You Are Never Too Far Gone For God - Part 7

For some, the Bible, with its many pages and hard to pronounce names seems just too daunting to read.  While I would still encourage you to find a modern translation that is more readable so that you can explore all that it contains, I will condense the message of the Bible for you.


The Bible is basically a tale of four F’s:  fellowship, free will, falling, and forgiveness.  Fellowship was God’s plan when he created us.  He built all the universe so that he could place planet Earth in it with all the cosmic forces perfectly aligned to sustain life.  And on Earth he created a beautiful garden called Eden.  He then created a man named Adam and placed him in this Garden.  God would visit the garden to meet with Adam.  This was God’s plan and purpose for creation – to have fellowship with man.  And it would have stayed that way if not for a choice man made to separate himself from God.


Eve was created because Adam desired fellowship with another human.  God understood this need and created a being that was similar yet different than man.  God created them both with free will.  Free will is the answer to the question that trips up so many people who cannot reconcile human suffering with a loving God.  Every misfortune that befalls us is a result of free will – either by our own choice or by the chain reaction of choices freely made by others.  Even something like cancer is the result of free will – choosing to smoke, choosing to work or live in a place that exposes us to carcinogens, or a certain combination of ancestors that procreate and end up passing down a genetic predisposition to the disease.


For free will to have any meaning, God created a test for Adam and Eve.  He placed a tree in the center of the garden, but forbade them from eating its fruit.  It was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  There is a misconception that it was a Tree of Knowledge – as in things you would learn in school somewhere.  That line of thought makes God seem like someone who was attempting to keep humans as ignorant servants.


The distinction of Knowledge of Good and Evil is an important one.  It is the knowledge of right and wrong.  Up until then, Adam and Eve knew only what was right.  They lived according to God’s plan and because of this they knew no pain or suffering.


But the moment they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree they were exposed to what evil was.  It is like when the IT guy at your company warns you not to open any e-mail attachments from a source you don’t trust.  The minute you open it up, your computer and the entire network is exposed to a malicious computer virus that will corrupt every system it comes in contact with.


The moment Adam and Eve knew what evil was they were corrupted by it.  They felt shame for being naked.  They began to make excuses for their bad behavior.  Adam said Eve made him do it.  Eve said the serpent made her do it.


But the worst thing they did was hide from God.  They were nowhere to be found when God took his usual walk in the garden.  The fellowship had been broken.  It was the first falling away from God.  That is what evil does.  It separates us from God.  Not because God turns from us, but because we turn from God.  We either run away in pursuit of evil desires or we hide from him out of shame for the evil we’ve done.


Not to oversimplify the rest of the Bible, but it basically boils down to God’s quest to redeem humans.  When evil had grown so rampant that only one family on Earth still had fellowship with God, he sent a flood to wipe the Earth clean.  It was the second falling away.  But he saved Noah and his family and restarted his plan for fellowship with them.


When the nations of the world grew so evil and defiant that they decided to build the Tower of Babel to defy God and challenge his power, he confused their languages and scattered them. It was the third falling away.  He then chose Abram, who he renamed Abraham to make him the father of a nation that would form the basis for his renewed attempt at fellowship.


The cycle continues in the Old Testament.  There are stories of evil kings and good kings – falling away and returning to God.  But all the while God was working on his plan of ultimate forgiveness and reconciliation.


He sent his son Jesus to come into this world in human form.  Jesus faced every trial we face and he succeeded where we fail.  Because of his righteousness he was able to offer his life as payment to redeem all of ours.  For you see, true free will requires justice and consequences.  God needed a way to save us from ourselves while at the same time maintaining the integrity of justice.  The sacrifice of Jesus achieved that.  One perfectly lived life in exchange for all of the flawed ones.