by Thomas Abshier | Apr 19, 2025 | Apologetics/Theology/Christianity
The Importance of the Resurrection
by Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
8/18/2024
Dear John, you have often quoted Jordan Peterson’s comment that he behaves as if God is real. I agree we cannot prove God’s existence. Such a comment is realistic, in that we cannot know and believe that God exists in the same way that we are certain that we exist, (by introspection), or that an object exists (by sensory experience), or that a theory of nature is true (by logic), or that a sensation or thought exists (by subjective experience).
The uncertainty of God’s existence is obvious, given that the only possible proof of existence is that of the self. This fact was immortalized by by Descartes’ famous declaration “je pense, donc je suis”1637 and “Cogito ergo sum,” 1641 (I think, therefore I am). Self reflection, observation of the contents of our consciousness is the only direct experience of which we are capable. The independent external existence of any other entity besides the self and the perceived contents of consciousness depends upon an assumption which cannot be substantiated with further evidence. Thus, the existence of any other entities, objects, other than self, is a supposition/assumption/postulate of which we can never be certain.
The proof of God’s existence, or anything exterior to the self, is impossible. The certainty of the external world’s existence is indirect, as our sensory experience and consciousness of those sensation only infers it, but does not prove it. And proof of God’s existence is even more indirect as it requires inductive inferences from the cause-effect evidence of life events which correlate with assumptions about His nature. The proof of God’s existence is impossible without direct sensory revelation, and even then, the proof of God’s existence is valid only for the individual and questionable given the filter of the mind.
In short, it is impossible to prove or disprove God’s existence. Still, if we disregard the doubt and dismiss the possibility that we are brains in a vat being fed all the sensory information that appears as external objects, the postulate of God’s existence is consistent with moral, scientific, and statistical evidence. Thus, while we cannot prove God’s existence, behaving as if God exists, and accepting the rest of the sensory world as existent, may be all that is possible.
Some people testify of a direct sensory/soul/spirit experience of God, which gives them confidence in God’s existence, but such encounters are rare. Even such encounters are inadequate to prove God’s existence, as such visitations are private conscious-sensory experiences. Others transform from a state of doubt to a deep sense of knowing that God exists after life events, such as hearing a testimony, a personal tragedy or struggle that immerses one in a new perspective, reading about/studying scientific evidence, or having a profound or convincing feeling/thought or event.
The bottom line is that belief in God does not produce the outcome of a Godly life. James 2:19 states, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”: This verse implies that believing in God’s existence is not sufficient. Rather, good/right/Godly actions must accompany a meaningful belief. According to Romans 10:9, a belief in the resurrection of Christ is an additional, and equally essential criterion for salvation. I interpret this second criterion for salvation to mean that we have trusted God’s intervention in the creation is effective and that He desires us to be victorious over the difficulties, trials, challenges of physical life. Belief in the resurrection is the equivalent to believing/knowing/having faith that God loves us, and is in effect a declaration of our love for Him.
Thus, we come to the crucial question: What is the consequence if a man/woman doubts God’s existence or the truth of Jesus’ claim of being the only way to God? Will God reject a person who sincerely tries to live a good life but who cannot mentally/logically connect the evidence of science and logic with the Bible and its teachings? What if he/she has no subjective experiences of coincidence, testimony, or personal experience that convinces him/her that God exists?
I believe God is merciful, but He is also just. Regardless of the concepts about reality, everyone will still choose how to treat others and direct their lives/actions/choices. Everyone adopts a code of life that directs their actions, and I believe God judges and rewards a man according to His standards. I do not believe anyone can be good/righteous/perfect enough to come into God’s presence, but I believe He wants us all to overcome the distractions and seductions that pull each soul away from Him. Thus, the question is, what is God’s criteria for fellowship with Him?
If we cannot enter into God’s presence due to the dirt/unholiness of our imperfect character or past choices/acts, the question arises: how can we recover/atone for our errors and be made perfect/acceptable to enter into His presence and fellowship? The Bible states that the wages of sin are death. But paying that debt with our lives does not lead us to perfection, it merely fulfills the contract and cements our slave relationship with our creditor. The contract of sin is a trade of the benefit/pleasure of sin for our death and soul.
The death and resurrection of Jesus established a spiritual possibility. It opened a lawful method of paying the debt of sin and recovering ownership of our life and freedom. With His passion play, Jesus’s unrighteous death established an eternally open line of credit in the bank of Heaven, available to pay the debt of sin for all who meet the requirements for debt cancellation. Satan and his demons orchestrated Jesus’ death and took His soul to Hell without legal justification. That archetypal ritual of death and incarceration can be appropriated as payment for the debt of imperfect character and remnants of past acts. We must fulfill a debt to which we have obligated ourselves. God established a method through which we could pay the debt and retain our life and freedom. The terms of the debt cancellation are actual committed loyalty to His way of being and a commitment to a loving relationship with Him.
The level of knowledge and certainty about God’s existence, the truth of the Bible, and the method of salvation are helpful. Still, they aren’t the decisive factor in appropriating His gift of clemency. The end goal of God is to have a familial relationship with Him. If we believe God exists, that’s good. Certainty in the consequences of sin, and the beneficence of God, makes it easier to want to be in a relationship with Him. If we aren’t certain He exists, acting as though He exists is a doorway to that more intimate relationship of felt experience, deep knowing, and care. Act as though the promises of the Bible are true. Act as though God sees/knows/feels/suffers with our every sin. Believe on an intellectual level that sin separates us from His presence. Trust that He is holy and tolerates no unholiness in His presence. Understand that our submission to His Lordship and guidance cleanses us. Believe that Christ gives us the gift of holiness/cleansing/transformed hearts when we desire to imitate the purity of His life. Study the story of the Bible and soak in its culture, context, wisdom, metaphor/parables, and commands. Rationalize the plausibility of the need for a savior. Accept that the resurrection gives physical evidence that the Biblical story connected symbolism and prophesy with reality and that the commandments of Godly action reflect God’s heart and way. With this immersion, prayer, and fervent desire for a personal/heartfelt relationship with Him, a heart transformation may occur where the perception of His presence and love is as real as any other felt-sensation.
The fact will always remain that no experience or argument proves God’s existence. The incomplete evidence of experience and argument convinces some. Some are fortunate to have an innate experience and assumption of God’s existence because of their rearing, culture, and disposition to believe in parental authority. But many were raised in cultures who believed in other gods, or learned to hate God because of the violence or chaotic absurdity of the world to which they were initially imprinted. Others matured after spending a lifetime in an environment that worshipped the mind, logic, and experimental evidence. Given the mitigating circumstances of the individual’s life experience, what will God’s judgment be of those who did not receive the gift of parental shaping and early introduction to the story of the Bible?
I think we can say for certain that if every man, woman, and child in the entire world were raised on the Word of God, lived its principles, loved their neighbor as themselves, and desired to please God, the world would be as close as possible to being heaven on earth. But some would argue otherwise, believing that the non-diverse, living the Word of God and its principles, would produce a lifeless world of sexually repressed, puritanical, colorless, bland, and meaningless ritual. We shall await the results of the experiment before making a final judgement. Still, I’m betting on Godliness producing more happiness, sexual satisfaction, purpose, meaning, prosperity, comfort, joy, health, and happiness.
I don’t think we should wait till we believe in God to live His way. Believing makes it easier, because having the BIble as an authoritative source gives us the added moral courage and intellectual certainty of our ethical/moral choices. Behaving as if God existed is beneficial because it allows one to presume the existence of a Godly/perfect/higher standard of conduct that honors self, others, and God’s Law. Such standards would presumably produce the best possible results for most people, subjectively and objectively. Honoring God’s law, living the principles of the Bible, and following Jesus as Lord are especially beneficial when the entire society properly attributes creation to a divine source and follows the behaviors explicitly noted in the Bible. Society takes another step higher in its refinement of moral life when each individual has the felt sense of the divine presence motivating/moving/directing his/her heart to do the will of God in each moment.
It will always be true, until God manifests in the physical, that many people will not be able to rationalize God’s existence. For such souls, it is beneficial to behave simply as if God exists, and that His law is true. However, every person will have a better experience of life when the entire culture, nation, and world adopt these premises and every individual seeks to develop that love of God and His ways, and feels/hears/knows always perceives the leading of the Holy Spirit. If a person acts in ways that please God, there will be a blessing. But even though beneficial, a life of pretending God is real and His law is valid will not feel the fullness of life. While good, and much better than a life of immersion in satisfying the flesh, such a state is not the optimum. Being realistic, it takes time, effort, and probably trials to conform ones’ heart to feel/know God in a completely immersive/committed/wholehearted way. Behaving as though God exists, and living the best moral life one can live, may be all possible for a person at a particular time in his/her life. Still, there is a level of genuine contact with reality and relationship which is missing when there is only an intellectual/rational acknowledgement of God’s existence. I think being able to attribute personality/personhood to God, and relate to Him as a beloved, honorable, and the source and standard of all, is a divine gift. Still, that gift can be appropriated by seeking Him diligently and persistently.
Hebrews 11:6 states that “he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This suggests that God will reveal himself to those who earnestly and sincerely seek him.
While God may not reveal himself in dramatic ways, He makes Himself known to those who genuinely seek Him, as we see in Jeremiah 29:13. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” The key seems to be having a sincere, humble, and persistent desire to know God, rather than simply asking for a sign, or rational proof of His existence.
Acknowledging God’s existence as the ground of being, the source of life and existence, the ultimate lawgiver and moral authority, and the omnipresent and omniscient center of all existence is important. But I think experiencing/living in a personal relationship with God is even more important.
Some people can accept that God exists, but conceive of Him as impersonal. Some may see Him as an omnipresent and omniscient, but do not understand how He could be personal, loving, and intimate with every person. The ability of God to relate to everyone individually is plausible if, as I postulate in my physics theory, His consciousness, divided, multiplied, and extended innumerable times, is the source and substance underlying the physical universe.
Thus, there are two major issues of debate and belief regarding God, 1) His existence, and 2) His nature. The arguments about His nature are irrelevant if He doesn’t exist. Still, the two are tightly connected because both proponents and doubters use arguments about His nature as premises in arguments to prove or disprove His existence.
There is no definitive proof of God’s existence. Rather, we only have facts (sensory experience assumed to be real) and logic consistent with or contrary to a postulate of His existence. Thus, based upon one’s initial training and subsequent experience with the various arguments for or against His existence, people fall into two camps, each holding their opinions/subjective-logical-affective justifications and conclusions as correct.
