This year we have covered the first seventeen chapters of The Gospel According To Matthew.
Matthew chapters 18 and 19 are two crucial chapters of the New Testament. These chapters have the answers (HOW/WHY) church today is NOT creating the value needed to bring about God's Will on earth as it is done in Heaven.
However, people miss the solutions presented by Jesus because they lack the foundational doctrine. We will see most churches today do the OPPOSITE of Matthew chapters 18 and 19.
In order to more fully appreciate the information, we will spend the rest of this month getting foundational background.
In the previous post, we covered Third Dimensional sin. Here is the summary:
Recall, the Mind/Soul is the First Cause within the individual. The individual CHOOSES to consciously think or not think.
If the individual chooses to think, the RESULT is an effect of CHOICE.
If the individual chooses NOT to think, the RESULT is fate...the individual is limited.
BOTH of these RESULTS occurred in the Bible. Consequently, Determinists and people who believe in choice can BOTH support their beliefs by pointing to EFFECTS in the Bible. However, a belief is a cause...not an effect. Calvinsim is not a belief...it is an effect.
If CHOICE didn't exist at all, then people would not be responsible for their actions and the DETERMINISTS can NEVER get upset at anyone...or attempt to convince, encourage, or educate anyone. This is the Ultimate hypocrisy, which is the Ultimate Second Dimensional sin. If Calvninists are right, they still aren't going to Heaven because they are hypocrites!
If someone attempts to say some choice exists, then CHOICE must be the First Cause, because CHOICE cannot be an effect of Determinism. That is contradictory.
Ultimately, Calvinism attempts to make CHOICE as a cause cease to exist by encouraging you to choose not to believe in choice. This is First Dimensional sin (deny CHOICE as a cause) and a Second Dimensional sin (encouraging others to choose not to believe).
Actually, choosing to believe in Calvinism denies you the effects of choice...it is choosing fate.
In our dispensation, the perfect decision is to let God work through you by the Holy Spirit. The Ultimate decision is to realize you are flawed and the ONLY way to be Righteous is for YOU to choose to let God direct your actions. This is GRACE.
The Holy Spirit is untamed...unpredictable...the OPPOSITE of Deterministic.
We have seen Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit occurs when someone observes a work of the Holy Spirit and credits it to demonic forces.
The Holy Spirit is the Ultimate example of CHOICE.
Claiming someone is being controlled by the enemy is the Ultimate example of Determinism.
Ultimately, denying the ability of the Holy Spirit AND attributing this Ultimate example of CHOICE to the enemy is the worst sin...because it is ultimately a Third Dimensional sin.
This week, we will look at the Bible to see the effects of believing in Determinism. Specifically, we will cover God's first interaction with people. Today's post covers background to this interaction...
GENESIS 3:1-8
"1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil."
We asked the following questions during the I Corinthians Series:
"It was Adam's responsibility to teach Eve the Word of God EFFECTIVELY...and Adam didn't. Who was at fault in the Garden? Who did sin come through? Was it Adam or Eve? What does the Bible say? (Your answer tells a lot about you...)"
Paul wrote sin came through ADAM...NOT Eve.
Paul wrote the serpent (NOT the Devil) deceived Eve. (It would be unjust for Adam and Eve to deal directly with the Devil. It was just for followers of God (Adam and Eve) to interact with a follower of the Devil.)
We also saw in another post during the I Corinthians Series that Adam did three things wrong:
"1. Adam ate the fruit. This one comes to mind first."
"2. Adam didn't lead his wife. We already made this point when we covered I Corinthians 14: Adam didn't teach his wife the Word of God. The Word of God came to man (Adam) BEFORE Eve was created! Adam was a bad leader...and THAT is WHY he is to blame...NOT Eve."
"3. Adam didn't trust God...he trusted Eve. In fact, this gets back to the Word of God...Adam didn't make the Word of God pre-eminent during his temptation. Jesus responded to ALL three temptations with the Word of God. (In fact, the devil quoted the Bible to Jesus during the third temptation! Again, in I Corinthians 14 we saw a TRUE prophet knows the WHY behind the WHAT. IF they don't, they are like the devil...they know the WHAT but the WHY is ACTUALLY deception and destruction.)"
"Adam's mistakes were the SAME things Jesus was tempted in!"
The explanation for HOW/WHY Jesus' temptation in the desert was the "undoing" of Adam's mistakes in Eden is given in the following section of "Modeling God's Wills": Jesus' Response.
