Part 21
The Old Testament mentions a little about pride. Let me share a few of those with you. Proverbs 11:2 mentions that wisdom is the result of no
pride. Proverbs 13:10 tells us that pride brings contention. Proverbs 16:18 tells us that pride goes before destruction. Proverbs 29:23 mentions that pride will bring a man low.
The New Testament mentions pride only three times. Mark 7:21-23 — It is from within and is very evil. It is listed with murder. These are defiled men in the text. 1 Timothy 3:6 tells us that pride is not a trait of a mature Christian. 1 John 2:16 lists pride of life with the lust of the flesh and of the eye. Pride of life may come into our personal lives, or in our church lives.
Personal life: In who we are — heritage — family etc. In what we are — educated — job — position etc. In what we have. In what we know. In what we are not — I'm not poor etc. In what we have not.
Church life: In accomplishments of individuals. In accomplishments of the church. In positions in the church. In giving. In dress and appearance. In most trouble. In dictatorships. In non-involvement of members.
Total Depravity explains all this. Man Can't Love God. Man Loves Self More Than God. Man Keeps Away From God. Man Is Corrupt. Man Can't Please God. In short, he is absolutely no good. We can do nothing good of ourselves. We are clay — dirt — and as such, no good to God. (Some references to consider, Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 17:99; Romans 3:23.)
If there is nothing good about man then he should not be proud. Pride is inconsistent with our nature logically, yet is a very intertwined part of our beings.
I think if you realize that pride is at the root of most of our problems with other people we might be able to begin to deal with our interpersonal relationships and win.
I would like to close with a quote.
AN ORGANIZATION OF SINNERS
"The church is not an organization of good people, it is an organization of sinners. It is the only organization in human society that takes sinners into its membership just because they are sinners. It is the only organization that keeps on saying week after week, year after year, age after age, 'We have done those things that we ought not to have done and left undone
those things that we ought to have done.' No other organized body bears it its group consciousness the weight not only of its own members sins but the sins of the whole social order. This is the glory of the church, its uniqueness in human society, that it lives perpetually on the vitality and realism of its own repentance, its contrition, and its plea for God's help and forgiveness. Let us not claim moral virtue for church members or for the church. Let us rather glory in the fact that the church is a society of sinners, who claim no virtue, but humbly rest their broken and burdened lives upon the grace which God has eternally revealed in Christ Jesus." Charles Clayton Morrison. (Stuber, Stanley I. and Clark, Thomas Curtis; "Treasury Of The Christian Faith"; New York: Association Press, 1949, p 170-171)
HUMANISM
I recently heard of a man that had held up a store. In the commission of the crime, he shot a man that died shortly after the incident. The robber was convicted of whatever the charges were in the death of the man, and was imprisoned. When the man was interviewed, he said he was innocent. He had done nothing wrong except rob the store. (The court had eye witnesses which lead to his conviction.)
Guess why the man felt he was innocent. He admitted he had shot the man — "But, I didn't make him die. That wasn't my fault. He stepped in front of my gun and died." (Ruff quote)
This man was able to reach his conclusion based on the claims of humanism. There is no wrong, if I don't think that it's wrong. I can do no wrong. I have no responsibility for what I do. I am my own ethics — whatever is right for me is right.
I would like to share some quotes from "Focus On Missions" a paper put out by the Fellowship of Missions, May 1984.
"Top Offenses in the public schools in 1940.
1. talking
2. Chewing gum
3. Making noise
4. Running in the halls
5. Getting out of turn in line
6. Wearing improper clothing
7. Not putting paper in wastebaskets
Offenses in the public schools in 1982
1. Rape
2. Robbery
3. Assault
4. Burglary
5. Arson
6. Bombings
7. Murder
8. Suicide
9. Absenteeism"
In recent news reports we know that students are carrying hand guns to their classes. Some schools have installed metal detectors to screen out the weapons before the students are allowed into school.
Some comments from humanists:
"Fundamental Bible-believing people do not have the right to indoctrinate their children in their faith. We are preparing them for the year 2000, when America will be a part of a one-world global society."