A person’s opinion about God’s existence is important, because one’s concept of His existence/non-existence is the context within which each person chooses his/her actions. That is, the context and specifics of life must both be considered to act appropriately in a situation.
But as important as is His existence, and as fervently as one believes/disbelieves in God’s existence, that conceptualization/belief remains private. It is impossible to directly transmit one’s subjective experience and belief about God’s existence to another person other than as a testimony, as a validation or negation of His existence by the force of our personal experience and the authority given by hard lessons learned or the example of the fruit born by a life lived well.
In short, there is no conclusive objective proof of God’s existence, only inference and induction based on various pieces of evidence. To summarize, the logical-evidentiary arguments for God’s existence include:
- The Cosmological Argument (First Cause Argument): This argues that since everything that exists must have a cause, there must be a first, uncaused cause that brought the universe into existence – and that first cause is God.
- The Teleological Argument (Design Argument): The universe exhibits evidence of intricate design and order, which points to an intelligent designer.
- The Argument from Life: The existence of life, which cannot arise randomly from non-living matter, requires a divine creator.
- The Ontological Argument: God, by definition, is a perfect being. For a perfect being to exist, it must exist, otherwise it would not be perfect. Therefore, God must exist.
- The Moral Argument: The existence of objective moral values and duties in humans implies a moral lawgiver – God.
- The Argument from Religious Experience: Many people claim to have had personal, spiritual experiences of encountering God, which is evidence of His existence.
Such arguments modestly satisfy the mind/intellect by pointing toward the reality of God’s existence using physical evidence of various sorts. But even if the existence of God is validated on the level of objective reality and reason, I don’t think that would be satisfying. I think having a personal relationship with God as a thinking and feeling being is a necessary experience to satisfy our sense of fully experiencing reality.
In my conception, God is both infinite in extent and present within all, and yet capable of individual intimate care. My physics/theological/philosophical postulate is that God created the physical universe from His mind, from a near-infinite number of points of perspective. Every point composing the physical universe is a point from which God is looking back at Himself from every possible position. Thus, there is nothing that is not God. The substrate of literally everything is composed of Consciousness, which perceives other points of consciousness. Thus, the physical universe is pure spirit/consciousness at its base. Such a construction of the universe is consistent with the Bible, logic, evidence, and purpose. But God does not want to be alone, playing a game of solitaire, creating a world of make-believe, and pretending that He has a dance partner, another game player, or a competitor/opponent who gives the game consequences. In this conception God had to create our spirits/the Conscious Points that are the essence of our being/identity/existence/self as independent creatures. I believe He desires that we choose Him, and push to shape/move the universe to follow His way. I believe God cares for our well-being and desires a heart-satisfying individual relationship with every person. The Bible gives us insight into His impersonal and lawful nature and His personal, loving and merciful nature.
This brings up Jordan Peterson’s grappling with the reality of Jesus’ literal resurrection. JP is willing to accept the resurrection as a powerful, perhaps the most significant symbolic, and mythopoetic event in all of human history, but he has not been able to accept it as a physical reality.
The question is whether accepting Jesus’ resurrection as only a metaphorical/mytho-poetic event is an adequate acknowledgment of its reality to get the benefits of salvation promised in 1 Corinthians 15? In this chapter, Paul emphasizes the importance of the resurrection in terms of its spiritual and physical significance, which I interpret as meaning, that the physical reality of the resurrection is proof of the hope of eternal life for the man who has not sinned. By accepting the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, a man frees himself from the power of death and pays his debt of sin.
The question is, then, whether a belief in Christ’s literal death and resurrection is required to obtain the gift of eternal life?
The significance of 1 Corinthians 15 centers on the requirement to a) make Jesus Christ the Lord of one’s life and b) accept the resurrection as true physical reality. I believe these two criteria for salvation are restatements of each other from two very different perspectives.
- Accepting the physical reality of the resurrection is a de facto acceptance of the larger story of the Bible. Accepting the reality of the literal resurrection implies accepting the literal reality of the Bible’s prophesy, promises, and moral commands as God-authorized revelation.
- Accepting the resurrection (and the moral precepts of the Bible) as reality implies that one has made Jesus Christ the Lord (moral guide) of one’s life.
- The premises and historicity of the Biblical story culminate in the resurrection. Prophetic scriptures declare that Christ will apply His blood as payment for the debt due to redeem us from our debt, which was our contracted payment for the pleasure of sin.
- Our complete surrender to God’s Law/way places us in the heart space where we can accept the blood of Jesus Christ as the sacrifice of life that pays our debt. This atonement, this cleansing of our souls/spirits, is a spiritual transaction that allows us to enter into the presence of the most holy one.
A man deserves death when he violates God’s law because God hates impurity in His creation. God wants all evil to be eliminated from His creation. He is pure, holy, and sinless and wants to cleanse His creation of evil, and thus the death sentence is passed on every man who sins, even once.
Jesus lived without sin. The agents of Satan conspired to thwart God’s plan, and they killed Him. But there was no warrant, no Godly law justifying His death because He was sinless, having never violated God’s Law. As a result, God raised Him from the dead, because death could not lawfully hold Him. The power of sin is God’s law because God both the legislator and enforcer of His law. Since there had been no violation of God’s law, death could not hold Him. When Jesus died, He descended into the lower parts of the earth, God raised Him from the dead, He then ascended above Heaven and led captivity captive.
1 Peter 3:19 “by which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison”
Luke 23:43 “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
Ephesians 4:8-10 “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”
Psalm 68:18 “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them.”
Colossians 2:15 “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
Acts 2:24 “But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.”
1 Corinthians 15:56: “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.”
Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
1 Peter 2:22 “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
1 John 3:5 “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
Matthew 16:21-23 “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” “But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Luke 22:3-6 “Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.”
Without the resurrection, the Bible is just a myth, a symbolic play of the gods, a story that may or may not reflect reality. Symbolism is good for teaching life lessons, wisdom, and pattern recognition, but symbols can also depict fantasy, imagination, and dreams that will never manifest.
Facts and objective reality are evidence of the actual structure of the universe. The resurrection is the culmination of the entire Biblical drama. If the resurrection is reality, it confirms the Biblical story, which is the dramatization of the reality of God’s law and the nature of His creation. The message of the resurrection is that God preserves life if we do not sin and destroys life that is imperfect or commits sin.
The context of the resurrection, the surrounding story, the elaboration of the implication of the resurrection is told by the metaphors, illustration, and symbolism of:
- God’s revelation of His hand in the formation of the universe, earth, plant and animal life, and the man’s similarity to God,
- God’s revelation of His Law to Moses,
- The journey of the Children of Israel from bondage to independent self-governed freedom, their literal and symbolic struggle to survive; their failures and victories in overcoming the temptations of the flesh; the cost they faced in remaining true to God’s word and way;
- The Mosaic Law was God’s divinely revealed standard of perfect purity.
- The prophets warned of destruction for disobedience to God’s law, worshipping other gods and adopting the doctrines of demons.
- The story of the Bible illustrates: The lessons of government in the dramas of the evil kings and judges; the seduction of worshipping false gods/demons; the ease/commonness of forgetting history; the pain, oppression, and poverty associated with rebelling against God’s law; the prosperity, health, and freedom following Godliness; the seduction and cost of sexual liberty/infidelity, drunkenness, sloth, theft, murder, lies, covetousness/envy; the centrality of love, and the virtue of faith and hope, diligence, selfless service,
- The possibility of Godliness influencing men’s mind, heart, and affairs is implemented by the intervention of the Holy Spirit in the rebellion of the children of Israel. It the epic drama of the Bible we see the long slow revelation of God’s Law. We see His plans for the future permanent redemption of sinners by establishing the precedent of the validity and effectiveness of blood sacrifice in paying the debt of sin by substitutionary sacrifice. The ultimate If we accept Jesus as our advocate, then we can stand justified before the Father,
- In the story of physics, understanding the origin and function of atoms, electrons, quarks, photons, and fields reveals the understructure of reality. This structure governs/defines and limits the possibilities of form and life. Underneath this elemental substrate is God, who created the possibility of relationship by His word, faith, and intention. God began as alone, created the experience of others, and established the scaffolding of reality that would support the existence of good and evil, the free will to choose, and the possibility of experiencing love by rejecting evil and loving/acting out/choosing that which was good.
- And superimposed upon/interwoven throughout the Bible is the story of the need for a Messiah/savior/sacrificial offering to restore our relationship with God which was broken and not repairable by our works. The prophets foretold of His coming, the demons knew He was the One and tried to stop Him by killing Him. God revealed His plan, but hid it inside of symbolism that could be known/seen/interpreted to give faith/evidence of His existence and Lordship, but would not by their prophetic revelation reveal His plan explicitly and allow the demons to thwart His plan. Not revealing His plan prevented the demons from knowing and thwarting it. The revelation/prophecy allowed the people to have an expectation and reason for the people to believe. The intricate plans of God are indication by themselves of the nature and plans of God.
- Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.” This verse captures the essence of the drama of the journey of life. God created a universe that is plausibly made by existence spontaneously arising out of nothing, and life spontaneously arising out of chaotic disorder. Those who love truth will seek it with passion. Those who hunger for understanding will cry out for knowledge. God will reveal Himself to those who sincerely desire to know His Heart, world, and Law. God longs to fill His heart with companions, lovers, friends, family, and fellow workers. God is love and He wants to fill His heart with companions who truly love Him. He has sown the field with humanity, as evidenced by their love of His world, way, and Word. To those He reveals Himself,
- Acts 17:26-27 states that God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.” This indicates that God created humanity with the intention that they would seek after and find Him.
- Ezekiel 18:23 says “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” This shows that God desires for people to turn to Him and live, rather than to perish.
- 2 Peter 3:9 states that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” This verse directly states that God does not want anyone to perish, but rather desires that all people would come to repentance and salvation.
- 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” This clearly expresses God’s hope that all people would come to know and follow Him.
- These passages imply that God created humanity with the desire and hope that they would turn to Him, seek after Him, and find salvation and eternal life in relationship with Him. The Scriptures portray God as a loving Creator who longs for His creation to come to know and follow Him.
- These scriptures indicate that God has given man free will. God has a perfect plan; in that plan, every person comes to a saving knowledge of Him, and all are healthy, happy, and holy.
