laughter.  Some quietly fed on “roast preacher,” criticizing what was just said.  At social gatherings, members talked about everything, including each other, but only the opening prayer spoke to or about God.  Too many members acted like unbelievers once they left the church grounds, or at least, that was the subject of too many sermons.

Then, I met a group who enjoyed going to church.  Instead of gossiping about each other, they talked freely about their God and their trials in their walk with God.  Their favorite topic was what He did for them that week.  Most sermons centered on our relationship with God, and people voiced reluctance to end even a long service.  We sang to God, not about God.  The words of the songs became our words.  Communion with God was a communication of admiration.  God loved us during worship.  God walked with us outside the building and throughout our days.

Many large traditional churches now provide “progressive” services.  They sing current songs, or at least those written after the 1930’s.  Lyrics are projected on screens eliminating fumbling with books.  The people raise their hands and shout God’s praise.  Occasionally, someone will dance in the aisle.

All good, if done for the right reasons.  I’ve heard of congregations that accept the change simply to keep “the youth” from leaving or to entice outsiders in.  It works for a while, since newness replaces boredom.  However, newness ends.  Progressive services take much more effort to organize and present.  They also require volunteers that are more “qualified.”  Fewer members of the congregation are involved.  Even if the leaders began with good intentions, they burn out.

Those who forged the path of change feel continued besiegement by fellow members for disrespecting tradition or for not going farther away from tradition.  Groups vie for control and long-standing quarrels surface.  Without congregational cooperation, tension turns to anger and a church will split or return to traditional worship.  That pain will linger.

Such events provide fuel for those who oppose “emotion filled” services.  They claim the emotions were superficial or fake, stirred up because of a song.  They proclaim negligence toward leaders who did not teach the people respectful self-control.  Yet, these same naysayers ignore the superficial “serenity” of their version of worship.  They do not see their structured tradition does not teach intimacy with God.

Style means nothing to God if done for the sake of style.  Tradition means nothing to God for the same reason.  These build human community.  They also segregate human community.  Styles and traditions can only teach the ways of God superficially.  None of them develops relationship with the Creator.

Relationship requires dedication to more than religion.  Our intimate allegiance must be to God.  Each of us must deny self.  That means realizing our ways might not be the best, or even preferable for another believer.  We need to open ourselves to instruction.  We must search for evidence within that confirms God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness.  Any cultural style, tradition, or religious acts that distract, overshadow, or replace those attributes are suspect.  Only then can we see that the differences are external and our spirits are the same.

In the calm and in the rowdy, we find Him.  Let our eyes and ears be open.

The Natural Law of Tithing

Christian denominations teach conflicting doctrines on tithing.  The extremes range widely, from super casual to a neurotic state of oppression. 

Under Mosaic Law, the tithe was mandatory, a kind of tax.  Each family held the responsibility to provide a livelihood to the Levite families who were not given a potion of the Promised Land.  This “family” acted as priests, teachers, and administrators.  They in turn, tithed their income.  Tithing made them a corporate entity.  They built a nation together.

This simple concept, however, was rather complicated.  The biblical documentation did not detail the rules well enough to know how to “do it right.”  Not everything was tithed.  Not every year had the same tithe or had the same reason for tithing.  Also, tithing was not the only type of giving.  They were to be generous so that everyone who lived in their area prospered.

However, the Israelites did not act as one people.  They insisted on being tribes and city-states.  Once they became a kingdom, additional taxes were applied.  Abuse of power produced internal conflict, which added to the Israelites repeated rejection of Law.  They spent their tithes on themselves or gave it to idols.

Many Christian denominations comply with the teaching of tithe.  However, some groups go to the extreme.  They require a disclosure of all income “for accountability.”  Noncompliance ends in expulsion from the congregation.  Bureaucratic legalism rules.  At some point, policy rejects mercy.

Other denominations insist the Mosaic Law is defunct, therefore tithe is not held.  They say that keeping any of the Law rejects God’s grace and imposes the consequence of Law.  However, having no guidelines is just as confusing as too many.  The people never know how much to give or even what part of their income/property/estate is tithed.  Despite donating generously to organized charities, too many believers put a few bucks in the plate to dissuade guilt.  The people never learn to support their local congregation.