"I am convinced that the battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public-school classroom by teachers that correctly perceive their role as proselyters of a new faith [speaking of humanism]."
"Dr. Paul Brandwon, who is a child psychologist, says, 'Any child who believes in God is mentally ill.' Dr. Pierce of Harvard University says, 'Every child in America who enters school at the age of five is mentally ill, because he comes to school with an allegiance to our elected officials, toward our founding fathers, toward our institutions, toward the preservation of this form of government that we have — patriotism, nationalism, and sovereignty. All that proves that children are sick because a truly well individual is one who has rejected all of those things, and is truly the international child of the future."
Might we now wonder just what George Bush's new world order was? I think that we may well know. A world society may come to pass, but the last time the world came together, they turned against God — Tower Of Babel.
"It's OK to lie. It's OK to steal. It's OK to have premarital sex. It's OK to cheat, or to kill if these things are part of your value system, and you have clarified these values for yourself. The important thing is not what values you choose, but that you have chosen them yourself freely and without coercion of parents, spouse, priest, friends, ministers or social pressure of any kind."
Need we wonder why the gangs in our cities feel that there is nothing wrong with what they are doing? No.
Let us consider humanism in this section. I would like to go through their manifestoes point by point and make comments. The quotes are all from their manifestoes.
HUMANIST MANIFESTO I (1933)
As you read this document it is clear that they are replacing old outdated religion with the new "Humanist Religion".
As we go through these points keep our country and society in mind and see if you see signs of Humanism around us.
1. Humanism Is Atheistic:
The universe is "self-existing and not created". I recently read that all of Wheaton's scientific faculty were theistic evolutionists.
2. Humanism Is Evolutionary: Man "has emerged as the result of a continuous process" — a part of nature.
3. Humanism Is Mortalistic: The "dualism of mind and body must be rejected." Only one unit exists. The mind and body is one item that is going to die. Serve it well.
4. Man's religious culture and civilization emerge from man's "interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage." This is true for
the unsaved, but we have the Bible to shape our culture and civilization. Their system is all downward according to Romans one for the unsaved.
5. Realities may be found only by "means of intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relation to human needs." Religion must be based on findings of the "scientific spirit and method." No. True religion must be based on the Bible. Natural laws can be found by the scientific method, but moral laws come form God.
6. "Theism, Deism, Modernism," and other thoughts are in the past. They are outdated. This is false advertising. Christianity would be included in their "other thoughts," and my Bible tells me it is eternal as is our God. Already we can see they reject God, the Bible, and thing's spiritual.
How can we deal with a humanist? Ask that the Holy Spirit to work in their heart. Philosophically — show them that there is the possibility of a supreme creator. Explain that the Word is God's message to man. Explain the Gospel, including hell.
7. Religion should grow from "actions, purpose, and experience which are humanly significant." No. Religion is set within the Scriptures.
They say that "Nothing human is alien to the religious."
Religion ". . .includes labor, art, science, philosophy, love, friendship, recreation — all that is in its degree expressive of intelligently satisfying human living." Is there a sense in which we've blown this? The Denver Art Museum, years ago, had a lot of religious art, but it was all depicting Roman Catholic theology. We probably should appreciate what is being done in some of our Christian schools in the area of the arts, rather than condemning them for their efforts.
"The distinction between the sacred and the secular can no longer be maintained." There may be a hint of truth in what they say, if I understand what they say. Christianity has substituted separation from the world for the separation from worldly practices. We have no art, we have no science, we have little philosophy. We have eliminated those things from our existence. Art is not bad, nor immoral as such. Indeed, we use art in our literature and books, so why have we separated ourselves from the idea of religious art.
The problem for the humanist is that they relegate all of these things as an end to bring man to the highest point that he can climb. God says that man can reach much higher plains than just this life.
8. The "development and fulfillment" of man's personality in this life is of prime importance. In a sense this is true for Christians if God is doing the developing and fulfilling. Many of these points are good points, with God left out.
