Thursday, August 30, 2012

Why are we here?

Surely one reason is to be reconciled to God. By Adam's choice we have been separated from God and from that point on condemned to death. But, God has been working through all time to circumvent that choice. What was that choice? It was actually an acquisition; an acquisition of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:6). It is this knowledge that shapes our world. We innately know good from bad. right from wrong. And, once something is know it can't be removed; it can't be un-known. So why does this lead to death? For  starters, we now have to make choices. without the knowledge we were completely in tune with God's will. By His direction all things flowed and since He is all good we walked in all goodness. Now that we have knowledge we no longer rely 100% on God's grace and mercy, but instead have knowledge to base our actions. This knowledge is contrary to His direction.

So why death? If we see death as the separation of man from God then we see that by knowledge we separated ourselves from God. Now, by His nature, God is all or nothing. Actually, He is ALL, but our minds tainted by the knowledge obtained at the fall, the knowledge of dichotomy, can not even fully comprehend this fact. Since God is ALL, if we separate ourselves from God by just a fraction we are completely separated from God. There is no partial with God because He is ALL. So this is why death is the consequence of our choice - the choice by it very substance separates us from God and hence we are sentenced to death, i.e., separation.

Fortunately, God does not give up so easily. He chose to send Himself into our midst and condemn Himself to our fate. Now here is where things get really weird. How can God separate Himself - the one - from Himself? We will never know in this reality, it's like we don't have enough dimensions, but by the accounts of the disciples and the prophets that is exactly what God did. God separated Himself from Himself and allowed Himself to DIE.

So why are we here? As stated above, it's to wrestle with God and come close to His truth and be saved from the condemnation of death by allowing His sacrifice to be our covering. Then it is to walk in and become comfortable in our new covering. This walking out of God's grace is not necessary for our salvation from death but it is surely beneficial to our life to come and it would be an insult to or a cheapening of the gift if we didn't.