Upon Further Review…
Upon Further Review…
March 6, 2025
Let’s start at the start, shall we?
The beginning of a story — fiction or non — usually begins at the beginning, doesn’t it?
Okay… So, then, I am going to start at the beginning, too.
Understand that the beginning of the story on which I have been trying to focus involves: God, Jesus. and the Bible — with the Holy Spirit hovering over all — gently nurturing, sustaining, and protecting.
Maybe I should point out here that God apparently has had no beginning and will have no end. So, the beginning I am talking about must be restricted to the beginning of time as we know it, that is, the Creation of the Universe, the appearance of Mankind, and the story ending with all of it disappearing…
Oh. Sorry. I apologize. I forgot to mention that every story has not only a beginning but also an ending. You know: Pick up the book. read the book. Think about what you’re reading. Close the book. Put it back on the shelf. Ponder on the story…
The Bible is actually a bunch of stories recorded by many different authors over thousands of years, assembled and published in one bound volume.
I wouldn’t call it light reading or a quick read.
Unfortunately, people are distracted by petty arguments over the minutia, the senseless cacophony of outside noise, and miss seeing theBig Picture. With all the hideous background noise, they never get to hear all that which God wants to reveal. Over Biblical history, its pages reveal the character and purposes of God .
Still in opposition, we cover our eyes and ears, because “we simply don’t want to hear it,” or “we’re too busy,” or “we don’t want to be bothered,” or some such protestation.
God created us and therefore knows what is best for us. He knows why He created us, and He wants us to realize why, too. Sometimes our belligerence, egocentric pride, and our God-given free will are huge obstructions to these ends. He knows we can be slow on the uptake, too. Yet God is patient and faithful to His own purposes. So, while he waits for us to return from our adventures or to give Him a call from wherever we are, being the best kind of parent, He has been using these basic teaching methods, patiently waiting for us to let Him know that we now get it…
“Teaching involves a basic three step process: preparation, delivery, and evaluation.” — https://bibletalk.tv/3-basic-steps-of-teaching
We human parents may not be the most vigilant and insightful or astute and effective, or patient and knowledgeable teachers but we try.
It remains, fortunately for those of us depending on Him, God has all of those necessary attributes and skills for teaching.
For the purpose of this essay, I think it can be assumed that God is fully prepared; He knows how to relate, not talking above our heads; and, if you’ve read any of the Bible, you have come to realize that He also knows how to evaluate people and our progress.
In the end, the decision as to whether or not we graduate is determined by the criteria He has established in the Bible sitting on the shelf… assuming you have one. Otherwise, I must assume you have a smartphone or computer…
I recommend our first act should be to begin to read it…
At the same time, I want to consider the Bible as one contiguous story which reveals (1.) all that God feels obliged to share with us, (2.) His eloquent life lessons about the present conditions and all future consequences for Mankind, and (3.) the Human Story’s finale and denouement, regarding the collapse of Mankind’s reign on Earth…
First of all, to point #1, why would we need to know more than what God determines we can handle? That first lesson involves the full story of the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve eventually disobeyed God and ate the forbidden fruit — the “Tree of the Knowledge of Everything. (That’s what the phrase “the knowledge of good and evil” means in the ancient vernacular.)
In a previous essay, I discussed “Original Sin” as not merely one, but as a group of sins: So, to refresh what those Original Sins are, in no particular order:
- willful disobedience
- pleading ignorance
- attempting a coverup
- making excuses
- claiming helplessness
- blaming others
- blaming God
My point being, the experience of Adam and Eve was the prime example of people getting ahead of God, and these days, isn’t our thinking — that Mankind’s mindset — is way ahead of a childish needing of God for anything. After all, since the forbidden fruit incident, don’t we already think that we know everything?
Ever think of it that way? Maybe you should consider it….
Therefore, throughout the Bible, God continually warns that we are truly not as all-knowing as we think we are. We are not as totally capable as we presume ourselves to be. Neither are we as existentially righteous as we imagine ourselves to be, either.
After three quarters of a century of living,, I have come to realize that compared to the vastness of God’s knowledge, we humans have only a minuscule capacity for absorbing and understanding information… We are clumsy and incapable of taking care of ourselves… and like this Bible verse states: “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” — Isaiah 64:6, NLT.
Of course for many, we respond with attitude to my above list of original sins, and I illustrate that kind of attitude with the following movie clip:
You Can’t Handle The Truth — A Few Good Men (Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson #movie #shorts)
However, God has opened the door for a new life and a new capacity for learning, and it is revealed in this Bible verse:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.. — John 3:16, New International Version (NIV).
Ya just can’t say God hasn’t tried His best to reach us, to save us, and to regenerate and repair us. He gave us His very best and a wide open opportunity, even though it comes by walking in by a narrow gate.
(I really don’t think it would be fair or just to swing the gates wide open, letting anybody and everybody through — only to screw everything up once again!)
To my point (2.), the Bible is full of history, real people, real events and real experiences. It all adds up to be like parables illustrating life — warts and all — not fables — but realities we can relate to and learn from. We can learn from both people’s mistakes and successes — especially in regards to their relationships with God.
Finally to my point (3.), our freedom for choosing has revealed Mankind’s unlimited capacity for hurtful, harmful, hateful, and all kinds of destructive behaviors. (By the way, the Bible calls that “sinfulness.”)
Still and all, by planting that one forbidden tree in Paradise, God gave everyone their own free will to prove what each and every individual would do with it. Yet, as part of His planning, He would take upon Himself dealing with the resulting awfulness of the consequences and the destructive selfish condition that would permeate Humanity from then till now.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.{ — John 3:16–17, NLT.
I’m going to finish with this thought…I seem to keep repeating this idea within a paradigm of parenthood. It remains, however, there does come a time when a parent just has to let go of the reins on his children., taking on the pain or joy of their failures and successes.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” — Hebrews 12:2, BSB.
Let me leave you with this thought: “the joy set beforeHim” goes way beyond sitting down at the right hand, that is, next to God, his Father… it’s is not very well hidden in this verse:
NLTSo Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ “ — Luke 15:3–6, NLT.
