Let’s say this hypothetical child has been fearful, angry and selfish his entire life to the extent that his behavior has polluted our entire family.  His selfishness over the years spread among his brothers and sisters to the extent that they became fearful, angry and defensive too.  There seemed to be no end to the strife and anguish they caused each other as the years passed.  Their inability to love one another finally reached such proportions that they began to blame me (their father)  for all of their difficulties.  They became ungrateful for the things I had given them and rejected all that I had tried to teach them.  They eventually became convinced that I was the reason for their unhappiness and began to curse me.

 Even as my children hurt one another and curse and blame me for their unhappiness I still love them.  They are unaware of what drives them to be what they are and do what they do.  In one sense, I can see why they would think their condition is not their fault, but it results from their free will and the choices they make every day.  They fact that they want to deny responsibility for their condition does not change them from being the way they are. 

 I love my children but my wrath against them is just and is based in the truth.  My judgment is that I will not leave them an inheritance I know would be wasted and abused because of their selfish, fearful nature.  But my wrath is not directed personally against my children.  My wrath is against the evil fear and selfishness that drives them to hurt each other and me.  My heart goes out to them in their condition, but justice requires me to judge them unworthy of an inheritance and to cut them off.

We (human beings) justify our lives within our own experience, and evaluate our behavior in accordance with our own ideas of right and wrong.    If we only think of righteousness in human terms, it will never accurately line up with the righteousness of God.  Human standards of righteousness are usually related to whatever we think constitutes acceptable behavior.

If the defectiveness of one person is greater than that of another, we conclude the person with fewer defects is more righteous.  When we compare the specific defects we find everyone has them, and we tend to discount their serious nature unless they have produced some obviously extreme behavior, such as a criminal act.  Because of this, humans cannot establish a perfect standard of righteousness.  Human standards will fluctuate with individual fears, opinions, cultures, and situational issues.  However, the righteousness of God does not vary and is based in perfection.

In the history of the Jews the nature of man’s relationship to God is totally exposed.  Human beings are left without defense before the awesome, transcendent God who claims to be the author of life itself.  In the sin revelation, the message is clear that the best efforts of man are not enough to achieve righteousness or please this holy God.

Sin may be the most hated word in the history of the human race, and one of the most misunderstood in our modern day.  Many have come to believe there is no such thing, and if there is, it does not present any problem for them in their relationship with God.

No human being in their right mind would have voluntarily created such a religious doctrine out of their own thinking, because they would have created an  impossible problem to overcome by their own effort.  In the Old Testament Bible revelation man always fails and no solution is provided that will produce a permanent, peaceful relationship with God.  Man is portrayed as dust and beyond hope.

Man on his own would never have written it that way.  Man would have created a theology by which he can triumph and appease God, thus fulfilling his dreams and desires.  We do not see this as it is revealed in the history of the Hebrew people.  We see sin, death and judgment.  Man’s desire is to embrace ideas and concepts that will produce the results he wants.  The things that man wants are found in naturalistic concepts of deity, and in bizarre idealistic theories.  That fact indicates  naturalistic religions are primarily functions of human thought, no matter how convincing the human explanations may sound.

The concept of sin is a foundational difference between the revelation of the Hebrew God, and the god-concepts of other religions.  The uniqueness of the Hebrew revelation is in a personal God, and the revealed nature of sin which other theologies and secular ideas do not embrace.  Sin is a hated concept and humans want to reject it as truth.

The doctrine of Sin indicates that man is a dead duck.  The only way a person who thinks they are alive can come to understand that they are really dead, is by revelation.  Because we are talking about spiritual death, it is a hard concept to grasp in a biological brain that thinks it is alive.

Fear impacts the honesty of the thought processes.  Fear moves to protect us, but it can also lead us into error-filled thinking.  The greater the fear, the more likely we will accept error if the error seems to provide security and protection.  With respect to theology, religion, and philosophy fear can really get out of hand.  Nothing is as fearful as the Numinous and its implied supernatural omnipotence when it is linked to human morality.

Any humanly created theology will discount human behavior and create a God that will go along with whatever man wants to do.  In which case, no spiritual penalty for violation of the supernatural code of morality would exist.  C. S. Lewis accurately observed that a perfect human concept of deity would be a benevolent grandfather type who sits back and wishes a good time to be had by all.

The God created in such a theology is then reduced to the role of a cosmic assistant that can be manipulated.  At the point a human being sees eternity and the power of the God who must own and occupy it, religions created and developed by human beings evaporate, and are exposed for what they are: Rationalized attempts to justify the continued reign of human self-will.

Revelation is a Requirement

No other consideration has greater foundational importance than deciding on the existence and nature of God.  Surely, if such a thing as absolute truth exists, it is this:  There is a God or there is not.  The answer to this statement may be the truth of truths, and the foundation upon which everything else in our life is established.  Obviously, it is an understatement to say a truth such as this is worth knowing.

