Perception of reality

The Tweak God Made to Increase the Likelihood that We Would Keep the Gift of Paradise After We Get It

The Tweak God Made to Increase the Likelihood that We Would Keep the Gift of Paradise After We Get It

For the children of Adam and Eve, God tweaked the timetable for the delivery of the gift of life and the gift of paradise. Instead of simultaneous delivery, God instituted sequential delivery. First, God delivers the gift of life. God then inserts a delay - a brief delay. Last, God delivers the gift of paradise. The delay is the source of all our complaints. We don’t complain about the gift of life. We don’t complain about the gift of paradise. We complain about the delay. The delay throws us into a tizzy. In the Valley of Tears, we receive a baptism by fire and we dislike it. The delay, however, is the medicine that increases the likelihood that we will keep the gift of paradise when it is delivered to us. Without the delay, we would repeat the original sin of our parents, Adam and Eve, who let the gift of paradise slip through their fingers - who fumbled the ball. The delay inoculates us against post delivery paradise opt out. God wants more for us - much more for us - than to be his pets locked in a gilded cage for our own safety and protection. Paternalism is not the policy of God. He respects the freedom of our wills. Paradise is not a prison, God is not our warden, we are not his prisoners. No matter how gilded, a cage is still a cage. God wants us to be cage free.

God Appeals to our Faculty of Rationality

God Appeals to our Faculty of Rationality

God appeals not to our faculty of obedience. Our faculty of obedience is broken. It has been broken since the era of Adam and Eve. God, therefore, appeals to our faculty of rationality. Our faculty of rationality works. It functions properly. Our faculty of rationality steers the ship. When fueled by the truth, our faculty of rationality steers us in the right direction. When the fuel of truth is contaminated with illusion, our faculty of rationality steers us in the wrong direction. God, therefore, wields the sledgehammer of truth to shatter the illusions. God puts us into intimate contact with both the sour truth and the sweet truth. The sour truth is the engine that pushes us to the exit of the Valley of Tears. The sweet truth is the engine that pulls us to the entrance of paradise. The two engines of truth generate the current of salvation. The current of salvation sweeps us off our feet and carries us from the Valley of Tears to Paradise. Only the recalcitrant few swim against the tide.

THE SLEDGEHAMMER OF TRUTH POUNDS THE CAMEL THROUGH THE EYE OF THE NEEDLE

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God

Why is it more difficult for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (Matthew 19:24)? The direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears is one of the two engines of salvation. The other engine is the sweetness of paradise. The sweetness of paradise pulls us to the entrance of paradise. The direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears pushes us to its exit. However, the serpent cast an illusion that sugarcoats the direness of our predicament in the Valley of Tears (Genesis 3:5). The sugarcoating induced Adam and Eve to run away, like foolish children, from their home with God in paradise and take us with them into the Valley of Tears. The sugarcoating is thicker for the rich man than for the poor man. The thickness of the sugarcoating makes it harder to shatter. The thicker the sugarcoating, the harder the sledgehammer of truth needs to work. A rich man thinks that he can exploit his riches to fend off the crosses that besiege us as we pass through the Valley of Tears (Luke 12:13-21). His riches can hold the crosses at bay. The poor man, not having the cushion of riches between himself and his crosses, is more aware than the rich man of the direness of his predicament. Riches conjure up the dangerous illusion of safety and of independence from God (Luke 12:16-21). Riches give the rich man a false sense of security. A poor man with no resources is much more likely to turn to God than a rich man with resources. God is the resource of the poor man. God is all that the poor man has.

God's Rescue Plan Boils Down to Putting Us in Intimate Contact With The Truth

God's Rescue Plan Boils Down to Putting Us in Intimate Contact With The Truth

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). Intimate contact with the truth is the means by which God is trying to save us. Illusions distort our perception of reality. Intimacy with the truth - both the sour truth and the sweet truth - shatters the illusions that distort our perception pf reality.