- We live in a universe that appears to have no God but in which God is arguably the substance and being of every subatomic particle. In such a world, where God is the only being and where He has given man the same power of free will as Himself (created in His image), the appearance of other and non-existence are used as methods of discrimination to allow spirits the choice to rebel or embrace.
- “But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own desire. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” James 1:14-15
- This passage explains that temptation comes from our own desires/hungers of the flesh. If we do not love God, and honoring His commands more than sin, then the hungers of the flesh lure us/entice us to indulge our flesh/pleasure desire-hunger. When we give in to these desires, it leads to sin, which leads to death, both physical death and the death of our connection with God. He cannot tolerate sin.
- God is perfect and His nature is incompatible with evil. His nature is the definition of good. To enter into the presence of a Holy God we must be cleansed. The work of Jesus Christ on the cross was dying unjustly, leaving the credit of His blood and death open to all who would accept it as sufficient to pay our debt of blood and death to the demons to which we contracted in return for pleasure. In freeing ourselves from that demonic contract, by paying that debt, by consciously and willfully transferring our allegiance to the God’s way, to the leading of the Holy Spirit, to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, cleanses us, justifies us in His sight, makes us acceptable to be in the presence of the Most Holy God. Accepting that sacrifice and accepting Jesus the Christ as Lord of one’s life is the requirement. That is, we must accept His moral criteria as good, right, desired, and submit to and act on those principles of morality. Likewise/in like manner/as another expression of the same commitment to Godly morality, we must believe in the resurrection was real/true. By accepting the literal reality of the Biblical revelation as true/real/physically effective, a man demonstrates his willing submission to the principle/standards/code/requirement of holiness in his concepts/belief and actions. The transformation is sufficiently complete when we believe that God’s way of living is active/true/important, to the point of actually directing a man’s moral choices. This transformation, from an immoral child driven by the flesh to an adult who has moderated the passions and hungers of the flesh, is the fundamental drama of life. In it, we are growing in our stature in the Kingdom, laying treasures in heaven, and working out our salvation with fear and trembling. The journey of life for every man is a process of learning, growing, and maturing in the ways of God. As believers, as doers of His way, we are engaging in the true, eternal work of building His kingdom on Earth. As humans, we are given Godlike powers of moral discernment. We were created in His image, and we know good and evil, having eaten of the forbidden fruit. Thus, the play of maturation began in the Garden, and will continue through eternity. Every soul will stand before Him alone, and account for every idle word.
- Habakkuk 1:13 states: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.” This verse indicates that God’s holy nature is incompatible with sin, and He cannot look upon it favorably.
- Psalm 5:4-5 says: “For you are not a God who is pleased with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.” This reinforces that God’s presence cannot coexist with evil or those who embrace it.
- Isaiah 59:2 explains: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Sin creates a separation between God and the person who sins, as God cannot dwell with evil.
- The overall Biblical principle is that God’s holiness and righteousness are incompatible with sin. A person who embraces/practices/indulges/gives himself over to the temptation to evil/sin creates a barrier between them and God. God cannot tolerate the presence of wickedness. This separation occurs because God’s nature is fundamentally perfect and His being is incompatible with evil. Those who are separated from God have made the choice to separate themselves, but God continues to draw all people to Himself.
- The criteria for salvation, for reconciliation, for entering into an adopted child relationship with God, to enter into His presence, the following criteria must be met:
- Believe that God exists and that Jesus is the Son of God [Hebrews 11:6, John 3:16, 1 John 4:14-15, 1 John 5:5, 1 John 5:10].
- Believe that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised him from the dead [1 Corinthians 15:2-3, Romans 10:9].
- Repent of your sins and be prepared to turn away from them [Luke 13:3-5, Acts 17:30].
- Confess Jesus as Lord and be willing to publicly acknowledge your faith in him [Matthew 10:32-33, Romans 10:9-10].
- Be prepared to do God’s will and obey his commands, as true faith is demonstrated through actions [Matthew 7:21, 1 John 2:17, James 2:17-26].
- Some of the criteria and verses which indicate how we are to enter into his presence are:
- Enter God’s presence with thanksgiving: “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4)
- Approach God with thanksgiving when making requests and petitions: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6)
- Begin intercession and prayer for others with thanksgiving: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8) “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.” (Colossians 1:3)
- Seek to know God’s ways and find favor in His sight: “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.” (Exodus 33:13)
- Desire God’s presence to go with you: “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15)
In 1 Corinthians 15, the truth/reality of the physical resurrection is declared as real. It emphasizes that the hope and faith of the promise of Christ as Messiah, as savior, is without power if the resurrection was not literal/real/true. If there is no resurrection, there is no salvation, and all the denials of the hungers of the flesh are of no value. If the resurrection is only a symbol, not real, then there is no power, no method/process/work that can justify our relationship with God. If we have hope in a symbol, in which there is no reality of actual effect, then we are the most miserable of people. We have denied ourselves the pleasures of the flesh for nothing.
The actual fact of the resurrection is the final validation of the story/drama/play/lesson of the Bible. The Biblical story is a self-validating drama, a story of God using the real/actual/physical resurrection as an act/event/process to give evidence of a fundamental truth/fact/law about the structure of reality. In the Biblical story, the resurrection is the finale, the culmination of the story of God reaching out to reconcile Himself with man.
When we have reconciled with God, we have entered into a state of satisfied love, the state for which God created man to live in. There are two domains of life, before and after reconciliation. I think God wanted to create the universe where He was simply in a satisfying relationship with man, but the choice of Adam an Eve to rebel terminated that initiatial era of satisfied love. It was for this reason, and knowing that this separation/estrangement would happen, that the Father and Son created the plan for the Son’s sacrificial offering of HImself to allow men to reunite with Him in fellowship.
God established the rules of right/wrong and their consequence because He cannot be in fellowship with evil. He desires obedience not sacrifice. He desires that we live within the boundaries of Godliness. When we live within the boundaries of His goodness, we can be in relationship with Him. But, we are polluted, unclean, we are by the criteria of His perfect cleanliness not in relationship with Him, and we are constantly tempted to violate His way when we follow the ways of the flesh. The emotions felt within the experience of reality are indicators of the pull of evil. The lust of the flesh is the seduction, the infatuation, the lust to love and worship another god other than the Lord God, the creator of Heaven and Earth.
Which brings up the question of what proof would sufficiently convince a man to truly believe and genuinely sense/believe/rationalize/accept/embrace the reality of Jesus’ life, unjust murder, and resurrection? The story of Jesus’ death and resurrection, the story of a prophesied savior, has no correlate in the literal reality of our personal experience. We can’t go back two millennia and view the events of the crucifixion and resurrection. And we have only the testimony of the first century witnesses as evidence. Thus, to increase our certainty, we must use inference and inductive tools to establish the validity of such unseen events/phenomena.
Romans 10:9 declares that we are saved by making Jesus our Lord and believing that He was raised from the dead. This declaration connects His physical resurrection to the validity of the claim of salvation and justification. In 1 Corinthians 15, belief in the resurrection is explicitly required. If the resurrection was not real, only a literary device, a metaphor/myth about taking up our crosses in choosing moral acts, then the hope and message of Christianity is a lie.
AI elaboration on the importance of the resurrection to salvation:
The key verse referring to salvation requiring belief that Jesus was raised from the dead is Romans 10:9, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
This verse clearly states that belief in Jesus’ resurrection is a necessary component of salvation. Paul emphasizes that in addition to confessing Jesus as Lord, believing that God raised Jesus from the dead is essential for one to be saved.
Belief in Jesus’ resurrection is evidence that a man has an effective/saving/transforming faith in Christ’s power, promise, and Lordship. Those who trust in Christ for salvation affirm that Christ was raised from the dead, as the resurrection is the climax of the entire Bible, culminating in the gospel message (the good news).
Romans 10:9 is the key verse that links salvation to the requirement of believing that Jesus was raised from the dead.
My comments:
As I have argued, belief in the resurrection is evidence of having believed the principles of the faith. But I believe there is even more significance to belief in the resurrection. I argue that Romans 10:9 conditions for salvation, to believe in the resurrection, requires that each person to adopt a commitment to living God’s principles/way and a personal transformation in living that is deeper than merely believing in the fact/physical reality that Jesus was raised from the dead.
Why would Romans 9:10 emphasize that believing in the resurrection was of such great importance? Given the construction of this sentence, the resurrection is either an additional requirement to making Jesus Christ the Lord (director/master/standard) of our lives, or a restatement of the requirement to make Him Lord from a different perspective. Either way, the question confronts us as to why belief in the resurrection is considered a requirement of salvation in the same context as making Jesus Christ the Lord (director/master/standard) of one’s life.
I believe the resurrection implies the existence of another plane of existence. And if this is so, if life extends beyond existence in this world, then this perspective/knowledge/fact gives a new level of significance/context to our lives. Salvation is thus a gradual or sudden transformation of the soul/heart in the realization that life is eternal, that God is immanent, that the experience of relationship with God is the purpose of life. The draw toward a knowing intimacy with God is probably different for each person. That certainty, His presence, the truth of His word and promises may be a feeling, an inner knowing, a rationalized understanding of how the world works. Regardless of the method of arriving, each person must ultimately come to a settled recognition that Jesus is the standard of perfection, that His story was of divine origin, and this reality validates the value/necessity of the deprivation of the illicit satisfaction of the senses as an expression of love toward God. By choosing to live as Jesus lived, within the moral confines of the Biblical standard, we are sacrificing our flesh satisfaction as an offering of love to Him. And remarkably, the joy of life is greater for the sacrifice.
There are many reasons to cling to life (e.g. fear of the unknown consequence of death, the desire to continue to experience pleasures of the flesh in all its forms, a sense of incompleteness in fulfilling the purpose of one’s life). However, we cannot identify an absolute/universal/definitive reason for life or clinging to it. I suggest that life arose as a purposeful expression of God to experience the joy of living in relationship with Him. I postulate that the entire creation is an expression of God, and that there is no substance or entity other than Him. Thus, if God is the source of all, and the entire creation emanates from Him, then He exists alone. If He is the only being that ever existed, then His loneliness and aloneness are profound. I believe the Bible is the story of His effort to create a creation with meaning, with other beings capable of free will, who can choose to love Him. I believe the Bible is the story of God instructing man about the principles of living a life that pleases Him as we live inside His being. I believe the Bible is a story that includes the resurrection as an indicator that He desires that we live a sinless/perfect life, and that He has established a method, a technology, that we can access to reconcile our flawed/human/dust/flesh with His holiness. By using this technology, and more importantly, dedicating our good works as an expression of love for Him, we have established a Godly relationship with Him that will satisfy Him and us.
