And The Lord Man Said...

The reading is taken from the New Improved Genesis, chapter 1: "In the beginning of modern times, about one hundred years ago, Man looked at his universe, and it seemed without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and Man said, 'Let there be science.' And there was science.

And Man saw the science that he had made, that it was good, and with it he divided all things. He created a science to rule the day, all things he could see, and he called it Natural Science, even unto Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. And he made a lesser science to rule the night, all the darker things about himself, and he called it Social Science, even unto Psychology, Sociology, and Political Science. And Man saw that it was good. And there was morning and evening, and the modern day had begun.

And Man divided all the things he saw into the waters above, the land, the waters below, the grass, the fruit tree yielding fruit, the swarms of living creatures in the waters, the birds that fly above the earth, and moving creatures of every kind that are on the earth, including himself, a higher primate who can be distinguished from other creatures mainly by his ability to destroy and separate the whole creation. And Man saw that all this dividing and classifying was good. It took several evenings and mornings, and that got him up to the fifth day.

And then Modern Man said, "Let us make God after our own image, according to our likeness." And so he did. He blessed God, and he said to him, "Be distant and keep to yourself, because we have already filled the earth and subdued it and classified it, and there really isn't much room left for you, but you certainly are a pleasant thought."

And then Modern Man planted a garden, and there he put the God he had formed. And he called the garden Safe, Respectable Religion. And out of the ground of that garden Man made to grow trees that are pleasant to the sight, and flowers, and he put a fine building in the midst of the garden, because good landscaping enhances property values.

And the Lord Man took God and put him in the building in the garden. And the Lord Man commanded God, "You may freely look through the windows at all of the trees and flowers of the garden, but don't leave the building, for in the day that you leave it you shall surely die."

Then the Lord Man said, "It is not good for God to be awake; someone might wander into the building and find him and be frightened." So the Lord Man caused a deep sleep to fall upon the God he had made, and he slept. And Man laid him in a box inside the building and put a lid on the box and laid a curtain over it and placed tall candlesticks on top of it, so he could come there from time to time to remember the God he had made.

The Modern Man said, "At last, I have expressed fully the mystery of life, and the depth of my mind; I shall call this God Personal, for out of my personality he was taken."

And there was evening and morning, the sixth day, and Modern Man saw that it was very good, because all this was done leaving one extra day in the weekend for recreation.

So ends our daily reading. If we had an equivalent hymn book, we could turn to #372, "How Great We Are."

The Religion of "Good Enough"

One of the most popular religions on earth is the religion of being good enough. It is the belief that God does exist, that right and wrong exists, and that one is OK with this God as long as one is trying to be a nice person, polite and friendly, and not so bad as some other folks.
I used to subscribe to this religion, believing that if everyone on the planet were as nice and as well-educated as me, this world would be a wonderful place, free of wars and famine and bigotry.

However, years ago I discovered by encountering the pure holiness of Jesus of Nazareth, that others in the world are indeed just like me, and that is in fact what is wrong with the world. I had only a thin layer of nicety, a surface coating of goodness. Like my first lemon-car once I came to US, a rusted out Peugeot that I tried to put a coat of paint on, the rust just kept showing through. And all it would take for me to show my true colors is to put me in a morally challenging or stressful situation.

The Bible tells in Acts 10 the curious story of how God brought two men together, Cornelius and Peter. It describes Cornelius as a devout man, one who feared God, a generous giver to charity, and one who prayed continually. At first it sounds like Cornelius had it all together, and was in need of nothing, a "good person" by the world's standards. Then why did God have to go to all that trouble to orchestrate a meeting between Cornelius and Peter? Obviously this "good person" was missing something extremely fundamental that God wants all of us to have if we will genuinely seek Him and cooperate with His plan.

The first point to notice is this: a person can be devout, believing in the existence of God, a generous giver to charity and a good deed doer, even pious, and still lack the most fundamental thing. Jesus said "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God", that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourself." John's first letter says that "he who has the Son has life, he who does not have the Son does not have life."

It's something very interesting here: God couldn't directly bring salvation to Cornelius without the agency of the Word preached by a spiritually reborn person. Why didn't God directly minister to Cornelius in his bedroom? Why didn't He simply come down and get him filled with the Holy Spirit right there? Why didn't the angel?
That's what people want to believe. We say, "Well if God is really real, why doesn't He just appear to me?". We want a personally customized do-it-yourself religion on our own terms. That way we don't have to fool with these church folks, preachers, religious people, etc. I'll just sit in my dorm room, maybe light a candle, watch TV-religion and wait to receive enlightenment. That's human pride talking.

There is a definite humility required in bowing to receive the word of truth being transmitted to us by a peer. Certainly God is present everywhere as Spirit, but at some point the ministry of God's human agent is needed for people to receive salvation and filled with the Spirit.

I believe there are many of us today, even attending church, who are nice people, devout, givers to charity, well-meaning, who have never actually received this life-transforming experience. Could this be because we have not understood the Word, being busy to pick and choose what we thing it may look like a gospel?

Perhaps we have only heard polished moral essays, human wisdom, popular psychology, philosophy, tradition, and good advice. Or perhaps we have indeed heard the Word but have denied the power of it. The life-transforming encounter with God through the Word and through His Holy Spirit is an objective reality that no one should want to miss.

This is the real deal.