9. Where religious people gain fulfillment in worship and prayer the Humanist finds fulfillment in a "heightened sense of personal life and in a cooperative effort to promote social well being." In a sense this is what Christians gain from worship, prayer, and seeing to one another's well being.
It is of interest that the liberals and the Mormons are fully into this aspect of humanism. They concentrate on the physical needs of people. It might be added that one of the darts of criticism thrown toward Christians, is that they are not meeting the physical needs of people, and those throwing the darts are correct. We have for too long blinded ourselves to the physical in deference to the spiritual.
10. There will be no more "religious emotions and attitudes" associated with the supernatural. (because there is no supernatural.) They think as the Russians thought about religion. Declare it nonexistent and it won't exist.
11. "We assume that Humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking." Man will face any crises of life in "terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability." This is why people can feel so indifferent to death. It is part of the natural order, so must be taken in stride. No big deal.
This is why abortion is so popular, and it is why the killing of the elderly is coming to our society.
12. To increase joy in living the Humanist will "aim to foster the creative in man and to encourage achievements that add to the satisfactions of life."
The Christian does the same except that he does it for the satisfaction of God.
13. All religious institutions must be reorganized as soon as possible to help in the fulfillment of life and the enhancement of "human life." Indeed, this is being done; the world council of churches is going down the humanistic trail.
We see in this point that the humanist is gearing all of life toward life, and not God. God is non-existent, thus must be programed out of our thinking.
14. "A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The goal of Humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good. Humanists demand a shared life in a shared world." Sounds like the world economic system. "SWIFT" is an international banking organization of one thousand banks that make their transactions electronically. The control of the individual by electronic numbers is quickly coming to us.
Socialism and communism do not work, yet the American people want more and more social programs. We are speeding toward socialism, while the communist countries are fleeing from it. They have rejected humanism, because it does not work, while we desire it because we are in the middle of its promises, and have not yet reached its inadequacies.
15. Humanism will "affirm life rather than Deny It;" (Somewhat Strange In that they hold to abortion.)
"seek to elicit the possibilities of life, not flee from it;"
"endeavor to establish the conditions of a satisfactory life for all, not merely for the few."
From these goals the flow of Humanism will progress. Have you heard this in religious circles lately? Reverend Ike, and several others are preaching a get rich theology, where all you have to do is ask and you will be rich. God is a great big Santa Claus.
"The quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind." This probably in one sentence, sums up all that God is combating in the world
system today. The good life. The good life as Madison Avenue portrays it. God tells us that we can have the good life by walking with Him through trials and troubles, while the humanist tells us the good life requires no trials and troubles.
This manifesto was signed by John Dewey [father of the modern public school system philosophy], R. Lester Mondale [father of Walter Mondale the politician], and others.
In short: A communistic society that can eat drink and be merry for they only die.
HUMANIST MANIFESTO II
They shoot themselves in the foot, so to speak, in the opening statements of this document.
"The future is however, filled with dangers. In learning to apply the scientific method to nature and human life, we have opened the door to ecological damage, overpopulation, dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and nuclear and biochemical disaster. Faced with apocalyptic prophesies and doomsday scenarios, many flee in despair from reason and embrace irrational cults and theologies of withdrawal and retreat." Everything isn't peaches and cream — somebody left some of the pits in.
Yet, they stated in their 1933 document, "Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method." Much of what they describe comes from some of the people that they have been educating for so many years with the thought of modern education produced by one of their proponents, John Dewey.
In the next paragraph they state, "We need to extend the uses of scientific method,"
Following along with point number fourteen of the Humanist Manifesto I they state, "The ultimate goal should be the fulfillment of the potential for growth in each human personality — not for the favored few, but for all of humankind. Only a shared world and global measures will suffice."
It is stated that many religions etc. claim heritage in the Humanist camp yet they are not truly Humanist. However the H.M.II states that
"Humanism is an ethical process through which we all can move, above and beyond the divisive particulars, heroic personalities, dogmatic creeds, and ritual customs of past religions or their mere negation." They say that other isms cannot be humanist, yet all of us, no matter what ism we belong to can be humanist. (listed were: types of Humanism — "scientific, ethical, democratic, religious, and Marxist". Those claiming to be heirs of Humanism — "Free thought, Theism, Agnosticism, Skepticism, Deism, Rationalism, Ethical culture, and Liberal Religion...") I might add the "God is dead" issue comes from humanist thought.
