davidbowerkingwood

Mortal Life is Incredible, Amazing, Wonderful, but no More Than a Fleeting Introduction to What is Coming Next!

Most of us, at some point in our lives, have wondered why we are here and why things are the way they are; in some circles, these matters are debated with some intensity while in others it may be no more than a passing thought, an idle reflection.

Regardless of how much or how little such thoughts occupy our minds, all of us are irrevocable bound to the reality in which we find ourselves! We all come to realize that certain laws, the laws of nature or the laws of God, have an irresistible impact on our behavior.

There are certain things you simply must not do without suffering devastating consequences; experience is usually an authoritative teacher in such matters!

What is clearly less obvious, is the long-term impact of our actions; when there seems to be no immediate consequences for a certain action, then the question can come up as to whether or not there is, in fact, a consequence that really should be factored in to our thinking regarding that action.

An Illusion of Control

I have read that drug addicts begin using drugs with the notion they can control their use of drugs in their lives; by the time they discover the drugs are controlling them, it is just too late to take easy corrective action.

Sometimes life can lull us into a false sense of control when the consequences of our actions are delayed. We have the opportunity to live in an era where God is not immediately judging the actions of people; while this arrangement has advantages, it also has disadvantages.

It can produce a false sense of security in which we think there may be no adverse consequences for our actions; perhaps God doesn’t really care that we’re doing this or that. It may be hard, for some, to fully realize that the restrictions God has placed on mankind are there to protect and improve their quality of life.

If We are to Clearly Understand Who We are and Why We’re Here, it will Probably be Necessary to See Where it All Started and How We Got to Where We are Now!

The first critical element we will need to understand and fully accept, is we are created beings who exist in a created universe. That, which we can observe around us, is all a part of a creation that exists at the sole discretion of an eternal creator who has always existed as a Trinity, three persons who share one essence.

The Trinity has happily given us assembly instructions for life which provides the information we need in order to successfully complete our mortal lives. These instructions also include some helpful background on how we got to where we are at this point in time; sadly, it is not very cheerful news!

We discover, as we read the instructions, the very first human being, created by the Trinity, was placed in a specially prepared location and given certain very important jobs to do.

In these instructions, which have come to be known as the Bible; it is recorded in Genesis 1:26-31 the following details:

“²⁶ Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

²⁹ And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. ³⁰ Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. ³¹ Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”

From this, we see that man was to have dominion over all the earth, fill it and subdue it, and have dominion over every creature that lived on it. They were all to have herbs and fruit for food.

The World’s Oldest Profession

We are given additional information in Genesis 2:15-17 where it is written:

¹⁵ Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend (cultivate) and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; ¹⁷ 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.”

From this we see the world’s oldest profession is ruler over all the earth as well as gardener; man was to have dominion over the earth, every animal, and cultivate the garden and keep it. In addition, we see man given one command, do not eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death would be the consequences of disobedience!

The command was given to Adam, not to Eve who had yet to be created; this distinction helps to explain what would happen later. Next time, we will take a look at the events leading to Adam’s fall from power and the death of his spirit. Let me reassure you, without a proper understanding of this background, it will be impossible to understand where we are today and what we must do to recover!

Next time, a catastrophic loss!