Return to the Lord
Every important story starts in the Paradise, taking its beginning from its very origin.
Because of the human disobedience, God sent the first people away from the Garden. Mostly we simplify this event to deal with the fact, that God drove them out as a punishment. Nonetheless, it might have been not really only a one-sided action of God, but on the human side it was an escape of the sinners who were ashamed having a fatal fear from the capital letter punisher, namely from God, as it is written in the second commandment:
“ I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me. ”
However their hiding of themselves, their escaping from God, was the greatest silliness and ignorance what man ever could do. The farther you are from God, the closer you get to death and annihilation. The closer you are to God, the closer you will be to the life and salvation.
That`s why we are calling the redemption as the Return to God. What was a runaway it should turn to a return as prodigal sons and daughters and prodigal cultures, because the second commandment has an extension: “but I am showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. ”
Every important story starts in the Paradise, taking its beginning from its very origin.
Because of the human disobedience, God sent the first people away from the Garden. Mostly we simplify this event to deal with the fact, that God drove them out as a punishment. Nonetheless, it might have been not really only a one-sided action of God, but on the human side it was an escape of the sinners who were ashamed having a fatal fear from the capital letter punisher, namely from God, as it is written in the second commandment:
“ I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me. ”
However their hiding of themselves, their escaping from God, was the greatest silliness and ignorance what man ever could do. The farther you are from God, the closer you get to death and annihilation. The closer you are to God, the closer you will be to the life and salvation.
That`s why we are calling the redemption as the Return to God. What was a runaway it should turn to a return as prodigal sons and daughters and prodigal cultures, because the second commandment has an extension: “but I am showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. ”
Once upon a time there was a great reformator in Geneva, Swiss, called John Calvin, the father of the Presbyterianism. He wrote an important book in his time, the so called Institution of the Christian Religion. In the preface he asserts that on the Christian path we must have knowledge about two particular areas. First we have to learn who God is, and we have to learn ourselves as human beings who we are.
If the first people would have known that God, before all, is not really a notorious punisher, but a loving and caring Heavenly Father, they would have never left the Garden of Eden like escapees.
If God is not an unrelenting punisher, then what is happening in the world, where the human life is so described by the Russian genius writer, Fyodor Dostoevsky, such as a permanently recurring circle of sin and its punishment.
The cause of the punishment is the God given law. The law was given against the sin, not the sinners, and there is a self- punishing system. If you are doing any wrong, first of all you are harming your soul, and causing a lot of spiritual losses, often material damages to You first and to all whom you made involved. Committing sins we harm ourselves first as its is written in the 37 psalm:
“ The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow to cast down the afflicted and the needy, to slay those who are upright in conduct. Their sword will enter their own heart, and their bows will be broken.”
Should we remove the God given law in order to make this life less troubled, at least less punished? Not even thinking of it, as Apostle Paul insists: the Law is Good, moreover Jesus said that we have to keep the commandments.
However God did not install visible law enforcement troops other than this self-punishing system. Adam and Eve disobeyed, and they hid themselves away of God. They would have liked to be in a place where is no God at all, now Law at all, they thought to go to where there is no punishment at all. How startling it is, when we accurately name this place on its own name, because this Godless and Lawless place: that is the hell. Fortunately they had to stop halfway, and this is called Earth.
On the Earth we used to have the law enforcement squadrons, as Apostle Paul says that the secular “authority has the sword not without a cause, but to punish the sin, and we should obey not only because of the fear of the sword, but of the good conscience too.”
The almighty God could enforce us, if he wanted it, making us robots without own will. But the almighty love can not rape the free will created after the own image of God.
That`s why we need the law of God, and also we need the secular law too as better as the secular regulations are in accord to divine ones, based on eternal values.
For example: There is a city not far from Toronto. The city council and the city police together introduced the zero tolerance policy concerning the human bad-behavior at least in the downtown. Similar to New York and Singapore, they decided that citizens deserve the safety and peaceful environment, thus they declared the following:
Enjoy our downtown ! Be respectful ! Zero tolerance by law 2004. No aggressive behavior, no panhandling, No loitering, no skateboarding, no bicycling on the streets. Maximum fine $5000.