The middle road varies greatly and often swings back and forth between the extremes.  Without a dogmatic requirement of tithe, most preachers must continuously beg to pay wages and fund building upkeep.  Announcements embellish the necessary weekly pulpit fundraisers.  These speeches either coax through greed (God must bless a giver), or inflict fear (God cannot bless a non-giver).

If prosperity comes without giving or disaster comes while giving, then people become deaf to the pleas.  Misuse of funds produces distrust.  Frustration leads to not giving.  Dictatorial disagreement and non-biblical seduction divide the church.  We spend our money on ourselves or give it to “a worthy cause.”

I have struggled with this problem my whole life.  You see, I am dyslexic.  Numbers are stressful, even something as simple as 10% causes anxiety.  So, God gave me another way.  He sends me a person in need.  He puts a number into my head.  I give that amount.  Simple.  I must not worry if that person spends the money wisely or not.  That is not my job.  The first few years I kept a record of these gifts.  Oddly enough, the yearly amount always exceeded ten percent, just slightly.  There was so much relief, that I stopped calculating the numbers.

However, the weekly fundraisers continue to inject fear of “doing it wrong.”  I sow into the flock, but rarely into the corporate entity.  Every Sunday morning, the war of extremes wage in my head.  I regularly calm myself with, “The church is the people.” 

A friend recently gave the announcements.  He described giving in a different light, and it fits well with my belief that we learn about God through His creation.

He said we should not think of the tithe as a tax, a punitive law filled with eternal judgment.  Instead, look at giving as a natural law of nature that God set at the beginning of time.  Natural laws cannot be broken.  In giving back, we acknowledge that our very existence came from Him.  We share our excess so others benefit from our blessing.  We hope that they too will pass on that blessing.  The “natural law of giving” is a progression of blessing.

This natural law does not dictate percentage: it shapes the soul.  Ten percent is a simple number of division and useful because of its simplicity.  God made it easy.  If regulations complicate simplicity, then the regulations are wrong.  If God gives you a different percentage or way to calculate, then use that number.  The number is not the issue.  What is important is the act of giving.

The Bible presents a wonderful aspect of giving: joy, lots of joy.  Giving joyfully reduces our natural tendency toward selfishness and greed.  Giving allows you to express God’s love for you and through you.  Giving brings people together to build a beautiful place of worship.  Giving supports those who dedicate their life to provide a worship environment.  Giving to the poor offers them joy.  We give to make the world a better place.

Give as God gives, with joy.

The Purity of God

What is your basic concept of God?  Do you think of Him as far away, secluded in heaven, and isolated from the evils of this corrupt world?  Are your sins intolerable to a holy God?  Do you wonder how He could love you?

Such theology is old.  It is common in many religions, including several that influenced the Israelites at the various times the Bible was written and canonized.  This belief requires a holy and pure god to remain separate from everything unholy and impure.  Religious rituals bridge the gap to allow at least partial access and the hope of answered prayers.

The Bible regularly references such ideas.  One of the favorite “proof” texts is Habakkuk 1:13a “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”  (NIV)  However, that passage is immediately followed by “Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

The Hebrew word translated “tolerate” has the same base as “look on.”  God does see.  He sees every sin, every evil.  Yet, He lets it happen.  This is God’s normal behavior.  He did not stop the serpent from entering the garden.  He did not hinder Abel from going into the field with Cain.  He did not blind David to the beauty of Bathsheba.  This inaction leads theologians to deduce segregation.  Sin repels God so much that He cannot interact with people.  Then, to repress the growth of sin in a society, God suddenly resorts to extreme anger and violence from a distance.

Where is the justice in that scenario?  Where is God’s love?

The problem actually begins with the first assessment of God.  For humans to remain pure, we must separate ourselves physically and emotionally from things that pollute our endeavor to remain pure.  Mingling that into theology is wrong.  It remakes God into our image.

Nothing we do sullies God’s holiness or His purity.  This imperfect world is His creation.  If He is everywhere, then He interacts with every particle of every atom throughout the entire universe.  He even controls the space between.  “Everywhere” includes the most evil humans that ever existed.  He was with them as they made their plans and committed their crimes.  God was with them as they murdered good people.  God was right there.  “Everywhere” also includes you and me.  He is with us when we sin.  We cannot hide.