In short we all can work toward the goals of Humanism in our own way, but that we will all get there one day through cooperation in areas of commonality. How can you work separately, commonly?
RELIGION
1. No God — Man Saves Mankind
This point seems to restate much that was stated in H.M.I. "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves." This is also the thought of communism — only communism will save man. Again, I might make mention of the fact that communism did not save man. The Russian people would declare this openly.
2. "Promises of immortal salvation or fear of eternal damnation are both illusory and harmful. They distract humans from present concerns, from self-actualization, and from rectifying social injustices." "There is no credible evidence that life survives the death of the body. We continue to exist in our progeny and in the way that our lives have influenced others in our culture."
This contradicts the history of all civilizations that believed in some sort of afterlife.
They view religions as obstacles to human progress. Other ideologies including governmental systems such as capitalism and communism also hinder human progress. Throw out religion, government, and economics so we can spread the money around. Everything will be great. Once all is given equally there will be no more problems. Again, I mention communism and the total collapse of the system that did not work. I am
sure that the humanist would say that communism is not humanism, yet the points of each system are very similar.
ETHICS
3. Moral values come from experience. "Ethics is autonomous and situational, needing no theological or ideological sanction. Ethics stems from human need and interest. To deny this distorts the whole basis of life. Human life has meaning because we create and develop our futures. Happiness and the creative realization of human needs and desires, individually and in shared enjoyment, are continuous themes of Humanism. We strive for the good life here and now."
No moral standard, they say. No ethical standard, they say. And now we can know where our present world came from. No morals and no ethics have been the result in the United States in the 90's.
4. "The controlled use of scientific methods, which have transformed the natural and social sciences since the renaissance, must be extended further in the solution of human problems."
(Didn't we see somewhere that the scientific method caused trouble? "In learning to apply the scientific method to nature and human life, we have opened the door to ecological damage, overpopulation, dehumanizing institutions, totalitarian repression, and nuclear and biochemical disaster.")
"As science pushes back the boundary of the known, one's sense of wonder is continually renewed, and art, poetry, and music find their places, along with religion and ethics." They have stated that religion was passing away — are art and poetry and music to pass away also? What do art, poetry, and music have to do with science? Can we say that what is going on in current popular music is an improvement on the past?
THE INDIVIDUAL
5. "We reject all religious ideological, or moral codes that denigrate the individual, suppress freedom, dull intellect, dehumanize personality. We believe in maximum individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility."
"The possibilities of individual freedom of choice exist in human life and should be increased." Indeed, there is free choice and they practice it when they reject God.
Every single individual is free to do as they please. This can only be if we eliminate not only morals, and ethics, but all laws, governments, committees, schools and anything else that might limit the individual. Can you envision such a social structure. Indeed, is not the legislation of no limits or controls a limit or control?
6. "In the area of sexuality, we believe that intolerant attitudes, often cultivated by orthodox religions and puritanical cultures, unduly repress sexual conduct. The right to birth control, abortion, and divorce should be recognized."
"Moral education for children and adults is an important way of developing awareness and sexual maturity."
Sound Like Sex Education In The Public Schools? By the way it is called "community action" in California. The use of anatomically correct models of sexual organs in the public schools is putting sexuality on the completely human — physical level, and is eliminating any possible meaning to sex in the emotional/love realm.
No wonder the teenage pregnancy rates are up. No wonder the age of sexual activity is down. It's just a biological function to be engaged in when we want to. The Christian Should Be Horrified At What Is Being Taught In The Public School Systems.
DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
How can you have a democracy if you are redistributing wealth — causing all to live on the same income — and how is it governed? Surely they wouldn't want to tax people and cramp their personality.