We've also seen:
TRUTH is a Right WHAT with a Right HOW/WHY
DECEPTION is a Right WHAT with a Wrong HOW/WHY...or a Right WHAT with NO HOW/WHY.
The serpent DECEIVED Eve...
"6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."
We have covered this extensively as well...
Eve was Comparative. She found three reasons TO eat the fruit:
1. good for food
2. delight to the eyes
3. makes one wise
If Eve and Adam, (who this verse stated was "with her"...meaning, in her presence during this exchange) had been Contrastive by remembering God said not to eat the fruit, then they wouldn't have sinned. You cannot sin if you are Contrastive on yourself.
We also saw these three reasons were referenced by John in I John 2:16:
"16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vain glory of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world."
Like I have stated in previous posts, in my Bible, I have circled the words "for" and "because" (and sometimes "that" and "which") BECAUSE EVERYTHING AFTER these words are REASONS.
One of the reasons the Bible is a book unique from all other religious books is that it gives the REASON AND does NOT contradict itself. Most religious books avoid contradictions by NOT giving a reason. Unfortunately, most "believers" think the Bible does NOT give reasons for WHAT it requests us to do.
John BLATANTLY gave a reason. John stated ALL that is in the world is NOT of God...and then gives three examples:
-lust of the flesh
-lust of the eyes
-vain glory of life (remember, "vain" means "not profitable")
These three worldly attributes come up repeatedly in the Bible. For example, do you remember the beginning of the Bible?
"6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat." (Genesis 3:6)
-lust of the flesh ("good for food")
-lust of the eyes ("a delight to the eyes")
-vain glory of life ("desired to make one wise")
Do you remember how we saw that the FIRST thing Jesus did when He began His Ministry was to UNDO what happened in the Garden?
-lust of the flesh ("good for food") - Jesus didn't turn stones into bread
-lust of the eyes ("a delight to the eyes") - Jesus didn't worship the devil after SEEING all the kingdoms of the world
-vain glory of life ("desired to make one wise") - Jesus didn't tempt God in response to the devil quoting the Bible.
John states that LOVING the world and LOVING the things that are in the world, SPECIFICALLY: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the vain glory of life; PROVES that the LOVE of God is NOT in us!
(Excerpt from the post titled, "I John 2:15-17".)
There is A LOT of doctrine in these first six verses of Genesis 3! It is also obvious we have consistently looked at this doctrine in depth. This story appears to be simple, however, the entire rest of the Bible DEPENDS on SPECIFIC details in this story. Telling this story in ANY fashion different than what is presented is actually an attempt to make the Word of God of none effect.
Having said that...it is now time to learn something we haven't covered before!
"7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
I just finished a book that was a New York Times Bestseller by Dr. Norman Doidge. "The Brain That Changes Itself" presents the discovery that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains...even in old age! Some are calling this the most important breakthrough in neuroscience in four hundred years. I will be quoting from this book for the rest of the month.
For hundreds of years, people have believed in "localization" when it comes to the brain. They believe specific parts of the brain are dedicated to specific tasks and there is nothing we can do to change this.
Dr. Doidge's book documents the existence of "plasticity"...the brain's ability to change itself literally overnight. This book shows God made our brains to adjust the structure and function as an effect of our Mind/Soul...as an effect of our choices to think or not think!!!!!
We now have physiological proof: Committing Third Dimensional sin damages the structure and function of the brain! Determinism and Calvinism damages the structure and function of the brain. For today's post, we will cover the role of the nucleus basalis...
In babies, there is a "critical period" where the conscious brain is turned on and information is taken in so that the structure of the brain can be established. (The author shows autism is an effect of this "critical period" being cut short!) Here is the explanation:
"During the critical period BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) turns on the nucleus basalis, the part of the brain that allows us to focus our attention - and keeps it on, throughout the entire critical period. Once turned on, the nucleus basalis helps us not only pay attention but remember what we are experiencing. It allows brain map differentiation and change to take place effortlessly. Merzenich told me, 'It is like a teacher in the brain saying, 'Now this is really important - this you have to know for the exam of life.' ' Merzenich calls the nucleus basalis and the attention system the 'modulatory control system of plasticity' - the neurochemical system that, when turned on, puts the brain in an extremely plastic state."