If the resurrection was real/physical/actual, it implies the entire story of the Bible is true. The Bible is a documentary story that introduces characters, moral stakes, various scenes that develop the plot, which leads to a climax. The Bible starts with man and woman being created as perfect children with Godlike qualities. The plot complicates after the initiating incident of man’s separation from God by disobeying His one “thou shalt not” command. The story developed with man’s effort to reconcile with God. The consequences of that separation were death and pain. The path required both His plan and our actions. We can restore that connection/relationship/intimacy by the process of accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord, and accepting that He has done a work in the spiritual realm which made it possible for our rebellion, our selfish and shortsighted indulgence in the pleasures of the flesh, to be cleansed. In the Biblical narrative, we see that God has engineered a plan for man’s escape from the hell of separation from Him. The fact of the crucifixion/death of a sinless Jesus Christ at the hands of evil, and the reality of the resurrection, gives testimony to the fact that it is sin separates man from the most intimate fellowship with God. Such separation is the equivalent of death. The sinless life allows for life eternal, and by accepting the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and making Him Lord of our lives, we can enter into eternal, satisfying fellowship with the Father. The question of what that fellowship looks like is another story, but it may be that we carry the fullness of the peace of living in His world, whether in this world or the next, and our hearts are at peace and satisfied as we live, work, and relate in His creation.
The Story of the Bible
The Bible’s overarching narrative told through the lens of StoryGrid’s 5 commandments is as follows:
Inciting Incident: The story begins in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve live in perfect harmony with God. However, tempted by the serpent, they rebel against God’s command and eat the forbidden fruit. This act of disobedience shatters the perfect relationship between humanity and God, introducing sin and death into the world.
Turning Point/Progressive Complication: As humanity spreads across the earth, their relationship with God continues to be marked by cycles of sin, judgment, and reconciliation. God chooses Abraham and his descendants to be His people, leading to the exodus from Egypt under Moses’ leadership. God gives the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, establishing a covenant with Israel. For centuries, the Israelites struggle with obedience, cycling through periods of faithfulness and idolatry, experiencing the leadership of judges and kings, and receiving warnings from prophets. This period is marked by increasing tension as humanity’s sin problem remains unresolved despite God’s continued guidance and intervention.
Crisis: The narrative reaches its crisis point with the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnation of God Himself. Jesus’ life and teachings reveal God’s nature and His plan for humanity’s redemption. Jesus’ miracles are evidence of His power/mastery over life and matter, and His authority to forgive sin. However, this leads to a dramatic dilemma: Jesus, the promised Messiah, is rejected by many and ultimately betrayed. His crucifixion presents a moment of profound crisis – the apparent defeat of God’s plan and the loss of hope for His followers.
Climax: The climax of the story occurs with Jesus’ resurrection. This miraculous event definitively demonstrates God’s power over sin and death, vindicates Jesus’ claims, and offers hope for all humanity. It’s the decisive action that resolves the crisis and changes the course of history.
Resolution: The resolution unfolds as the resurrected Christ commissions His disciples to spread the good news. The Apostle Paul, once a church persecutor, becomes a pivotal figure in articulating and spreading the message of salvation through faith in Jesus. His teachings emphasize that anyone – regardless of background – can be reconciled to God by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. This new covenant, based on grace rather than law, offers a way for all people to live in right relationship with God and each other.
The Church Age Story
The post-Biblical era up to the Millennial reign of Christ framed through the lens of StoryGrid’s 5 Commandments is as follows:
Inciting Incident: The era of the early Church, starting with Pentecost and the apostles’ ministry, serves as the inciting incident. The Holy Spirit’s outpouring empowers believers to spread the Gospel, challenging the established religious and political orders. This new movement, centered on faith in the resurrected Christ, spreads rapidly across the Roman Empire and beyond, setting the stage for a new chapter in human history.
Turning Point/Progressive Complication: As the Church grows, it faces increasing challenges and complications. These include:
- Persecution from both Jewish and Roman authorities
- The rise of heresies and false teachings within the Church
- The fall of the Roman Empire and the onset of the Dark Ages
- The Great Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity, the beginning of Christian disunity
- The Protestant Reformation and subsequent denominational divisions, the further splintering of the church
- The Enlightenment and the rise of secularism and rationalism as a Godless worldview competing with Christianity
- The significant advancement of science and technology in solving problems, giving man the sense of wielding godlike powers over nature, and the irrelevance of God
- Globalization, interconnection, universal surveillance, universal control, and the imposition of a Politically Correct/Woke, Godless worldview upon all of humanity
These events progressively complicate the Church’s mission and humanity’s relationship with God, leading to a world where faith is increasingly challenged and marginalized in many societies.
Crisis: The crisis point in this narrative could be seen as the culmination of these progressive complications – a world where moral relativism, materialism, and secular humanism have become dominant ideologies in many parts of the globe. How does the Church influence/win/retake a culture for Christ and His Kingdom, which has rejected the fundamental Biblical principles such as loving God (e.g. obeying His commands regarding sexual purity), and neighbor as self? The church is divided and some have bowed to the pressure of appealing to the culture for acceptance, rather than standing firm on Biblical principles. Sexual purity and identity are the wedge issues which casts doubt on the Bible as the authentic will of God, and the masses of humanity reject holiness, purity, and Godliness. The removal of the Bible as the firm standard of righteousness in personal and societal law gives way to,
- Perversion of every type, and prosecution of those who protest/object/resist calling evil good,
- Acceptance/endorsement/imposition of false religions
- Elevation of the will of man above the consideration of the warnings and revelations of the Bible,
- Loss of a true standard, the revealed way of Godliness, which guides mankind to prosperity, health, peace, and the blessings of God
- Elevation of man, reason, and human values as the standard and prosecution of all who resist bowing to these standards.
- Man calls down a curse upon himself as he rejects God’s way and endorses the way of demons and those who are anti-Christ
- The rise of global government, universal surveillance and artificial intelligence monitoring for politically incorrect/wrong-think speech, and predictive thought crime prosecution
- Global oppression, confiscation of assets, regional or global war, biowarfare pandemics, inflation, digital currency, issues exacerbate this crisis such as economic inequality and the threat of nuclear war, which seem to push humanity to the brink of self-destruction.
Climax: The climax of this story, as described in biblical prophecy, is the return of Jesus Christ. The Second Coming, is the decisive intervention by God in human history, which includes:
- A period of great tribulation
- The final defeat of the Antichrist and his forces
- The binding of Satan
This climactic event resolves the crisis by establishing Christ’s direct rule on Earth, bringing judgment and vindication.
Resolution: The resolution of this grand narrative is the establishment of Christ’s Millennial Kingdom. This thousand-year period is characterized by:
- Christ’s direct rule from Jerusalem
- A time of unprecedented peace and prosperity
- The restoration of nature and the environment
- The absence of Satan’s influence as he is bound
- A global society aligned with God’s will and ways
This period demonstrates God’s original intent for creation and human society, bringing the narrative full circle from the fallen world of Genesis to a restored Earth under God’s direct governance. This structure presents the post-Biblical era as a continuation of the redemptive narrative, culminating in the fulfillment of biblical prophecies and the establishment of God’s kingdom on Earth.
This narrative encapsulates the Bible’s central story of God’s redemptive plan for humanity, from the fall in Eden to the offer of salvation through Christ. The gospel, the good news of Christ’s victory over Satan, was the turning point in the establishment’s story of God’s Kingdom on Earth. The unjust/unmerited death of Christ and His resurrection established the possibility of appropriating His death to pay the debt of death we owe to Satan/the demonic realm for indulging in the pleasure of satisfaction of illicit desire. The availability of forgiveness and salvation, and the proof of its validity/power/reality by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, sets the stage for the story of the Church. The Church age is the story of the spread of the gospel, the enrollment of individuals, the rise of leaders, the resistance and counteracts by the servants of Satan, who appear to be winning. When the Lord wills, or when the situation cannot be reversed by man’s efforts, (e.g. if super-intelligent AI takes control of the world) then the Lord may return in power. The seduction is to wait and hope for the day of the Lord, for His return and the final judgment of evil. But such a desire and hope is not how we should live. “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.” Amos 5:18. Instead, we should work to win souls for the Kingdom and populate the earth with children who express their love for Him through their Godly lives.
It is possible to bring the Kingdom of Heaven onto Earth by living holy lives, and enrolling our friends and family into holiness. The church is the body of believers committed to living His way. Holiness is possible; it requires only living a holy moment, living God’s way one moment at a time. We can live holy lives and do our part to purify the church for His return. If the world submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord, the world would live in peace. His way is simple, loving God (which we do by following His Law) and loving our neighbor as self. With a city/state/nation/world filled with people living His way, there would be no Tribulation, and Jesus Christ would return and receive His Church as His bride without spot or blemish.
Life’s play/substance/content is the drama of souls being tempted and tested/tried/challenged in their commitment to choose Godliness and thus develop/establish our character in the flow and spectrum of life experiences. The purpose of life is the satisfaction of God’s experience of being/existing in relationship with Him.
We see the concept of living for God’s pleasure:
- in Philippians 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” This verse teaches that it is God who works in us, giving us the desire and the ability to do what pleases Him. Our purpose is to live in a way that brings joy and delight to our Creator.
- Revelation 4:11 also affirms this truth, stating that all things were created for God’s pleasure: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”
- Psalms 33:6, 9 we see how God’s word and works are the foundation of all creation, existing for His good pleasure: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth… For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” The clear teaching of Scripture is that we, along with all of creation, exist for the pleasure and glory of God. Our highest aim should be to live in a way that delights our Heavenly Father.
I believe the character we develop on earth is the treasure we store in Heaven. I believe our duties, responsibilities, and authority in heaven are commensurate with our character on earth. We are tempted on earth to satisfy our senses/flesh/lusts/hungers and violate the standards and way of Godliness. In this way, our character is tested. The spiritual world appears to be involved, with the spoil of our souls and power being given to the side to whom we commit our actions/body/hear/soul.