That concept makes our head spin.  We do not want God to hang out with evil people.  We do not want God to know when we are bad.  Yet, that is what the Bible teaches.  God knows our vile thoughts because He is with us.  That intimacy is why sin makes God sad or angry.  He is right there as we deliberately choose to do something wrong.

We ask, “Why would God subject Himself to such horrors?  Why doesn’t He just take away sin?”

The answer is simple: because He loves us.  If God destroyed sin then no human could exist, because we all sin.  If God never gave humans the capability to sin, then we would not have the God-like ability to choose between good and evil.  Giving us free will was God’s plan from the beginning.  He gave us the choice to act like Him, or not.  He wants our love freely given, and love cannot be forced.

God did not set up a hierarchy of big evils and little sins.  Religion did that.  Sin is sin, simply the transgression of law.  Evil is a conscious effort to harm someone unjustly or to persuade someone to commit sin.  God desires that we realize sin is bad and choose to make better choices.  Our Creator set up a system to redeem us, where He took responsibility for humanity’s ability to sin.  Our holy God, as Jesus, paid the price of death because He knew we could not do so ourselves.  He continuously gives mercy when we falter.  And, God freely grants forgiveness to each repentant heart.

He does the same for every generation within a nation.  He sends prophets and teachers to guide and teach.  However, when leaders repeatedly choose contempt over kindness, the population eventually considers evil as normal and goodness as foolishness.  Love, mercy, and forgiveness become restricted to the few, their value hoarded for selfish desires yet compromised on a whim.  God will wait for generations until the sins of that nation become irreversible.  Only then does He act to cleanse the region of the influence of evil.  The people chose their path and their judgment.

Our Father wants us to live as good people where we mirror His love towards humanity.  Still, we transgress law.  God grants us mercy.  This demonstrates His undying love.  We sin repeatedly.  Our Creator offers us complete forgiveness each time we repent.  All we need to do is trust Him to do what He says He will do.  Then the God of Abraham will count our faith as righteous.

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.  This book is available on Amazon.]

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

I need reader reviews!

The Amazon page for my book, God Makes Us Holy, is now working (mostly right).  Now, I need reader reviews!  Reviews raise the page’s status so more people can find the book.

Click this link, and you can purchase a paperback or Kindle version (Thank you!).  Or, I can email you a free PDF version if you send me a note (call, text, email, or leave me a message in the comment section below).  Or, this week I should get a box of books (Whoop).  Read, enjoy, and then PLEASE post a review.  Tell the world how the book made you feel or think.  The more personal the comments the better, because Amazon is getting picky.

I need 15-20 reviews as soon as possible before starting the focused promotion phase of the book.  During that week, the price of the Kindle version will be free or greatly reduced.  Tell your friends.  Help me get the word out.

So, why read my book?  God takes us through a daily and life long journey to remake us into someone holy, like He is holy.  It is beautiful, wholesome, and simple process of change.  He eagerly grants grace, mercy, and forgiveness.  No atrocity is too big.  No sin turns Him away.  Yet, burdensome religious condemnation stole our understanding of that joy.  Complicated theology blinded believers to the simplicity of restoration, regeneration, sanctification, and resurrection.

God Makes Us Holy turns that around and takes us through the steps.  Each one starts with God who gives us a choice of how we will respond.  God then acts on that response.  It is that simple.  If we let Him, He will make us holy.  This is our Creator’s way.

It is time to accept God’s blessing.

God’s Fire Within

We are vessels uniquely made by God.  He created our bodies, but this “vessel” has little to do with skin that grows wrinkled with age.  If we let Him, God’s artistry makes our inner form more pliable and stronger throughout our lives.

He does not toss the undeserving aside as garbage or make us perfect to sit untouched as knick-knacks.  He focuses dysfunction until we become essential.  He desires to reform the broken and rededicate the lifeless.  He creates utilitarian vessels, beautifully crafted and practical.  He fashions each one of us in a style and size all our own, for His purposes.

