Choice

Does God punish the child who is already dying?  “Of course not," some of us say. Then why do many Christians promote the idea that God must punish the sinner?  The implications of this popular scenario, pumped out of countless pulpits worldwide, are disturbing.  God gave an entire planet to mankind – a planet fully stocked with goodies and he blessed them (Gen 1:28).  He plants a Knowledge Tree in the middle of the garden, allows it as a dwelling place for an evil sentient serpent and then explains to the Adam and Eve they are truly free and  that freedom comes with natural consequences – some leading to life, others to ruin.  The reptile, knowing his boundary, uses his cunning to deceive the man and woman into slipping him the key that unlocks this boundary. It’s very deliberate – the man and woman’s involvement.   

Next thing we know, we have a couple cowering  in the brambles to escape the wrath of their Father they know so well.  Their Father comes, finds their covert hiding place, and then we read what appears to be this same loving Father - who just handed them a galaxy system as a wedding gift - inflicting a pretty harsh sentence.   Some of us were told as children it was punishment that Adam and Eve deserved for being bad and then we grew up to tell our children who have told their children.  Today we have a picture of God who is no more than a harsh authoritarian who runs his universe on the reward punishment system - a system that we know does not work just by opening our eyes and taking a look around.  I’d like to suggest that this assumption, many of us grew up with, is flawed...

If the first couple and an evil angel were truly free – then why would God retaliate by cursing the ground they walked on? (Gen 3:14-19 )  Why would God take the patient who has a broken leg and break the other in order to set things right? Bones, nor character ever mended by administration of further trauma to either.

Let’s back up.  God explained to the man and woman about the Knowledge Tree and the consequences (Gen 2:16,17). The bible wastes no time in revealing how free mankind truly is.  God says, “Hey, you are so free that I will prove it by actually allowing you to have access to choice. You can choose, but choose carefully.”  Did he say if they touched the tree he would kill them? Did he say if they ate of the tree he’d smash them? Did God say that if they even skipped around the tree trunk and carved their names into the bark he’d thump them good? Nope.

What God said  is that in the middle of your mind sits choice – and choice is good, very good.  In the middle of your Eden home sits a box – Pandora’s Box - a box brimming with death and destruction.  Adam and Even opened  that box.  The common held belief is that all curses mankind suffers under are from God’s  just hand but the reality is this:  Satan and his ranks are free too.  And he fairly and squarely asked that Adam and Even unlock his box and they willingly did.  Once He was given permission by Earth’s Landlords to enter their domain,  he was given permission to wreak utter chaos.  See, the human race is not the only free creation, the entire universe is free and that counts spiritual beings.  The world as we know it suffers under the harassment and influence and continuing deception of evil.  

The good news is that God himself came to the earth as a man to remind everyone what he’s really like. Because of this, we are promised  a future (Jer 29:11) yet the war is far from over. Truth and goodness reigns even now – albeit in small pockets but its here.   We all have a  personal story to tell that echoes the compassion and mercy of heaven on earth (Isaiah 11:6) and are even told by God himself that the kingdom is within us (Luke 17) which means we need not wait. Salvation is today (2 Cor 6:2)  The Dali Lama believes that man is inherently good and the proof is in our astonishment of hearing reports of rampant evil . He goes on to explain that there is so much good all around us that we take it for granted and barely notice.  He believes that if good was not the more powerful force, then man would cease to exist. The bible teaches that we were created for goodness, not evil. We were created to glorify and manifest God’s character here and now, not on some ethereal plane in the future (John 17:3).  We are a holy priesthood, a holy nation tailor designed to demonstrate just how truly free God made us.   So when you head out the door, take note of all the Knowledge Trees, and the serpents sitting in the low branches and decide for yourself this day whom you will serve.  You really are free to choose.

 -S.N.Belmonte 2009