We are tempted and encouraged by demons and angels to serve their side. The heavenly play is Satan vs God, and each receives power/credit for allegiance and service of souls to their respective Kingdom. God had given us free will, and we can choose which side we serve and which actions we take. And in this, the purpose of life is His satisfaction. He desires that we serve Him. We satisfy His desire and experiences love by our serving Him, obeying His law, living His way, and choosing Godliness. In all this, the fundamental experience is a relationship with Him, and the satisfying relationship for Him is choosing Godliness (living holiness and loving neighbor as self).
Our habitual life choices develop our character, and I believe this is the “treasure” we store in heaven. The key Bible passage that expresses this principle is Matthew 6:19-21, where Jesus says: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The “treasures in heaven” that Jesus refers to are not material possessions, but rather the spiritual and eternal rewards that come from living a life devoted to God and serving others. This includes: Faithfully enduring persecution for Christ’s sake; Loving your enemies Praying and serving in secret, without seeking human praise; Generously giving to those in need; Living and loving like Jesus; Ultimately, the greatest “treasure” is the reward of seeing God face-to-face in heaven. Our character and how we live our lives on earth indicate where our “treasure” and our heart are focused – on temporary earthly things or the eternal spiritual realities of God’s kingdom. So, in this sense, we can consider our character and the way we live to be the “treasures” we store in heaven. It’s not about accumulating material wealth, but about investing in the eternal, spiritual rewards that come from a life devoted to Christ (living His way) and others (serving their material and spiritual needs).
If the entire world, every man, woman, and child, repented of their indulgence in the flesh, had a metanoia, a change of heart and mind, and gave his/her life to Jesus Christ as Lord, I believe there would be no Tribulation. I see the Tribulation of Revelation, and the wrathful return of God as the outcome of a world which has failed to enroll the world in Godliness.
This brings up the question of practicality. How do we win the world to commit to living with Jesus Christ as their Lord? Few of us are in positions of great power and influence, but those who are have power and influence, we have a greater responsibility. But for the rest of us, the world can be won for Him, and the Great Tribulation can be avoided. Consider what would happen if we each committed to enrolling three people into a commitment to living lives of holiness/regulated by the standards of Godliness. If that same commitment, to win three were passed on to the next generation of believers, the whole world would be enrolled in 20 cycles. It’s doable. We can each do something to prevent the Great Tribulation. If you enroll three people and encourage each of them to win three from their circle of friends, neighbors, family, coworkers, and acquaintances, the circle will expand, and we can win the world for Him.
Live lives of holiness/Godly character, arm yourself with the weapons of spiritual warfare by reading the Bible daily. Start with Proverbs, and read one chapter a day. Read the chapter corresponding with the day of the month. There are 31 chapters. Start today, and read the chapter of today’s date. Continue your education by reading the Gospels. Learn to walk in the footsteps of the master. Imitate what Jesus Christ how Jesus would have acted in every life situation by applying His words to your life situation. Read the Epistles of Paul and the other apostles, the other books of the New Testament. Listen to the wisdom of Paul, learn to defend the faith, understand the basis of the purpose of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the work He accomplished in the Heavens and on earth by His sacrifice. Study the Old Testament. Read the story of God working through the drama of man to establish the meaning of the sacrificial offering, content of the Law, the cost of rebellion, and the sovereignty of God in working His will as revealed by the prophets. In reading the Word, the Bible, we implant His way of right/proper/Godly relationship. By hiding His commands, wisdom, and warnings in our hearts, we will know His way, and can choose to resist temptation and will not sin against Him.
Returning to the resurrection, how does it imply a God who deeply cares about His relationship with man? He created a world where imperfection/sin separated man from His fellowship and intimate relationship. Love can only satisfy God when freely given. Suppose He openly reveals Himself as the all-powerful God, omnipresent and omniscient, who created the world from His being. In that case, it is unavoidably true that there is no existence but Himself, and His rules/way must be followed lest the certain consequence follow. In such a world, if the reality of God’s Unity/Oneness/All-ness/Only-ness is nakedly obvious, then man has no option but to follow His rules. Such a world of such obvious truth leaves no room for doubt, and hence there is no possibility of free will to choose God and goodness over the seductive/shiny/pleasurable seduction of Satan and the flesh. God’s primary purpose in creating the universe, I believe, was to satisfy His desire to experience to be loved. Thus, the world must have been created with the possibility that there is no God. There must be a logical/justifiable rationalization that we can choose the goodies of the flesh, and feel only the pleasure and none of the pain. Such a scenario an qualifications can only exist if God is hidden.
But God has established a world where only those who passionately seek for it can uncover the true nature of the universe. Thus, the person who does not seek does not find, and he/she remains blind to the fact/reality of God as the only existent deity. Having been blinded to the existence of God we succumb to believing in the plausibility of self-as-God (with Satan also an imaginary being) where good and evil are relative, life as only material (no hell below us, above us only sky), life as only sensations felt by matter become conscious by evolutionary pressures, and the passions trials and joys of life as temporary and which end with the last breath. When such a perspective becomes plausible, and free will is possible. For God to create free will universe, He had to hide the truth of His existence and His way.
Free will is necessary for God to experience the possibility of satisfying His desire for love freely given. The universe is a platform for developing companions, like-minded spirits who ally in creating His world. But to create a game, to create a compelling/interesting/engaging story/life worth living/drama worthy of fully participating in, He must hide His power and existence, revealing Himself only to those who are passionately/sincerely/desirous of knowing Him and His way.
I believe God responds to our prayers, our curiosity, and our desire to know Him and the mystery of His existence. He reveals Himself in plausibly ordinary ways but meaningful to those who seek His presence. He experiences our love and blesses our willing/enthusiastic/obedience to His rules and living according to His commandments. He desires that we incorporate His spirit and counsel into our hearts and attitudes.
Love without choice is invisible. Relationship without separation is dancing with oneself. A mission without an adversary is a nature walk. It may be beautiful, but it has no passion or significance. Love without an option to choose another lover does not develop character. Life void of choice is unsatisfying. Thus, God must speak to man of His existence and rules for loving Him in symbolism, through metaphor and implication. The love in a man’s heart for Him must arise within him. Man must desire to know Him. A hunger to understand the creation is an opening, a prayer, a calling out to God to explain the fundamental mystery of existence and the purpose of living within that mystery.
God gave us clues to solving the mystery. God spoke with man through the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and His incarnation as Jesus Christ. He revealed His law/His way of being perfect and pleasing to Him. He established symbolism as hints/clues/bread crumbs that lead to understanding His construction of the universe and why He constructed it is as it is. He allowed pain to exist to teach us the consequence of violating His Law.
The question is why was the resurrection important? Is it important that the resurrection was real, actual, and accepted/known/understood/believed to be a real physical event? How is it possible that Jesus Christ experienced pain and death and for that experience to be meaningful in our lives 2000 years later. How could it be possible for another person’s suffering and pain, even if He was God, affect our lives? What is the structure of the universe that such an event, the suffering, death, and resurrection of another person could be significant in our lives?
The resurrection implies that Jesus is who He said He is. He claimed to be the only one who could reconcile us with a holy God. The resurrection implies a universe built upon principles, rules, and limits that even God must abide by. The resurrection implies the truth of Jesus’ declaration that He is the way, which implies the need to follow His example and instruction in the ways of holiness and pleasing God. The resurrection requires a death first. And, by the precedent established by scripture, that must be an undeserved death, a death where there was no sin.
- Genesis 2:17 (NKJV), God warns Adam: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The sinless life of Jesus Christ is a testimony to the validity of His claim to divinity, perfection, and Lordship. An accepting/embracing, whole bodied acknowledgement of the resurrection implies the acceptance of the constellation of Godly plans, structures, revelations, laws, and ways as true, real, and of greater value than satisfying the flesh or worshipping other gods.
The questions I asked myself throughout my search for truth were, “What kind of universe is this?” What are the rules of such a universe? What were the reasons for developing such rules? What is the structure of a universe where a man, who was the Son of God incarnate, could die and satisfy the debt of my sin? Why did God construct the universe so that belief in the resurrection has such a pivotal/consequential effect on the state of a person’s soul? Why was belief in the resurrection the divide between two realms of life?
In my March 1987 vision/understanding/revelation, I saw that belief in the resurrection’s reality implies a belief in the actual/real/literal fact of the entire drama of the Bible preceding the resurrection. The Bible’s epic drama is 1) a demonstration to man of God’s character, 2) a revelation and illustration of the nature and battle between good and evil, and 3) a revelation of the purpose of the creation as a refiner/developer of character for service and fellowship in God’s. I saw that life is an eternal drama of perfecting souls, and perfecting the manifestation of a world He populated with free will beings. I saw that the prophesies speak of events impossible to know by human speculation, but which, by their fulfillment, give evidence of His existence, power, and purpose. I saw the events in the Biblical drama establish precedent and illustrate God’s law, nature, and plan. I saw the lineages and their interpersonal dramas as giving metaphorical and archetypal lessons about the interactions between humanity and God.
Believing in the resurrection is important because of the implications it carries. Believing in the resurrection deeply/holistically/comprehensively implies that a man accepts/realizes/embraces the holism of the story that gave this act meaning. A deep belief in the resurrection includes and implies:
- He understands and accepts the laws God gave to man through Moses and Jesus, the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles.
- God has a plan/desire to establish His Kingdom on earth. He is allowing this plan to evolve and manifest by the acts men who freely choose to hold Him as their Lord/guide/lawgiver/righteous judge. God is building His Kingdom from living stones, which are the bodies and souls of men who love Him, His Way, and have dedicated their lives to His service. God has given men free will and allowed them to dedicate their lives and hearts to living in His way. This service expresses love, which satisfies His heart.
- God intervenes in the flow of history by His sovereign will and acts authorized by prayer. He speaks to men through the inspiration of prophets. He gives men free will to choose His will/way and men develop their character based upon their habitual choices. Life allows men to create an affinity for Him and His Way or rebel against Him.
- God is perfect and the standard of goodness. God gave man the authority to act as a free will entity/agent and a nature like Himself, but with limited knowledge and perspective. Man’s limitations allow him to learn and grow, which allows for transformation and relationship. Man has animal drives that tempt/pull him to offend/displease/disobey and separate from fellowship with God. Man can follow God’s way and participate in being part of/living in His Kingdom on Earth. Thus, by choice, commitment, and love of God, we can choose His way or improperly regulate our passions, act upon our desires/animal hungers, and thus separate ourselves from God’s fellowship.
