"All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players” wrote William Shakespeare (As You Like It). It is an insightful comment on human nature. Whether we know it or not, we all live a story of our own telling. We are all the hero or villain of our own play.

These stories that we tell ourselves control our lives to a large degree. They literally tell us who we are. If we believe that our lives were intended to be successful, wealthy, adventurous, or creative, we will find a way to realize that story in some way, despite all the obstacles in our path. We have an “inner steersman” who finds a way to navigate the course that we set for him. We set that course by the story in which we choose to live. If we believe that our story is one of the victim, or rogue, or if we believe that we have bad luck and that things never turn out for us, if we believe that we are meant to fail or that we are basically no good, the inner steersman is obedient and non-judgmental and will blindly follow whatever path we lay down for him. If this is true then the stories we tell ourselves are vital – the stuff of life. We should be very careful to examine the stories we tell ourselves, the stories we put ourselves in. They have a way of coming true.

This is definitely not my favorite subject! I haven’t liked horror movies since my 17 year old sister took her 8 year old, one and only, brother to a double feature of Dracula and Frankenstein back in the early 60’s (that’s 1960s). I was terrified and had nightmares for years. The only other horror movie I’ve voluntarily watched since our date was The Exorcist and that sealed my determination to avoid horror. When I think of evil my mind immediately goes to gory looking alien monsters who nest their young in the chest cavity of human incubators until they have grown enough to eat their host to obtain their freedom. Gory is evil, but is evil always gory? I don’t think so!

It does give the creator of evil a huge advantage making people believe that evil is ugly. I agree that evil always ends ugly, but I’m not enticed to become a pimp working the streets with his voluptuous slave labor. Nor do most teen age girls aspire to be prostitutes. Our "better" choices that end in disaster are much more appealing. Life is fragile and full of twists and turns in the road! A decision to go to a party and enjoy an evening out with one’s friends can end up being 20 years in a State prison for drunken manslaughter. Dracula sucks blood, but so do Rolls Royce driving bankers and corporation executives who plunder retirement funds of the working class poor. We should be afraid of them.

The life of the rich and famous looks a lot better through sun glasses from a comfortable lounge chair sipping lemonade on a yacht deck than it does to the sweat shop indentured servant who makes the goods that paid for the love boat. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not beating any political drum, but I am saying that evil can be very attractive depending on one’s access to its luxuries. The single common denominator that evil has in all forms is that someone always gets hurt. There is always a winner and a loser. And don’t think for a moment that the winner looks like a hideous monster. I would say that the worst evil happens in luxurious mansions where filthy rich people plot the exploitation and demise of the more vulnerable. People making decisions to start wars, manufacture drugs, traffic sex slaves, traffic forced labor, and bring down governments for their own profit. To me understanding evil can be reduced to people using other people for their own gain. God loves people and uses things, but evil loves things and uses people.

Laws are made for a lot of reasons! Some exist to protect us from danger and some to protect others from us. There are traffic laws that govern our driving, criminal laws that define boundaries of societal morality, corporate laws to force business to play fair, and tax laws that fund governments, build infrastructure, and finance wars. Most laws come with warnings and penalties for offenders and legal language is very precise and well defined so that there are no mistakes in court. In the scripture there is a lot of talk about law and the story of the ancient Hebrews is packed with tales of broken laws, outrageous punishments, remorse of offenders, and individual and corporate forgiveness.

Probably one of the greatest stories about law is that of David and his lover, Bathsheba! It is a thriller, a tear jerker, a tragedy, a love story full of suspense, honor, betrayal, horror, murder, sorrow, and forgiveness - all taking place in the King’s castle. But, you might ask, “How is this a story of law?” Well - David was the king and in his kingdom the king was also the only Supreme Court Judge. He had the final say when interpreting jurisprudence. He was the epicenter of the law. And in the ancient Middle East whatever the king said was law. In one tale found in the Book of Daniel we discover the king of Medo-Persia signing into law a decree that even he couldn’t change.

A very wise millionaire friend once told me not to be so smart that I outsmart myself. It took me a long time to figure out what he meant, but I’ve come to realize that it is a human tendency to expect from others a higher standard than we are willing to meet. Kings pass laws for others, but they are above the law. Parents tell their kids to do as they say and not as they do. Police speed down the highway with impunity. Society promotes promiscuousness, but shames those who get caught by STDs or sex addiction. We attempt to teach people to drink responsibly when the very act is irresponsible. We want to be healthy, but we eat junk food. We tax cigarettes to fund medical research for lung cancer.

The other day a friend asked me, “Any modifications of your views in the last 3 years?” My answer was, “Everyday!”

I thought about that and although it isn’t really every day that dramatic changes take place in the way I perceive God it happens more often than one would think. And shouldn’t it be so? God says that if we seek Him we will find Him. He isn’t playing hide and seek. After all, what would it be like to pan for gold and never find any? One can’t seek God without getting periodic revelations of the truth about Him.

And every time we get a little clearer glimpse of God it has to filter its way through all of our previous paradigms which are all tangled together into our system of faith. One example is when I grasped the idea that there was no eternal burning hell. I was 9 years old. I remember my sigh of relief! I thought to myself, “I might not make it to heaven, but at least I won’t be burning during the eternal party!” After all, death has to be better than torture. That thought changed everything. In a way it was a ticket to rebel with more confidence, but on the other hand it was a call to get to know God better.

I felt the same way at 19 years old when my legalistic theological paradigm was challenged with the idea that there was nothing I could do to be saved - my righteousness was an imputed gift from God if I would only accept it. Ok . . . sounds good to me - I accept it - and again the enticement was there to sin with even greater impunity, but also, along with that lure was a more intense calling to draw closer to a God that loves and forgives and gives good gifts.

Why do revelations of God’s goodness always come with a keener sense of freedom and therefore more confidence to sin? Could it be the nature of the beast in me; the natural man inside of me that wants to break free from restraint and run wild? Every thing I’ve learned about God makes me fear Him less. He’s not the heavy. He is not the policeman enforcing the law. He is not the judge sitting in condemnation. He is not the accuser or the executioner. I don’t have anything to fear from Him. But what I need to fear most is my own unrestrained and undisciplined freedom. Freedom with no self control! History is riddled with stories of tyrants who set themselves on a throne that answers to no one. Accountability is everything and when it comes to power who can hold God accountable? It must be His own restrained disciplined love. Love is God’s accountability. It is His very character and the foundation of His law. Love makes God worthy of our trust and praise!

Being raised by a single mother and four older sisters I get so angry when I see women suffering at the hands of abusive men. It is a man’s world and even the bible is influenced by male domination. Historically adultery is an insider’s joke on women. Men have always figured out ways around it. Prostitutes, concubines, and multiple wives are condoned and their rights protected by perverted views of deity.

Like the majority of excesses it has been abused by the wealthy who could afford its luxury. For the most part punishment for adultery has been inflicted on women. Religiously adultery has been a way to control women and keep them at home as a possession. The law protects men’s investment and mostly punishes men who commit adultery with other men’s wives. Single women have little protection and once their virginity is lost they look forward to a life of shame while the guilty men scoff.

Oppressors are always the first to justify their abuse by creating a god in their own image, a religion that reflects their values, a legal system that protects their lifestyle at the expense of other’s rights, dignity, and freedom. Look at the atrocities of the past that were protected by governments and supposedly sanctioned by God. The list includes temple prostitution, bigamy, child sacrifice, rape, slavery, genocide, sodomy, violence, war, mutilation, and even burying alive grieving wives with their dead husbands.