On the public library door, the public ad is more beautiful: No gang colors, no gang clothing in the library. Notice given under authority of the trespass to property act.
Despite of that, that there is a Law enforcing body, which is the city police, these regulations say: behave, be peaceful, live in brotherly love, be respectful, do not harm anybody, cooperate with others in creating of harmony. It sounds almost just like the Ten Commandments.
The American Professor Gordon Woods, a historian said once, that it would be great if nobody would mistakenly take the ten commandments for the first ten amendments of the American Constitution, the commonly known Bill of Rights, Yes, do not confuse them please, but it would be great if all city or state regulations would be based on eternal values, even if there should be a law enforcement body, police, court, etc. and deterring , proper fines or punishments to apply to them.
Even God does not want to manipulate our free will, on the Earth we need the law as enforced by force, because some people think that the purpose of the free will is nothing else, but the freedom to do what I want, even if this will is not right and fair, or if it is self-destroying or exploiting or in general harmful to others.
Nonetheless the purpose of our freedom is to freely choose the right thing to do. These right choices could differ on the surface, but in substance all is the same: do not be wicked and selfish, but be good, be merciful, caring and tenderhearted.
As it is written also in the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians that
“4:28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy 4:29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. ”
These should mean, if you are a liar politician, stop lying, and say the truth, if your are a stealing multi-banker, than give up the bloodsucking usury, and learn to work and give, if you are a war-mangering weapon-handler, stop to plot to kill the people for profit, and learn to heal, if you are a CEO of an exploiting multinational corporation, start to time to pay fair wages, conducting fair trade, if you are a tyrant, then give up oppressing, and learn love and cooperation, real democracy.
It depends only on us and on our free will, returning from our wicked paths and to return to God, choosing the right ways. In the world there are so many hatred, greed, malice and ignorance. Oh we need still law enforcement. Some people let their God given freewill be enslaved by the circumstances or by their own desires.
Despite of any promising changes in the legislative policies of cities and states, and of good law enforcement developments, we still have a world struggling with malice. God should have to do something. We pray to hear God and to be heard by God, but the biblical answer is strange, and in its strangeness, it is amazing, just like the grace is amazing.
On the sea, at the deadly thunderstorm, Jesus rebuked the disciples, You should have stopped the wind. Don't you have Faith ?! At the sharing of the five loaves and two fish with five-thousand people, he told them, you should have had to feed them, at the lunatic kid, he rebuked them saying you should have cured him. Have faith, he said and you can move the mountains.
So by grace we have to feed the hungry, we have to quench the thirsty, we have to clothe the naked, we have to stop the wars, we have to live in social justice, we have to create just and fair regulations etc. Thus to keep the commandments, though we need faith, we have to do it ourselves, nobody can replace us.
However, it is written by Apostle Paul that the fulfillment of the law is the righteous love. This is not surprising. We will obey God, if we love Him. The Law is given from love in order to increase Faith, and we have to obey God by returning and responding love.
That is why God does not need to have law enforcement army of angels or whatever, and true love by nature can not be enforced in any way. The divine legal system is really divinely simple, whoever sins against love and justice, those will suffer self-punishingly the consequence of the lack of love, which is injustice, greed, hatred, war, and death.
The most sad thing is that this self-punishment system deals with the human nation as a whole. We can not live alone isolated in a cave. We are all connected as the word says: for we are members of one another. Sometimes innocents suffer from aggressors and oppressors, because we are all connected, and we are all responsible for each other.
We can not forget it that Cain who killed the innocent Abel, was his brother. Cain went to search a hideaway place because he was sealed by God as a murderer. That is why he said: My punishment is too great to bear!
Nonetheless Jesus said to his disciples that You should be perfect as God, your Father in Heaven is perfect. It means that in the good qualities we have to imitate God. This requirement is surprising. We should have been required to follow Jesus, or as Thomas Kempis offers, to imitate the Christ. But imitate God, what should it mean?
The Ephesian letter answers it: “4:31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice,4:32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loves us given himself for us. ”
Live in righteous and just love with all brothers and sisters, fulfilling the divine commandments, and we will not need any law enforcement anymore. Return to God, and the Lord returns to us.
AMEN.