- The structure, players, emotions, law, powers, and purpose of the universe require blood and death as the structural/natural/unavoidable payment for violating His law, and choosing instead the momentary enjoyment of sin.
- The structure of the universe (the rules governing man and the spiritual beings), require that the debt of sin be paid in the currency of blood and death. The sinner commits his/her life to Satan, to be fed upon and used as the power and authorization for the demonic to own the sinner’s soul. But the repentant sinner, the man who confesses and commits to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, can appropriate the blood and death of Jesus Christ as payment for that required debt. The appropriation of that substitutionary payment is authorized upon the condition of sworn/accepted/embraced commitment to/service of Godliness.
- Appropriation of the blood of Christ as payment for my debt of sin requires belief/complete commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which means desiring to put on/learn/follow the righteousness of Christ. His example/pattern/life/obedience to guidance by/compliance with the leading of the Holy Spirit is the condition/state required for the effective appropriation of the gift of cleansing. Such an attitude/realization naturally accompanies a conviction of the truth that His teaching and the example of His life/spirit are worthy of the complete/total dedication of one’s life.
- By appropriating and applying His righteous/unwarranted blood and death to our debt, we can satisfy the guilt, penalty, and debt of blood and death required of us.
- Belief that He is the mediator/advocate before the throne of the Father. We see evidence of this in 1 John 2:1: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
- He has promised to cover and cleanse us. His sacrifice paid our debts, and by accepting Him as Lord, He clothes us with His perfect righteousness, making us holy to be in the presence of a Holy God. 1 John 1:7 states, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:9 further affirms, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 declares, “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” These verses clearly demonstrate that Jesus Christ promises to cover and cleanse us from our sins, and make us righteous before the Father through His sacrifice and our faith in Him.
The question/comment I have heard you make is something like, “How do I know the Bible (i.e. the story salvation, the story of creation, the purpose of Creation, the dedication to a life of holiness) is true? How do I know the Bible reveals the highest and most pure Truth?” “Maybe there is another truth that is truer.” “I don’t want to sell myself early or short, having spent a whole life verifying/validating and accepting only that which is demonstrably True.” “I don’t want to close myself off from considering alternatives that others share, which may allow me to grow and know a deeper truth.”
These perspectives/objections are understandable and reasonable. The problem is that they are not answerable. They only allow eternal non-committal searching/speculating/considering. We cannot find a solution/conclusion/decision that will satisfy the conditions of such proof. The result of holding such a criterion of proof before belief/commitment/endorsement/living it will be eternal non-participation in full-bodied commitment. No religion/faith/theory of God and origin meets the standard of certainty, because all theories in this domain allow only inductive proofs (i.e. being historical/onetime events or a set too large to examine all possibilities). Therefore, it is impossible to establish the truth or falsehood of the postulate of God’s existence, or the validity of Biblical revelation and history.
The best/most complete/most certainly true validation is judging a postulate as possibly true because of its consistency with reality. The price of fully committing to a paradigm/belief system/revelation of reality is that we get the results of our action, faith, effort, and intent. If the fruits are bad, if we prove by our experience that our choice of the object of faith was flawed/wrong, then we should change paths to a truer revelation/model/paradigm/system of belief. Spending a season as a sincere practitioner as a believer in a set of doctrines does not waste time, deserve shame, or prevent considering all other realities/paths/religions/perspectives or philosophies.
My time as a Christian has been a time of ardent, focused, and open challenges to my faith with every perspective, religion, question, doubt, mystery, apparent inconsistency, or mutual exclusivity. If the path/religion/faith proves inconsistent with reality and logic, the prudent man will exit onto a path with greater fidelity to truth. It’s a free will universe, and we are obliged by integrity to change paths/beliefs/doctrines/denominations/religions… when a teacher/guide/belief proves significantly inconsistent with reality. There is no loss or shame in fully committing and then changing if convinced of a significant error. The validation of truth, listening to all perspectives, considering all objections, and understanding one’s chosen faith never ends.
There is no obligation to join the nameless, faceless masses of unthinking believers who do not challenge/question orthodoxy and sequester their minds from consideration of alternate explanations/answers and resolutions of conundrums. The result of total commitment, seeking proof by actions consistent with Godly principles, is the real-life/first person experience of the fruits of action that embody a robust faith. Walls or isolation from alternative/contradictory opinion need not be used to defend one’s faith/belief and moral system. Rather, faith grows stronger with the paradigm-validating results of each action, each life-experiment. Life becomes full, integrated, fully directed toward an end with eternal significance. The magnitude and justice/righteousness of the acts of such a man adds to the force of all men dedicated to bringing God’s kingdom on earth. The purpose, goal, and end of such acts are fellowship, the joy of life experience, the communion with man, God, and nature as satisfying in acknowledging their mere presence.
It’s impossible for an adult to believe anything without doubt, because we realize the world is complex and unseen/unconsidered forces and factors can produce unexpected results. In the realm of belief about a religion, the same is true. The unquestioning faith of a little child about truth/facts, prophecy, history, philosophy, morality, and teachers is not possible. As adults, we have experienced the disappointment of mistakes/incompetence/stupidity/ignorance, well-intentioned error, malicious deception, authoritative delusion, and satanic trickery. As adults, we have eaten of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and we are as wary and confused as Adam and Eve. We can be absolutely certain of nothing.
If we grew up with the Bible as a revelation of God’s truth, we are familiar with the stories, moral teachings, historical worldview, and culture. As children, we could hold on to the faith’s principles, percepts, and facts with wide-eyed acceptance and innocence. But with time, with the insults and traumas of life, the skepticism about facts and people replaced the open acceptance of first appearances. The same distrust and provisional/qualified acceptance of the intents and stories of people invaded our concept of the sacred. With time and the buffets of life, the Biblical narrative about the unseen realm loses its patina of literal, perfect, and complete revelation of Truth.
Yet, Jesus tells us we are to become little children and enter into the Kingdom. Matthew 18:2 “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
The question is, how is it possible to enter the Kingdom as an adult? In fact, we read in 1 Peter 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” This verse requires a very adult perspective of our faith.
This contradiction is what I call the paradox of apparent mutual exclusivity. We cannot be both an adult and a child. Likewise, we cannot be both innocent and wise, acceptant and skeptical at the same time. But if we consider that there are aspects of the heart and soul that are innocent and others that are wise, we see that the two verses are not contradictory, only speaking about different aspects of the heart-mind-soul-spirit. In our spirit, there is a place that we can know,
- God exists.
- Jesus is the man, whose spirit is the Son of God, the exact duplicate of the Father, who created everything, and whose spirit is literally the life inside every man/woman/child.
- The moral teachings of Jesus Christ, and the moral revelations/commands/teachings/parables, psalms and praises, prophesies of the Bible are the True and the highest expression of all virtues.
- Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, was crucified and died, was resurrected, and now intercedes with the Father on our behalf. We have accepted Him as our Lord and advocate.
As adults, we recognize our fallibility and the fact that we can be wrong, partially right/wrong, and totally correct in our assessment of facts and Truth. Still, there is a place for childlike certainty. We cannot defend that place. We simply know it. That space is small, but it influences the entirety of a man’s psyche and gives him a place to stand to support the provisional adult defense of our rationally held worldview.
As you know, I came to faith through a vision, a revelation, a chemically-induced altered state, a mystical experience that gave me a new perspective on the Bible, science, religion, history, and morality. I went on the trip as a confused seeker, having studied 40 religions, with the intention of finding the answer to the question, “Who is the True God?” The answer was “The God of the Bible.” It’s neither a method I would recommend nor one I believe could be replicated. I believe it was a miracle, a divine gift, a passionately desire insight, a revelation of truth that I desired from my core.
The defense of my faith rests upon the triangulation of many factors:
- The Bible is consistent with astronomical, human scale, and subatomic experiments; laws determined from quantum, field, particle, and relativistic phenomena; and explanations of the plausible origin of the physical universe.
- The Biblical narrative is consistent with a plausible construction of the spiritual universe and its laws and a narrow view of possibly spiritual phenomena.
- The Bible promotes individual morality that is consistent with individual happiness, mutual respect in relationships, health, and prosperity.
- The Bible is consistent with a God-directed evolution of life as seen in the fossil record.
- The Bible is consistent with creation being a conscious universe, a structure composed of spirit-mind with points of observation arising from a singularity/God/One as its fundamental unit of substance. The physical appears real/solid because consciousness can perceive consciousness.
- The Bible is consistent with the psycho-emotional necessity of creating a world containing both good and evil, free will and foreknowledge, the fundamental Oneness of the universe and the separation of the holy and unholy/self and other/God and man.
- The Bible declares the centrality of faith in the saving power of Christ, Romans 3:27-31; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 3:16, which is consistent with His hidden existence and His plausible non-existence. He has created a world where rejection of His way is a logical/reasonable choice, leaving room for individual souls to grow in Godly character, or embrace the flesh and rebel against the idea of a mythical God. The universe is a garden of souls, each having the option to join Him in bringing His Kingdom to earth, or oppose Him and elevate His enemy/competitor for the hearts, love, and devotion of men.
- I can’t prove that my insights about the origin of the universe and the connection between my physics theory based on Conscious Points generated with the mind-spirit of God are correct, but I do know that it is consistent with the laws and experiments of the physical universe and creates an adequate model to predict the consequences of physical, moral, mental, and emotional acts.
- I don’t know if the Bible’s metaphorical worldview is 100% correct, but I can say that it creates a map with sufficient granularity and specificity to help me navigate life toward a happy, healthy, holy life for myself, others, and a world living in peace.
- It is my belief, having examined and/or participated in a number of world religions, paths, cults, and gurus, that all other teachers, teachings, revelations are either confirmatory/duplicative/elaborating of the Bible, or they are incomplete, misleading, or untrue.
Ultimately, faith is based upon an individual process: the personal/internal evaluation of the plausibility of the truth of the Biblical propositions. The ultimate laboratory/test bed is the practice of living the Biblical precepts. I believe anyone who diligently practices the Biblical principles will experience positive outcomes. Living in that faith is natural and self-validating.
As I mentioned, as an adult, childlike faith about everything in the Bible is not possible, desired, or Biblical. But there is a place of childlike faith that every believer must attain. It is that place of inner knowing that we are dedicated to living the principles of a God who exists, loves us, and will give us the miraculous best that is possible in a world where He is working quietly, hidden from view, whispering to the hearts of those who will listen, to bring many people to Himself as possible, and mature those who answer the call into the perfection of His character.
