When God created mankind there was a strong bond between the Creator and the Created. This bond extended to the rest of the earthly creation that God had made. Man was to work with the environment to subdue it and have dominion. In other words, he was to dress and keep it. God and man walked together, they talked together, and they worked together. All of those things are contained in the first chapters of Genesis. The Creator, Man, and the environment all worked … [Read more...] about The Garden of Eden Prototype
God's Plan
2024 Relationship Challenges
Due to the natural proclivity of the human mind to focus inward on self, relationships in âthe worldâ are deteriorating. Nations are turning inward as are the communities that form a nation. We see the emergence of what is being called âIdentity Politicsâ and the âNew Tribalism.â This is a form of polarization which has as its underpinning an emphasis on self. This should not surprise us as we know the god of this world is a self-promoter. At the personal level, our present cancel culture is … [Read more...] about 2024 Relationship Challenges
Keynesian Economics
We have a responsibility to consider Godâs ways and His instructions versus manâs ways. God created all things and in that creation He installed two trees in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:9,16-17). He explained the situation. He provided context and information for the people that He created and put in the Garden of Eden and gave them free moral agency. And He wants us to choose: â. . . I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life . . .â (Deuteronomy … [Read more...] about Keynesian Economics
God Is with His People
One way that we can make sense of the Church today is to look at the blueprint of how God built up a people to be His people. Since Christ doesnât change, His consistency will be evident in how He dealt with ancient Israel and how He deals with the Church today. As Moses prepared the children of Israel to enter the land of Canaan, he wrote the words of the law in a book and placed that book in the Ark of the Covenant. Then God through Moses addressed the people of Israel … [Read more...] about God Is with His People
Predestination
Does God plan our life in advance? Has God predetermined our future? One small step further in this relationship building is to understand better Godâs personal plan for each of us. We need some context to set the groundwork to address these questions. There may be some knowledge that we need to unlearn. Two areas of context that are important in theology are the âfall of man" and the âoriginal sinâ as they are commonly believed today. The fall of man takes us back to the beginning in the … [Read more...] about Predestination
Our Old Man
In assessing the many aspects of the body of Christ, the thing that stands out to me is that we have a personal responsibility to the body. We cannot sidestep that. We could summarize that responsibility as: âBut the manifestation of the Spirit (or the fruit or the expression of the Spirit) is given to each one for the profit of all:â (1 Corinthians 12:7). To be able to express the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), obviously one must first have it. This is where our individual … [Read more...] about Our Old Man
Godly Justice
Administering justice is a major theme of the Bible. King David administered justice to all his people (2 Samuel 8:15). Indeed, God expects His people to administer justice: "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?" (1 Corinthians 6.2-3). So that is the question: Do you and I practice justice … [Read more...] about Godly Justice