7. "To enhance freedom and dignity the individual must experience a full range of civil liberties in all societies. This includes freedom of speech and the press, political democracy, the legal right of opposition to governmental policies fair judicial process, religious liberty, freedom of association, and artistic, scientific, and cultural freedom. It also includes a
recognition of an individual's right to die with dignity, euthanasia, and the right to suicide."
The American humanist cries for much of what he already has in this country. Most of these items are guaranteed in our Constitution, yet we can't have the restraints of government. They seem illogical at times. You cannot guarantee the things they desire without governmental control.
The cry for democracy is also seen in that statement — a democracy is a governmental system. They do not want government, so how can they want democracy?
8. "We are committed to an open and democratic society. We must extend participatory democracy in its true sense to the economy, the school, the family, the workplace, and the voluntary associations." To have this completed they must eliminate all Christians, Muslims, Buddhists etc. Open, requires only humanists in society. Sounds like Hitler's Arian world. I have to wonder what will happen when they mix humanism with Arianism.
Have we not seen this today? Demanding democracy in the home, in the school, in the work place, etc. Unions have tried in the work place and seem to be failing. People feel the company has no right to run it the way they want to. If a strike is called the company is not allowed to hire replacements. "MY RIGHTS" The unions fail to understand that in a democracy, the company extends rights to the worker as the company sees fit, not as the employee sees fit. If they want democracy, they will have to find a way to function without the free enterprise aspect of it. They will need to have a democracy that controls all aspects of life, which sounds like communism, which is what humanism is.
9. "The separation of church and state and the separation of ideology and state are imperatives." Yet, the humanism ideology will become the state and that is okay. Again, their logic escapes me.
How can you have separation of church and state if they don't believe in the church, nor any religious institution?
How do you separate ideology from the state. The state is made up of people that certainly have some sort of ideology.
LOGIC PLEASE.
Some today demand separation of Church and state? They say that the constitution demands it. No, it doesn't. Indeed, the founders of our country instituted prayer in the governmental sessions, had Bibles printed with government funds, and founded the country on spiritual principles. We in later years have had a judicial system that has given us separation of church and state.
10. Economic systems should be evaluated by "whether or not they increase economic well-being for all individuals and groups, minimize poverty and hardship, increase the sum of human satisfaction, and enhance the quality of life." "We need to democratize the economy and judge it by its responsiveness to human needs testing results in terms of the common good."
Have you heard this on the news in recent years? We need to decrease military spending so that we can help the poor. We need to cut the space program and worry about the problems on earth. Yes, the media has attempted to move this into American thinking.
By the way if the riches of the world are distributed evenly as they desire, how can poverty and hardship exist?
11. They view a national minimum guaranteed annual income as necessary to help the poor, sick, etc.
"We believe in the right to universal education."
This study is continued in the next topic. There you find how humanism has filtered into the church and Christian family.
HUMANISM CONTINUED
WORLD COMMUNITY
12. One World Government And Law:
"We have reached a turning point in human history where the best option is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and to move toward the building of a world community in which all sectors of the human family can participate. Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government." Have we seen anyone doing this lately? Jessie Jackson has done it several times, going to different places as an individual. In the 90's there was an entertainment ban imposed on the resort "Sun City" in South Africa, to oppose Apartheid.
It is reported that some public schools are no teaching a global citizenship instead of American citizenship.
13. World Peace: Through decreased military spending, negotiation, and compromise. "It is a planetary imperative to reduce the level of military expenditures and turn these savings to peaceful and people-oriented uses." The one world government requires us to abandon force for "negotiation and compromise".
This again, sounds very much like the Bush administration. It occurs to me that the humanist system is putting Bush down for doing what they want to do.
The main premise of this point is not at all wrong. To negotiate and compromise into world peace would be great. Indeed, we have seen it work at times. The problem is that God tells us that wars will always be with us. How can we intelligently know that war will come and decrease our defenses? The American public has been sold a dangerous attitude when it comes to military spending and peace. The only peace that will come is with the Lord in the Millennial kingdom.