God becomes our passion and fills us with fire that satisfies.  Without fire, our usefulness draws dust.  Filled with strange fire, we become an abomination.  With His fire, we become exceptional.

Sometimes we are small vessels.  Censers contain only a very tiny fire, but that fire combined with a bit of incense produces an aroma that fills a room with perfume.  Firepots, lidded bowls, store embers for tomorrow’s bonfire.  A single candle can light a room, flooding out the darkness of stumbling fear.

Sometimes God expands our vessels to contain a blaze.  As a torch, we carry His brilliance into the darkest pits.  A brilliant beacon on a hill calls the lost home.  Controlled wildfire pushes back the enemy and destroys its escape.

Our willingness to house God’s fire builds His Temple within us.  We become a holy place where seekers meet their Creator.  He can take even “the least” of us and form that vessel into His holy altar when we confess sins to one another.  God does all the rest.

Throughout our lives, our Creator wants us to present our personal sins.  He waits for us to sacrifice our selfishness and pride, those thoughts and actions that block the light.  He daily purifies us with His own blood and removes transgressions from our record.  He smelts our life into malleable gold.

God does the same with our community’s corporate sins, those acts that bind us together but are not His ways.  We blind ourselves to these by claiming they are other people’s sins, not ours.  Fighting the great world sins is more important.  However, the community that needs repentance consists of believers only.  Complacency allows the world’s ways to become normality.  Like the Jews of the Bible, Christians believe they are saved simply because they call themselves Christian.  Hardness grows within.  This pride-filled sense of security lets strange fire fill our vessel.  Eventually, God will purge the offence.  His fire produces a clean people.

The fire is God.  This is not just a symbol or metaphor.  God’s presence is living fire.  Through our obedience, God teaches His ways of love.  We simply hold the fire.

Be His vessel.

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.  This book is available on Amazon.]

My Life Today

I'm supposed to blog regularly, say something poignant, profound, or inspirational.  Yet, my head is consumed with current events in my life and the emotional roller-coaster of this last week. So... you get a Jo story.

Last minute edits of my book, which goes to the printer this weekend, is both exhilarating and frightening.  If I wasn't editing until my brain hurt, then I walked around the house in a daze.  I’m still not sure what to do next.

Mom’s Alzheimer’s… Talk about ups and downs.  Happy giggles then paranoid screaming.  If you know mom or someone with dementia, you have heard it all, and you have felt what I’ve felt. Enough said there?

Other people in my life have had major ups and downs.  One friend died.  Others have new babies.  Problems seem to go with knowing people.  For an introverted hermit, like me, that overwhelms the emotions.  I must remember all the good things that go along with knowing God’s children.  Only then, can I cope.

Our puppy is over 11 weeks old and over 22 lbs.  This is going to be a BIG dog.  Her name is Lightfoot.  I tend to call her Underfoot.  Though I haven’t fallen yet, it is a constant fear.  I must remember that this is a puppy thing and pet her soft ears.  And her face… such love and adoration…

We have a new baby turkey.  It is so ugly it is cute.  And cuddly.  Baby turkeys like to cuddle and take a nap in your arms.  I need a “turkey fix” about as much as a kitten or puppy.  Kind of boggles the mind.

The down side of pets is that my old goose, Tippy, died the same day the turkey hatched.  She had been sick for several days, not eating and lethargic.  However, I thought she was getting better.  But, no.  My good goose is gone.  She will be missed.  Without her, there is no reason to keep water birds in my backyard.  We will be taking the last duck and the tank out to the ranch and returning to a lawn with flowers.  An era has ended.

My emotional roller-coaster life has more ups than downs.  That is good.  Looking at all these events through the eyes of God’s love, changes them.  They become special, normal, and manageable.  God is good.  He will teach us to love the unlovable and appreciate the ugly.  Do all things in love.

cover for GOD MAKES US HOLY

My first book, GOD MAKES US HOLY, is about to be published and ready for purchase July 31, 2015.  This is the cover.

Unbelieving Believers

“I can’t rationally accept that those people were healed.”  My friend and I discussed a church revival.  The crippled walked or danced, backs no longer sent shooting pain, and fused joints moved.  Most of the crowd acted happy-crazy.  Dozens ended up on the ground.  They laughed or sobbed.  A few jerked like fish out of water.  It was all too unrealistic to be true.