Presupposition and personal bias are the cornerstones of denial and the foundation of resistance to transcendent truth.  People clutter their minds with presuppositions and concepts that are flawed at their foundation.  Without a firm conviction regarding the existence of God, everything in life becomes chaos and confusion.  Life is a struggle to stay in control of things that are impossible to control, and  we become filled with fear as a result.

Humanity attempts to fill the  sense of emptiness  money, sex and/or substances.  People gravitate to these things because they seek a quick fix with physical and emotional pleasure. These  methods always fail and lead us to the point where we become willing to know the transcendent truth about God, the nature of sin, and our need to be redeemed by faith in Christ.

1.  I had felt that way most of my life, and;

2.  The feeling influenced just about everything I thought, did, and said.

I eventually came to see that my greatest fear was the fear of truth I  could not manipulate.  I was afraid of truth because of its transcendence, and the fact that anything transcendent is beyond my control.  I thought I needed to be in control of my life to be happy and real, transcendent truth threatened me.

What I believed about some very basic things established the foundation for my life, and controlling the things I believed was the first step in my self-deception.  These foundational beliefs involved God and my concept of right and wrong.  They also involved how I saw myself in relationship to my family, my community, the world and ultimately the universe.

I discovered that the beliefs I held were usually   produced by one of two factors:

1.  An honest desire to know the truth, or;

2.  The subtle desire to control the truth in a way that would enable me to think things were the way I wanted them to be.

When I could combine these two factors I could create a very functional denial system, because controlling the truth would not really work unless I could convince myself I was not controlling the truth.  I found the most effective way to control the truth was to “honestly” come by some preconceived notions or presuppositions, and try to find support from others who wanted to believe the same things.  The world we live in today is dominated by perception and an unwillingness to face reality.  Facts that contradict what we want to believe are ignored.  We also live in an age permeated by a sense of impending doom – which is the feeling of fear.

The Bible has quite a bit to say about fear.  The main point is that faith in Christ overcomes it.  Christ is the ultimate reality and the personification of truth.  It is only by his power that we can remain in the present moment and escape the fear we have of the future.  “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32)

1. Vicious arguments where both parties seek to destroy and humiliate the other with words and accusations.
2. Extreme feelings of jealousy and anger that dominate our thoughts and feelings.
3. Physical violence and other insane behavior.
4. Using children as pawns in a our personal power struggle.
5. Living a life that seems to have no peace in it and no hope.
6. Suffering a spiritual emptiness in which the presence of God is nowhere to be found.
7. Experiencing constant feelings of suspicion and a total lack of trust or confidence in the other person.

When one or more or all of these things begin to happen it is absolute proof that we are out of God’s will and that something is wrong at the foundation of our relationship.  The first step is to recognize the beating for what it is.  The beating is not the result of other people doing what they should not be doing.  The beating is not the result of my not being able to get what I want.  The beating is not the result of anything except the seven deadly sins of self that are running amok in my life.  That is the hard truth and the first truth I must unconditionally accept.  I must get over the idea that the problem is with anyone but me!  It must be that way because I am the only person I can control and change.  So, the first step in healing a broken relationship is to take responsibility for it and to acknowledge the beating for what it is:  The preparation God is providing for the crucifixion of self so that I may learn to love as He loves.  My hope may only begin when I appropriate this perspective about my pain and the beating I am receiving.

I think the feelings and atmosphere surrounding my divorce were no different from what others experience when they divorce.  At the time a divorce is initiated, hate, anger, bitterness, jealousy, frustration, exhaustion and hopelessness are the dominant feelings.  The pain is so intense you will do just about anything to make it stop.  The only thing we seem unwilling to do is consider what God would have us do.  Most Christian people who get a divorce know that it is not God’s will for them to divorce, but they still divorce.  They do not search God’s word or His Spirit for solutions.  And, most importantly, they are unwilling to be obedient to His command not to divorce.

1. They do not understand that God uses the difficulties and events of our lives to teach us His ways.
2. They do not understand that God must be found in today, and as He is in today, so is our peace and happiness.

Growing spiritually requires the crucifixion of self and learning how to cooperate with God’s purpose of conforming us to the image of Christ.  There is nothing about my past I can crucify.  There is nothing about my future I can crucify.  The only thing I can crucify is found in today and I identify those things as they are exposed by the difficulties of living life today.  In other words, the events of today are exposing the self sins I must give up to God.  They must be dealt with by knowing that God is present and He is with me now. God is in the middle of my present difficulty because the present is where the great I AM lives!

In this blog I have discussed the concept of living Life on a Cross.  To crucify self, the process of taking thoughts captive must be integrated with the Life on a Cross model.  When we are able to do that a powerful transformation begins to take place at our spiritual core.  The power of God to really change us at the level of thought and motive becomes evident to us.  As we become more patient, more kind, more forgiving and more obedient, we begin to authentically reflect God in our lives for the first time.  This is real Christianity.  This is the purpose of God.  This is how we are putting on the mind of Christ.