14. Save The Earth: Radical change in the environmental attitude of the world would be needed to conserve the earth.
They are correct in their attempt to save the earth. We are poisoning ourselves, and enjoying the benefits of the poison. We as believers should be interested in the environmental issues. We believe that we are stewards of what God has given us, yet we do little about the creation that He has given.
Totally committing your life to environmentalism is not needed, yet recycling a can or two wouldn't hurt.
15. Human Rights Through Redistribution Of Wealth: "It is the moral obligation of the developed nations to — provide — through an international authority that safe guards human rights — massive technical, agricultural, medical, and economic assistance, including birth control techniques, to the developing portions of the globe. World poverty must cease. Hence extreme disproportions in health, income, and economic growth should be reduced on a worldwide basis."
In the area of health and physical suffering the world needs help, yet many of the societies that function far below our American poverty level, find that they are happy. The humanist desires that the world population have the same opportunity as the Americans, to have it all — all the things and toys that they want. Things and toys are not the producer of happiness. Indeed, Americans are finding that they do not bring happiness. Why should the world be forced into materialism just to make the humanist feel good.
16. Develop Technology. "We would resist any moves to censor basic scientific research on moral, political, or social grounds." They would encourage the scientific community to try clones. Raise clones for transplanting organs. Genetic engineering? Go for it no matter the outcome. We have unleashed bacteria that eat oil, in the ocean. Do we really know what long term effects that will have?
I really wonder what effect their free scientific research will do to the environment that they want to clean up and keep pure.
17. Remove all international barriers to international travel, culture, and science. All of Europe is doing this. Indeed, the common market is doing much of what humanism wants. We are now seeing interest on the part of the ex-communist block in economic union. They are talking of an organization of their own, yet one must wonder if merger with The Common Market isn't in the future.
HUMANITY AS A WHOLE
In closing. The world cannot wait for governments to come together on their own. "Destructive ideological differences among Communism, Capitalism, Socialism, Conservatism, Liberalism, and Radicalism should be overcome."
"Humanism thus interpreted is a moral force that has time on its side. We believe that humankind has the potential intelligence, good will, and cooperative skill to implement this commitment in the decades ahead."
How do you react to that statement? True, they have time, potential intelligence, good will and cooperation however the last coming together of man to one purpose ended in trouble. Read the account of Babel.
"These affirmations are not a final credo or dogma but an expression of a living and growing faith."
Some of the people signing H.M.II were:
Isaac Asimov, science fiction writer (wrote for Playboy)
Edd Doerr, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Bette Chambers, President of American Humanist Association
Alan F. Guttmacher, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Paul Kurtz, Editor of "The Humanist"
Lester Mondale, former President, Fellowship of Religious Humanists and brother of Walter Mondale
B. F. Skinner, Harvard prof.
Norman Fleishman, Executive Vice Pres., Planned Parenthood World Population
Betty Friedan, founder, National Organization of Women
Now we need to use the above information to help ourselves, our churches and our country to realize how much humanism has already affected us.
Robert Schuller, one of the television church leaders: "the new reformation will return our focus to the sacred right of every person to self-esteem" (Robert Schuller, "Self-Esteem: The New Reformation"; p. 36-38) Sound familiar?
How does humanism affect us? Ourselves, our local churches, our universal church, our mission boards, our families, our society, our schools, our business, our labor, our government.
How does humanism affect us? Let us look and see.
OURSELVES
1. I am to be satisfied. My wife doesn't do enough for me. The church hasn't really ministered to me. (This is where most of our work on renewal has been, and the church is still ineffective in our global work.) My husband never pays attention to me. I want more pay.
2. "I want" The I Want Me To Be Comfortable Syndrome.
Count up. How many stereos do you own? How many televisions do you own? How many cars do you own? How many clothes do you own? Now, how many of these items are really needed?
How many of your personal belongings could you put out at a garage sale and still allow you to live relatively comfortable? Yes, I think most of us have had a case or two of the I Wants.
I'm not pointing the finger at anyone. Only trying to open all of us to the possibility that we as Christians are wide open to the "I want me to be comfortable syndrome".
When our three children were still at home, I counted up the number of stereos in our home. Now mind you there was a real good reason for purchasing every single one of them.