The lady who spoke believes in God.  She has a Bible degree.  She even believes God can heal.  Her problem is a lack of faith in humanity.  Charlatans are real.  They want our attention, our devotion, and our money.  If the healing does not happen to her, or to her friend, how can she know the event was not staged?

I recognize her words as my words.  We both think analytically.  We need proof.  Yet, we hesitate to go where the proof might be found, places generally loud and emotionally unrestrained.  The group’s religious background varies from person to person.  Some in the audience do not have any structured belief system at all.  A cultural clash keeps us at arm’s length, and we hold those arms crossed defiantly.

I pondered our beliefs, and realized I had heard those words spoken from my youth by my parents, my church teachers, and from the pulpit.  “God does not work that way any more.”  “Those miracle workers are all frauds.”  “Be strong against those who do magic tricks to heighten emotional reactions.”  “Don’t let your guard down.”  “Don’t be weird.”

Those teachers had valid points.  They warned against extremists who disrespected tradition and exploited emotions.  They opposed “teachers” who provided no lasting substance.  Those charlatans stole members from the local churches, and then abandoned them, broken and confused.  Only a few would return to regular worship, and they were never quite the same.

Yet, the people I saw healed are not strangers, not “shills” brought in to con “marks” out of money.  They are not even pretenders wanting attention.  I know some of them.  I know people who know others.  No one was asked to switch congregations.  Faith was not focused on one miracle man; everyone joined in.  What happened was encouragement to accept, trust, and build faith in our God.  The people and the leaders expressed pure faith.  Joy and power flowed freely and continued to grow.

I have fought this inner battle for over 30 years.  How to trust when I was raised by the church to not trust.  How to have faith in the acts of a living God, when I was told those events were simply coincidences, or worse, lies.  How could I have faith like Abraham, when no one told me to listen for God’s voice?

The answer was within me.  I had to step out in faith, keep stepping out, and trust God to lead.  I had to go where miracles were spoken of as wondrously normal.  I had to force myself to accept the possibility that what I saw was reality, that I was capable of hearing His voice.  I had to first get to know the people who prayed and those who received prayer.  I had to become one of the weird people so that I could say, “I know that person.  They were broken.  Now, they are not.”

Then, and only then, did I hear God’s voice.  What a wondrously normal thing!

After years of watching, I let down my guard to receive a miraculous healing.  I can now smile and say, “I am one of those people.”

Eden Revisited #8: The Lesson of Blessing

What are we to learn from the Eden stories?  Is it “how depravity started”?  No.  Without the unbiblical constraints of perfectionism, Adam and Eve’s sin becomes a blessing, our blessing to become the Image of God.

Unbiblical perfectionism distorts the gift of knowledge into an atrocity.  It describes the all-knowing God as clueless, intolerant, and vindictive.  His shortsighted ineptitude allowed the people access, allowed the serpent access, then He condemned the people for listening to a “voice of reason.”  He did nothing to prevent any of it from happening.  Nor did He have the power to reverse the effects.

In a natural interpretation, the stories tell us how God made humanity into His likeness, the process that continues today with each individual and each community.  When we “lost innocence,” we gained knowledge like His.  That means our potential to be virtuous overshadows our capability to do evil.

God set up the garden scenario.  He planted the two trees within reach knowing all along what would happen.  The people were bound to eat from one or the other without the assistance of the serpent.  The serpent hurried the process and decided to act with evil intent.  He became curse and his existence changed.  The people followed bad advice.  They acted in selfishness and were no longer innocent animals.  Their existence changed too but were not cursed.  God remained with them, since what happened did not change His plan.

God wants us.  He longs for each of us.  God particularly loves those who fumble at being good.  Jesus came to serve those people.  His “good news” message starts and ends with how much love God bestows onto humanity.  Grace covers our inadequacies as long as we humbly continue trying.

Our Creator enjoys it when we take responsibility for our thoughts and actions.  Yet, our Father wants us to let Him be responsible for our restoration.  He rejoices with forgiveness each time we repent.  God desires that we learn to live as His image.