"Once the main neuronal connections are laid down, there is a need for stability and hence less plasticity in the system. When BDNF is released in sufficient quantities, it turns off the nucleus basalis and ends that magical epoch of effortless learning. Henceforth the nucleus can be activated only when something important, surprising, or novel occurs, or if we make the effort to pay close attention." (The Brain That Changes Itself, p. 80)
So, IN ADULTS, when something important, surprising, or novel occurs, the brain becomes plastic (adjustable) in order to intentionally take in the moment. This also occurs if we make the effort to pay close attention...if we chose to be conscious. People who are able to focus well are people who can keep their nucleus basalis opened.
So, our choice to BECOME conscious allows us to change the information in (and structure of) our brain. The nucleus basalis is the door TO the conscious brain. When the nucleus basalis is OPENED, then we are using our conscious brain. If the nucleus basalis is CLOSED, we are using our Unaware Brain ONLY...we are ALWAYS using our Unaware Brain.
Other than the "critical period", being conscious is a physiological CHOICE made by the Mind/Soul...even though it could be in response to outside stimuli.
However, a baby in the "critical period" is COMPLETELY CONSCIOUS during this time in order to take in information and create the structure of the brain. This period ends within the first year of the babies life.
Here's the question: Wouldn't God have created Adam and Eve to experience this same "critical period"?
Here are two questions we will deal with next month: Was it God's intention for ALL of us to live our entire existence with the same conditions as exist during this "critical period"...with total consciousness? Is this an objective we will be striving towards during our time in eternity?
For now, wouldn't it make sense that Adam and Eve had their nucleus basalis wide open and God's intention was for them to take in His influence COMPLETELY? (Notice, this justifies God and makes Adam and Eve responsible for what they DID with the information God made sure they understood. Any explanation that "magically" justifies God without explanation is really justifying ourselves...be careful.)
The next Revelatory point comes to us from an e-mail written to me by Ed Mabrie...
We know Adam and Eve have the knowledge of Good and Evil once they eat of the fruit.
We know "Good" creates in the Long Term, even though it may appear to destroy in the short-term.
We know "Evil" destroys in the Long Term, even though it may appear to create in the short-term.
So, the knowledge of Good and Evil is really the ability to look LONG TERM!
Remember, the defintion for PARADISE:
"When you are doing something that is not the thing you most want to do...you are thinking about something in the future. You are demonstrating faith. You are demonstrating hope. You are believing in and thinking about something that hasn't happened yet."
"When you are doing the thing you most want to do...you don’t think about the future. You don't demonstrate faith. You don't demonstrate hope."
"We saw with OUGHT and IS that 99% of what we talk about is future or past. However, when we are doing the thing we enjoy most, our thoughts are all in the present. We aren't looking forward or backward."
"That is paradise. Time continues, however, we are not thinking about the future because we are doing the thing we MOST want to do. Love and time would continue...they wouldn't fail. However, faith and hope would end. Notice, this is Righteousness. Sin ends but not because it isn’t possible…but because we would always choose Righteousness."
(Excerpt from Section 16-4 of "Modeling God's Wills": Paradise.)
Let's conclude this post by putting these two points together...
SUMMARY
God intended for Adam and Eve to live in PARADISE...to live in the moment and NOT look to the future. I believe He opened up their nucleus basalis and gave them direction. With each piece of information, their thoughts in their conscious brain would have been IMMEDIATE...that is, they would have gone through only one causal feedback loop....would have looked at only immediate contradictions.
However, Adam and Eve encountered a creature that was NOT novel to Adam, but MAY have been novel to Eve. (Adam named all the creatures BEFORE Eve was created.)
I believe their CONSCIOUS decision to eat the fruit was an expression of THEIR WILL to control their nucleus basalis.
Once they ate the fruit, they were able to LOOK BEYOND the immediate moment...to look at Long Term implications.
Ed makes the point Adam and Eve ALWAYS knew they were naked. However, upon eating the fruit, Adam's and Eve's EYES WERE OPENED and they KNEW they were naked...so this must mean they KNEW the Long Term implications and took Long Term actions. (Perhaps they were afraid they might cause "others" (angels, God, animals, etc.) to commit sexual immorality. Perhaps Adam and Eve hadn't had intercourse yet and this realization of HOW sex could be perverted made them ashamed. I do not know...) Whatever the specific realization, Adam and Eve were no longer living in the moment...they were no longer experiencing Paradise.
From this point on, everything in this Genesis account takes on a much deeper meaning when viewed from Ed's perspective...
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