The Scandalous Good News
Let me couch the ‘good news’ in Biblical narrative terminology. From the immediate moment of the fall of mankind in the Garden of Eden in Gen 4 — nothing – nothing at all moved mankind one inch closer to Eden– none of the acts of Abraham, Moses, Noah, David– not even Job! The only movement occured at the single Cross of Jesus Christ. Everything else– all that was labelled as ‘good’, ‘righteous’ or ‘pious’ were ony tragic human flailings—views of ‘right’ of ‘goodness’ that are more the fruit of the fall than of any tree in Eden. Three types of mankind streamed from the Garden. There were those who actively hated God and blamed Him—there were those who were indifferent or ignorant—but who like the first group didn’t pursue Eden’s restoration. And then there was the third group, those who desired the glory of Eden and so pursued its restoration. They sought to do what was right in the eyes of God—they sought to please Him to rebuild the burned bridges. But all three of these groups were birthed out of the fall – not of Eden.
God had interpreted the celestial inner coding to Adam and Eve before the fall. The universe perfectly reflected His heart and soul, His character. It was ultimately moral—just. All injustices had to be perfectly dealt with perfectly—nothing overlooked. And so for rebellion, disobedience, any mis-step—there was required death. If you eat of the tree, you will ‘die surely die’. None of the three groups put that into their equation. All were wrongheaded!
No matter. It wasn’t for them to accomplish anyway. The absurdity of the Bible’s narrative is that there is only one death that could pay for Justice—only the Judge Himself. That was the plan all along. No other option. So-called good men and women, nor religious men and women were any closer to Eden than perfectly evil men and women. There is no grading curve suggested at all be the Bible. And so now, finally, God – the innocent perfect Judge and also the plaintiff, willingly gives up his judicial rights, His glory, his immensity, his ‘otherness’ and suffers and the flaming sword of the guardian angel, so that people from all three groups can re-enter, re-expereince Eden at last.
Comment by: Jenny Haynes
11/17/09 12:05 PM
Wow! What a site. You have a real knack for making a blog readable and easy on the eyes. I am always interested in reading other sites about religion, they give me a lot to consider. I don’t have time to read all of the articles here right now, I found this site when looking for something else on Bing, but I’ve bookmarked your homepage and will check back soon to see your latest articles. What is your preferred translation of the Bible? I think they are all good, don’t really have a favorite myself. I have a site with Biblical passages on it. Please visit it – it as at http://www.GotTB.com. I just redesigned the site with a new look and feel, please let me know what you think of the new layout. God’s Peace!
Comment by: Blogs
01/15/10 12:45 AM
I’m really loving your posts, please keep them comming, Thank You.