Friday, January 16, 2009

"The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad"

Although the serpent perverted the purpose of the Tree of the Knowlege of Good and Bad toward Satanic ends, the Tree itself was part of God's good creation. This is typical of all evil. All that God has created is good; evil is the consequence of willful human choices to use what is good toward ends that are not consistent with the good "ordered to God."

Jesus did come "in the flesh" but did not act "according to the flesh." Rather, he acted "according to the Spirit." I emphasize this to caution against dualistic thinking that disassociates body and spirit in a way that completely discounts bodily actions. Humans are free to act otherwise than according what bodily functions (flesh) demand.

The body is not bad, but one's life encompasses more than just one's body; thus life decisions must consider more than just one's body as well. Of course, one's decisions must be wise in carefully considering the wellness of one's body, or else one's life will not be very well sustained.

Things I do are evidence that I am willing to be someone who does those things. If I am not willing to be a robber, than I must not rob. If I am not a robber, robbing must have no part in anything I do. If I am a Christian, I do what Christ calls Christians to do – love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength, love others as myself, love as God in Christ Jesus loved me. If I do not love like this, I cannot call myself a Christian until I confess and repent of such contrary behavior.

It is impossible, however, to do this completely on my own and that is why I must rely on the grace of God to completely do it for me. Having had this already done for me in Christ, I can call on God to empower me to go on and do whatever is consistent with the Christian gospel.

I am powerless otherwise; do what I may, I cannot be strong enough to overcome my sinful weakness, and thus cannot BE more than a sinner without the Spirit of Christ DOING through me what God requires me to DO.

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