The question is then, how can I/we/you develop faith when there are doubts? How can one know that the path of the Bible is the True path? The best we can do is ask questions, consider the answers, and live it if the logical examination passes provisionally. Living in the experience of the Biblical life is the only way to know if the promise of the living the Godly life is true.
The problem with living the Biblical life is that saying the sinner’s prayer, believing in the resurrection and committing to live with Jesus as your Lord (living the Biblical life) is often obscure/unclear/ambiguous, especially in interpersonal relationships with bullies, abusers, and takers. It is for this reason that people study psychology, reason and debate, and go to counselors and pastors for advice.
The more obvious questions regard temptation, drugs (alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, cannabis…), theft (intellectual property, physical property, money…), lying (committing to a contract and not fulfilling it, misrepresenting reality to avoid punishment or to make a greater profit…) murder (taking a life, taking property or reputation is a type of murder), and covetousness (the expectation of equality or more than you contracted for). Just say no to the sins of the flesh, the desires/hungers that give personal advantage and loss to the other.
Sexuality is the big one for many. The answer to sex before marriage is no. Wait until you are married. If you have sex with him/her, you are now married, you just haven’t had the party and registered with the state yet. Your souls combine at the moment of penetration. Sex isn’t just a good time, it’s a long time. Don’t tie the knot until you are ready to live the life together till the last breath. It’s one and done. Premature sex bonds souls together, intended or not. Playing around is the same thing (adultery in the heart is still adultery). God lives our lives too. We are not alone. He is intimately present with, inside, and living us. The pain of breaking sexual/wedded bonds is painful to God. We will feel the pain too if we listen/feel/look inside. And yes, we can turn our hearts to stone. We shut out/down the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking and convicting our hearts. We can ignore the shame, we can replace the shame with pride, and the fall will be even harder.
Galatians 6:7-9 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” We cannot hide from Him, and we will always pay the full price for what we take. If it’s not authorized by God, the price is always too high.
The results of refusing the temptation of sin are painful if we value the flesh more than the spirit. And sometimes when we do the right thing, the world hates us.
Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”
Sometimes we want to do the wrong thing, even when we want to do it right. Romans 7:19 “For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” But we cannot use the weakness of the flesh as an excuse. We can always resist. We can always do the right thing. 1 Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
Still, sometimes we succumb to temptation, for whatever reason (the sin is too tasty, too familiar, too much pressure…). James 1:15 “Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
But we can be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God through the power of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Sin need not be the final failure, death, or the end. Succumbing to temptation is immaturity. Immediately confess, repent, and do it right the next time. James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
To play the game well, we must know the rules. The Bible is the rulebook. Here are some Bible reading strategies.
- Read the Bible, every day, at least a chapter.
- Read several chapters a day.
- Read through the Bible once every year.
- Read a chapter in Proverbs every day, read the chapter of the day of the month (1-31).
- Read a chapter in Proverbs, a chapter in Psalms, a chapter in the New Testament, and a chapter in the Old Testament.
- Get a devotional book. Read the devotion, the associated verse, and its chapter. (The Berean sends an email devotion each day, cgg.org)
- Use a “read the Bible in a year book,”
- Get a phone app (e.g., the YouVersion.com of the Bible). Read the daily devotional verse, then read the chapter.
- Read through the chapter. Read through each sentence slowly, understanding every word. Explain the concept behind every verse. Integrate the verse into the larger story of the Bible.
- Commit to reading the Bible with a friend, spouse, and children daily.
Here are some key Bible verses about reading, meditating on, and feeding daily on the Word of God:
- Psalm 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
- Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
- Psalm 1:1-2 “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”
- Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
- Psalm 119:11 “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”
- Matthew 4:4 “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
- Luke 11:28 “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
- 1 Peter 2:2 “Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation.”
- These verses emphasize the importance of regularly reading, meditating on, and feeding on God’s Word, which guides us toward spiritual growth, wisdom, and obedience.
- Sin hurts, and we will eventually feel the pain, and so does God. He wants the world to be filled with people who live holy moments.
The game of life is real and the stakes of the game are high. The prize is our souls/hearts/minds, allegiance and love. Both God and Satan want our voluntary service and commitment to their kingdom. God wants us to create His Kingdom on earth, populated by Godly families, righteous leaders, wise counselors, loving pastors, knowledgeable teachers, and courageous warriors. Our job is to spread the good news of living a Godly life with Jesus Christ as Lord, guided by the Words of Truth and the Holy Spirit speaking to the heart.
The masses of the willful, unrepentant, and proud sinners populate Satan’s kingdom. They mock holiness as they practice Satan’s rituals of rebellion, worshipping the flesh, and hating God. The armies of Satan seek to suppress the Word/message/promises of His way and Truth of His existence. The kingdom of Satan infiltrates the church with spies, saboteurs, and traitors, to discredit and pervert the gospel, co-opt its institutions, and prevent its propagation.
Both the demonic and Godly believe in and dedicate themselves to promoting their cause/side/kingdom. As in all human endeavors, some believe in the cause and commit themselves more than others. But there is only one right/true/perfect goal, even though both sides believe theirs is the best.
The uncommitted middle tolerates sin in various ways. Some live and let live, believing that tolerance is a virtue, or that transcendence/love/positive thinking will provide the lessons to win the hearts of evil. Some believe that evil will leave them alone if they give it space. But it will not. The Holy Spirit knocks on our hearts’ door, and we can change allegiance at any time. Evil delights in failure, injury and death, sin and capitulating to temptation. Some claim a belief in God and the message of the Bible, but do not live its principles. God will judge each heart, but where there is no fruit, there is no evidence of a transformed heart and soul. It is contradictory to profess to be a Christian but not live by its teachings. This is the definition of making Jesus Christ our Lord.
A child is capable of unquestioning faith. But with age, we can become skeptical of all unwitnessed claims of truth. A man once fooled is twice smart. Having learned from life, the adult avoids the pitfalls of known error. The rational man will choose wisely, and when wrong, apologize, pay his debts for the wrong done, and reverse course. The adult knows he must fully commit to an action to maximize his effect in life.
The best we can do regarding choosing a life-directing moral paradigm is to choose a religion/group/path that seems consistent with our best model of the universe. Life/reality appears different at every stage in the development of our maturity. In my 1987 altered state vision, I saw that elements/seeds/portions of truth were present in the teachings of many religions. In my vision, I saw what appeared to symbolize the universe emanating from the Oneness of God. The Oneness of God and all was a teaching I had repeatedly seen in many religions, and I saw how the Oneness had transitioned into the many from the Words of the Bible.
I knew some teachings were true of the spiritual paths I had explored, and I knew some were false, because they were impossibly contradictory. But I didn’t know which teachings were true and which were false. This vision became a touchstone, a map for my journey of understanding.
I also saw how realization of the Oneness was too general a goal. Knowing/realizing this truth is helpful, in that knowledge of every fact has a place of confirmation of the accuracy of one’s worldview. However, some truths are more important because they are primal/central to understanding the causal sequence of the assembly of the universe. Such facts/truth are more important because their truth shapes the manifestation of so many other structures, laws, and possibilities of the manifest universe.
To meet the requirements of cause and effect, my model of the physical universe must be consistent with my model of the universe’s spiritual understructure. This is because, in my model/belief/understanding, the spiritual universe was constructed/created antecedent/prior/source to the physical universe. Likewise, the observed physical laws depend on the rules of relationship the universe establishes. This is because the substance of the physical universe is composed of spiritual entities. In essence, my postulate has unified the spiritual and physical universe and named/identified the sequence of construction and the entities composing each layer in the construction of the spiritual and physical universe.
The model of the physical universe I have developed, with its spiritual substructure/constituent elements, is consistent with my best understanding of the structures and forces composing and orering the physical universe. Modern physics has divided the laws of the universe into five domains: Newtonian, field theory, quantum mechanics, and relativity. To the best of my assessment, my postulated understructure of the physical universe by spiritual entities and rule-based forces is consistent with the observed structure of the physical universe. Likewise, the construction of the physical universe with my postulated spiritual entities is consistent with the stories/patterns presented/implied by the Bible.
On another axis, my personal sense of reality, does this postulated model of the physical universe, as fundamentally composed of spiritual entities, satisfy my sense of life as a free will being? If everything is composed of God at its essence, then God knows everything I do? Does this construct of the universe, this paradigm of reality, allow me the degrees of freedom, the sense of purpose, and the feeling of freely living/choosing/directing my life? That is my birthright. Does living according to the precepts feel, sound and look right? Does a world that universally adopts this belief/faith/paradigm/philosophy/worldview/religion produce an earth that reflects the glory and hope of its creator? Does it produce a world of prosperity, health, justice, joy arise for everyone? Is it possible for everyone to experience satisfaction at all times living in this world, and does the world still have meaning/purpose?
Having seen a vision of how the physical and spiritual universe were unified in God and existed for His and our co-pleasure, I fully embraced living the Biblical path. I embraced its paradigm of creation, the Godhead as composed of the Father/Son/Spirit. I accepted His standard of moral goodness and purpose as being good and consistent with the possibilities of reality. I accepted that I had found the fountainhead of Truth in the Words of the Bible. My search for the source of truth was over, because I knew it would satisfy the requirements of consistency that I had established as the touchstone and feel of truth. I accepted that the Biblical frame/paradigm/rule-set/worldview/belief structure of life was in fact an adequate pattern of reality for me to conduct my life and frame my construction of the universe upon. In a moment, I received the gift of knowing that the universe was constructed in a way consistent with the Bible.
As an adult, I did not adopt my faith in the Biblical paradigm with the simple testimony required by a child. I needed the agreement of science, religion, and my personal experience. I didn’t expect to get 100% proof, but I did ask for logical consistency with every objective standard of truth with the testimony of the Bible. Throughout my search for truth, my standard has been consistent postulate with experiment. Essentially, I turned my spiritual quest into a science experiment.
No one, including me, can use logic and evidence to provide conclusive/absolute/unequivocal proof that the claims of the Bible are true and that Jesus Christ deserves the Lordship of our lives. This unprovability is true of every postulate requiring inductive proof. Thus, it is impossible to prove the postulate of God’s existence and Jesus Christ’s Lordship with certainty. The best possible proof of such an inductive hypothesis is overwhelming consistency of the expectations of the postulate with the evidence from every axis of examination.