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Eden Revisited #1: Powerful Love vs. Limited Perfection

Eden Revisited #2: A Safe Place to Grow

Eden Revisited #3: The Garden River

Eden Revisited #4: Humanity’s Origins

Eden Revisited #5: Creation of Death

Eden Revisited #6: Curse? What Curse?

Eden Revisited #7: Original Sin Theology

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited

Eden Revisited #7: Original Sin Theology

At what point do Adam and Eve “fall from grace”?  How does Original Sin fit with a natural interpretation of the Eden texts?  Actually, these theologies are not biblical, so they do not.  Without the unbiblical constraints of perfectionism, God treats each individual uniquely.  Grace abounds with love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Sin is the choice to transgress law.  Choice is not hereditary, however consequences can be. 

Adam and Eve listened to bad advice and made a bad choice before touching the fruit.—Yes, they sinned before touching the fruit.—Eating gave them God-like knowledge of good and evil plus the byproduct of shame, neither of which are inherently sinful or evil.  Along with the Breath (our spirit), these were their children’s inheritance.  Each person must choose how to manage these God given gifts.

People can live sinless lives (like Enoch or Jesus) by always making good choices.  For the majority of us who continue to make stupid, bad, or rebellious choices against God’s law, God is gracious to provide a cleansing process.  From the beginning, He chose to forgive the sins of a repentant heart.  He chose to wash sins clean with the blood of animals, then with His own blood.

God is patient and His grace abundant.  Abba Father meets our failures with a smile and open arms.  He forgives every time we repent.  That forgiveness is complete with no reservations.  Humans do not forgive fully.  Often we do not forgive ourselves.  God does.

Only our hard heart interrupts that process.  Pride tells God we do not need His help, His guidance, or His mercy.  Arrogance tells God that it is not His place to criticize our decisions or interfere in our life.  Tradition tells us we can redeem ourselves through ritual.  That grieves His Spirit, but He honors our choice.

It is natural for humans to defend their actions.  However, if we rationalize and justify evil, then shame no longer softens our heart.  If people do not try to be good, then evil becomes “normal.”  Repentance seems ridiculous.  Eventually, God cleanses a population that thinks evil is good and good is evil.

Without repentance, each bad choice corrupts our soul (our mind) and slowly kills our spirit (God’s image).  We “die” of a hard heart before our physical heart stops beating.  This is second death.  Physical death locks-in our non-repented choices as final.  We condemn ourselves.

God begs us to choose differently than that kind of arrogant death.

God did not kick Adam and Eve out of the garden for eating forbidden fruit.  Nor did they get the boot for sinning, lying, hiding, or even bringing evil into the world.  God separated them from the tree that gave eternal life.  He restored our access to that life through the death of Jesus.  If we eat His sweet flesh and drink His “juice,” life is ours.  But, we must make the choice to repent of our rebellion, submit to His guidance, and “die” to our selfishness.  This grows a clean soft heart.

God died so that we could know how much grace He always offers.  He graciously gave Adam and Eve the opportunity to repent.  They chose to pass blame.  God gave Cain the opportunity to repent.  He chose a lie.  God did not instantly kill them.  He let them live, hoping they might eventually learn to take responsibility for their actions.  Biblically, God’s grace begs us to learn repentance each time we transgress law, each time we think of transgressing His law, and each time we do not love our enemies.  He desires our goodness.

When we enact that knowledge, God rejoices.  Life is not based on religious ritual.  Life finds salvation in relationship.  This was God’s plan from the beginning.

To be continued:

[Lessons from Creation’s Parables: Genesis and Standard Science, Sung as One, by Jo Helen Cox.]

[Lessons from God Makes Us Holy, by Jo Helen Cox.]

Also in this series:

Eden Revisited #1: Powerful Love vs. Limited Perfection

Eden Revisited #2: A Safe Place to Grow

Eden Revisited #3: The Garden River

Eden Revisited #4: Humanity’s Origins

Eden Revisited #5: Creation of Death

Eden Revisited #6: Curse? What Curse?

Eden Revisited #8: The Lesson of Blessing

Also see series:

Genesis Revisited

Eden Revisited