GOD LIVES IN ME

Down through the centuries of chronicled human lore, mankind has grappled with the concept of a higher power. All cultures have been unequivocal in presuming this power to be reality. Each has placed on “It” an identity which could be filtered into the language thereby allowing individuals an understanding of one’s relationship with this, to put it in modern terms, super icon. I’m not going to attempt to list nor will I research all of the ways this entity is described as being or realized to be. Millennium of time has given us “God”.

On this Thanksgiving Day 2008, I wonder if you are ready to bring yourself somewhere with me. You see, its not enough to claim a belief in something, to give thanks for our bounty and good fortune to God, to ask forgiviness for our short comings, unless you are honest with yourself about your understanding of who you precieve God to be. I am not here to judge your understanding nor be critical of the path that led you to it. However, superficiality is a trait of disbelief, a façade for the hidden, not the onlooker. The decay of society is a sure sign that most of us are in that boat heading for the falls and I’m not going over with you. I will not presume to be the Martin Luther of our time nor cast myself as the captain of the boat headed for demise. All souls on board must save themselves and therefore the rationale for study of what you believe. By my childhood upbringing, I have seen this very fall of humanity coming, not by my own foresight, but by those wise folk and kin before me, from biblical patriarchs to founders of the SDA church and my parents. The church and I split where value assigned to contributors may not be equal but has at least an equal consideration, which, to get to the crux of my belief, the bible included. “They” would quote, “As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:9) “They” would be well advised to relinquish the model set forth by the children of Israel, where precious few years of dedication to God were sprinkled in and amongst the hundreds more of idol worship and consortion with evil. The heritage assumed by its appellation, Judaeo-Christian, is rife with separation from God, usually followed by reformation. Moses was; he wrote the law. Christ was; he challenged the temple hierarchy. Martin Luther was; he broke the chokehold of Catholic dogma.

By accepting certain parameters, giving logic its due, but not shunning hope that gives faith credence, then shoveling in the centuries of historical documents that thinkers, authors and prophets have given for the betterment of our understanding, coming out on the other side with what fit’s the modern age you will find a true understanding of God. It’s not hard, and is absolutely achievable. You must start here not there. Here is where you can study the affects of Christian thoughts and deeds. Here is where you find freedom to choose. Here is a country where for most of its history, not throughout, but in its very founding and in great segments, God is placed foremost, and so to, believers in rolls of great leadership. In these United States of America, until the 1960’s, vast majorities believed in God. It is our general conceptual view of Him that led to the elimination of slavery. Here is where women claimed their equal rights. It has been under the influence of Christianity, sometimes at odds with old theology, that the freedom bell rings. It has been mans understanding of God that has changed, not God.

It is my understanding that God is a spirit, manifested by each one of us, by nature, that which we are caretakers of, and by the science that is indisputable. Degeneration leads to new generation, but also, creation leads to new creation and the two are mutually supporting. In a fashion that we can only speculate, God kicked it off, allowing us the controlls, but always present to influence. Wise thinkers have written about this relationship and Christians have accepted that Christ, a human, should intercede, to facilitate this relationship. The value of the spirituality of Christ cannot be overstated and His words often explain the connection we should foster with our God. However, my belief is that God live’s in me and that any intercessor is a disconnection of the involvement and participation in my day-to-day life this spirit has.

So, I place Christ in the elevated group that includes some of the previously mentioned influences, and that we can debate in the future, heaven and hell, the trinity, and we will discuss the importance of words that have been written, such as God’s physicality whether in word or structure. Since I believe that many of Christ’s words were antidotal, left to inspire the enslaved to rise up and carry that cross to the “new world”, a new people, and a new belief system that would someday regenerate His Jewish state. He is the architect, but it is God who lives in me, and Christ can only and always be, the son of a man.
Next up, THE LAW. B. C.