I believe God intentionally concealed His existence by designing the universe in such a way as to hide Himself from unequivocal detection. As such, faith is necessary to please Him. I believe He has purposefully hidden Himself to preserve the plausible belief in His non-existence. It must be plausible that God does not exist, or that Satan is the actual god of this world. And since our senses speak so loudly, and Satan speaks the same message, if we answer the call of our senses/Satan, we have expressed our love and devotion to the ways of Satan more than our commitment and love of the ways of God.
God created the universe as a proving ground, a testing platform, and a school for souls. If we love God more than the flesh, then we will obey and live the precepts of Biblical holiness. By faith, we deprive ourselves of the pleasure of sin, express our love for Him, and satisfy His desire for our love.
I developed a plausible postulate of the universe’s construction as a spiritual-physical entity arising from the Oneness of God. I rationalized why God established the moral standards of the Bible as consistent with His character. I judged that the Godly moral precepts of the Bible, if lived will produce health, happiness, and world peace. However, even with this level of logical inference, evidence does not unequivocally prove God’s existence or the truth of the Bible. There is still the need for a measure of faith.
My childhood was typical, in that I accepted the precepts of the Bible without critical examination. I had a good knowledge/understanding of the fundamentals of the Christian paradigm, teachings, and worldview. Even with such a good conventional childhood Christian indoctrination, I was unable to accept the truth of the Bible as literally true as an adult. I was the Doubting Thomas that Jesus conceded to give physical proof that was adequate to overcome his doubt. I needed that.
At the time of my vision, I received a divine revelation of how a physical/real/grounded experience of life integrated with Biblical teachings, stories, metaphors. I saw in the vision a metaphor that hinted of the universe’s underlying construction. From that metaphorical clue, I was able to logically extrapolate the scant information of my vision into a deeper understanding of the actual construction of the physical-spiritual universe and knowledge of its laws and purpose. With this insight, I could integrate the Bible’s revelation with the known scientific construction of the subatomic and astronomical physical universe. With these few data points, I received a gift of faith. I saw only a small piece of the big picture in the vision, but it was sufficient. It was only a seed of insight, but I saw it contained the necessary and sufficient kernel of truth I needed to validate the consistency of the Bible with physics, personal experience, and the dream of life well-lived by all of humanity.
My sense that the Bible is the revealed word of God has not waned or wavered since having that vision in March 1987. But this level of certainty is not uniform. Everyone has their own unique set of criteria that they use to establish truth. Speaking from personal experience, those who approach the world through the lens of reason and evidence probably have the greatest barrier to faith in the existence of God and the acceptance of religion, with its avatars, prophets, revelations, and doctrines. Logic and evidence must underlie belief for all believers. Before an intellectual can embrace the faith, he/she must answer questions from many domains of knowledge (e.g. the philosophical, sociological, empirical/scientific, relational, or ontological). I have used several criteria to determine if my interpretation of scripture is correct. I use the following list: 1) Is it historically true, 2) Is it reasonable, 3) Does it feel right, 4) Does it align with the evidence, and 5) do the teachings result it goodness for all concerned?
Ideally, we would each adopt our faith in God, and the particular prophet/teacher/guru, and the doctrine about His nature, based on a comparison of all religions, and a deep understanding of science, philosophy, world religions, and ethics, etc. But that isn’t the way most people come to faith. Typically, people come to faith through the influence of family, friends, and culture. People often give precedence to emotions, testimony, and peer expectations, without delving deeply into the questions of truth.
Some people delve into the philosophical mysteries, but typically, most people will have adopted a spiritual loyalty/polarity before such embarking on an analysis of the path of absolute truth. We can state categorically that everyone has a spiritual bias as an adult because it is impossible to reach functional adulthood without considering the questions of origin, meaning/purpose, good/evil, tragedy/chance, and God and existence. No one can examine religion from an unbiased point of view alone. Even the atheist has polarized himself, having taken a position of faith regarding the existence of God, and is incapable of an unbiased-by-personal-belief exploration and judgment of truth of a spiritual perspective. Atheists are just a theological sect, one which doesn’t believe in God.
Such an analysis aims to separate truth from error (and partial truth, which is any belief that has truth and error mixed). I believe reality demands that there is only one truth. Thus, when examining the doctrines/teachings of the various world religions, the goal is to identify what is true in each one. I believe there is truth embedded within all religions, but there are also partial truths and mutually exclusive perspectives. Separating truth from partial truth and error is non-trivial.
Even though I have exhaustively rationalized my model/paradigm/worldview of faith to the point of personal satisfaction, I remain open to deeper understanding and revelation. It is likely that my construction of the universe does not answer all questions about the physical-spiritual universe. Still, it was good enough for me to organize my life according to the principles of the Biblical revelation.
At the time of my vision, I saw the general implications of this new perspective, and I knew it was true. I did not have enough time to justify the specifics of every point of doctrine of Christianity during the vision, but I knew that it would prove true with continued examination. That enduring sense of the fundamental truth of the Biblical revelation has remained since 1987. I could not validate that the Son declared into existence points of consciousness and, from His mind, created everything. It turned out that this insight was a fertile seed that continues to give insights about the fundamental organization and nature of the universe. I had an idea, and I believe it was a divine revelation, but I continued to challenge it, and continue to this day in the light of many years of sober reflection and examination. Was my insight sufficient to declare that Jesus was Lord and confirm that the Bible was true? By ordinary standards, it was not. Nevertheless, that insight/revelation was what I needed to move me from the place of a doubting Thomas to faith. Each person appears to have a missing piece that speaks to his/her heart. I don’t believe it is possible to come to the end of the questions before one comes to faith. I think we each need a miracle. I was passionately praying for one, for years, and I got what I asked for. I don’t have all the answers, I have the answer that answered my question. I share it because there may be someone else with the same question, and it may help him/her too. There may be endless mysteries to be illuminated and paradoxes to be resolved. I needed a miracle to settle my heart, and I got it. I believe miracles of faith are available if we ask.
From my experience, I believe the search for truth should continue even after one’s initiation into the truth of the Biblical revelation. If another system of belief/worldview/philosophy/paradigm/religion speaks/echoes/teaches the same truth, and the truth spoken with a different metaphor deepens our understanding, strengthens our will, reminds our minds to practice the truth, then it is good.
The revelation of new understanding may never end in this life. I am open to hear every teaching and perspective, because even a totally wrong perspective provides a perspective on the polarities of life. I judge every word before I let it into my heart. I try to speak the truth with love when I disagree. Truth has a polarity, and it’s good to know what to reject and resist. I think we should continue to critically examinee the foundational aspects of every facet of the creation, society, and religion – their supporting arguments and evidence. I think we should remain open to testimony, stories, and relationships that challenge our worldview. I think we should evaluate the evidence and perspectives compared to our worldview to continue purifying our conception of Truth.
I have found the Bible’s path/revelation and its integration with the whole of life to be a satisfying paradigm/faith/religion/worldview/philosophy. For me, the revelation continues daily as I meditate on the Word and compare its revelation with all the evidence and perspectives of life.
We only have the data points of evidence, and the logic of the significance/meaning/import of events as our indicators of/pointers towards consistency with a belief structure. We have only metaphorical evidence of our postulate that supernatural forces exist. Thus, faith is essential. There is no possibility of conclusive evidence that will prove God’ existence, or that making Jesus Christ the Lord of our life is the best/highest/most perfect allegiance and moral stand. I’ve made that conclusion. I see no moral system with a higher value, and all the pieces of the creation align to confirm the plausibility and probability that this choice is best.
I have postulated that the Bible is a revelation from God, and that the actual words that God spoke were True/right/reflective of reality. The logical proof of that postulate is the consistency of the Biblical worldview with a holistic understanding of life and the universe. If the story is real/true/factual, and it is comprehensible as a lesson/metaphor/prophesy/instruction/command, then it is adequate for me to embrace as true/right/believable.
In particular, returning to the original question, “Was the resurrection of Christ a true/real event in physical reality?” And in answer to that question, I believe the answer is yes, He did rise from death, because death/the demonic had no righteous warrant against Him. The resurrection is consistent with the worldview of the Biblical paradigm as a reflection of the mind of God, the plan of God, and the nature of God. The resurrection is inseparable from the truth of the Bible’s entire revelation/message/purpose/story. The reality of this event reveals/points to/reflects something fundamental about the structure of the universe – life is eternal if we live God’s way perfectly. But since we are unable to live God’s way perfectly, having the Son as our advocate before the Father can extend our life forever.
The fact of the reality of the resurrection is its indicator, its piece of data/evidence of structure about the underlying nature of the universe. The resurrection is the physical manifestation of the metaphysical process which is promised in the body of the Biblical story. This coherence between the underlying unseen spiritual structure and the story of Biblical narrative gives evidence of the Bible’s promises and revelations. The resurrection testifies to the fact that God/the Son is superior to the physical forces and structures and the laws governing them. Without the evidence/fact of/execution of the resurrection, the entirety of the Bible is cast into the realm of all the scriptures and poetic works of the other world religions.
Recognizing the resurrection as reality gives coherence/order/meaning/purpose to the drama revealed in the Bible. The resurrection is the evidence needed to combine with the logic/argument/proof that the story of the Bible refers to actual reality. The resurrection supplies the evidence that the Bible speaks truly of the mystery of existence and God’s ordering of the substance of creation consistent with the Biblical revelation.
Even with Biblical revelation and all human understanding, the mystery of existence will remain a mystery. But without the literal/real/actual physical resurrection of Christ, the Bible has no credibility other than as a poetic work. Without the resurrection, the Biblical story/revelation is justified only by faith disconnected from evidence. Without the resurrection, life remains a mysterious jumble of sequential/cause-effect forces and motion, ending in death without eternal significance.
With an understanding of the significance of the resurrection, the meaning and purpose of life and its dramas become coherent. For me, the fact of the resurrection, the implications of the reality of the necessity of this reality, allowed me to connect the threads of an otherwise incomprehensible and purposeless existence into a story which has the potential of giving reality a sense of real/meaningful and satisfying drama that fits into a story/reality of a creation with order and purpose.
TLA.
For more information, please consider reading Lee Stroble’s books, such as “The Case for Christ.”
The Foundation of the Renaissance Ministries: Jesus Christ as the Embodiment of Truth
Summary Outline of the Essay
The Necessity of Separation within the Oneness of God