There was the one in the living room, there was the one at my desk, there was the one in the car, there was the one in Tim's room, there was the one in Stan's room, there was the one in Laurie's room, there was the two in the storage area awaiting the garage sale, and then there are the small portable earphone type stereos of which we had five. Boy are we fixed for sound. Everyone of them was a present, on sale, or needed. At the Derickson home over the years the "I want to be comfortable syndrome" has had its inroads from time to time.
How about at your home?
I overheard two older men at a garage sale that they were having. One of the men asked the other, "Remember how bad we needed these things when we bought them?".
OUR LOCAL CHURCHES SELF-ORIENTED
1. We dwell on self-esteem. Christ is to be pre-eminent in our lives not ourselves. it is not "what I want in life," it is "what he wants for my life" that counts.
2. We dwell on how I relate to the church. It is very seldom that I hear that someone is coming to church here because he wants to help build the church up for the Lord. It is usually something like "the church really ministers to me." or "the pastor really helps me understand the bible." These are not wrong, but they are not all that "church" is about.
3. We dwell on how the church ministers to me. If the church does not minister to the person the person usually will find one that will.
4. We dwell on having a pleasant building or plant to worship in. If we weren't so self centered wouldn't we expand our financial blessings, so that others could be included in the family of God rather than concentrate on buildings?
5. Because we are giving to self, we have less to give to God. Offerings are down, money is short, expanding missions giving is hard, and there is no money for projects and ministries that come along within the church.
One of the churches we attended, refused to increase a veteran missionary's support by $50 a month to get him back to the field, yet a month later raised commitments in about five minutes, to give $600-700 per month for a youth pastor for about fifteen kids.
6. We have poor attitudes toward divorce and remarriage. Divorce and remarriage is a direct result of "My Rights" and humanism.
7. Church discipline has no meaning: If each person is an authority unto themselfves then there is no one that can tell him he is doing wrong.
I knew a church that had two couples involved in immorality. It was six months before one of the innocent husbands convinced his erring wife that she had done wrong. By the way the pastor initiated no church discipline, the erring parties were never rebuked, and the pastor shortly after, went on to head up a mission organization. Need we wonder why the church is impotent today?
If there is nothing wrong with what goes on with two consenting adults then affairs are the person's business, and no problem.
A Christian man in the Midwest, when confronted by his pastor about the alcohol from his home that had caused a serious accident via one of his children, stated, "You have no right telling me what to do in my home. Get out."
8. Leaders and teachers are spending too much time in books and seminars by people that are bordering on humanism in their thinking. More time should be spent in the Word and practical study.
We hear so much teaching on the raising of families and marriage yet some of these people aren't able to keep their own marriages together.
The humanist tells us the child has rights — let him try what he wants so he can mold himself. This translates into a teen that has molded himself to do what he wants. This translates into a church member that is going to do
as he pleases. This translates into a lack of missionaries and pastors. Yes. We Do Have Problems In The Church That Are Caused By Humanism.
The Catholic Church, which is a form of humanism, has a tremendous shortage of priests. They say it is because of celibacy — I have rights — I want — I won't give up my right to sex for God. This is the attitude of many of the young and old alike in the Roman Church.
9. The stress on enjoying ourselves — good lighting, padded pews, great equipment, maybe a gym, etc.
I have heard this same story in two places when people were discussing the need of a church building. One was a church with a building and the other was a church that was considering their first building. The same reason for the need of a building was given — "It's so much trouble carrying hymnals in from the car and setting up for Sunday School, in our rented building. This was the main reason for keeping the building in one case and building one in the other case. The church without a building was only paying part of the utilities and were sharing a building with another church. They really had no need of a building except for the inconvenience. The building they were considering was to cost over a million dollars.
Really. A million dollars so they don't have to carry hymnals. How Can We Carry The Cross Of Christ When We Can't Even Carry Hymnals? Do you realize a million dollars invested properly would create a fund that would fund five missionaries, or pastors and those that followed them fully, until the Lord comes?
10. Probably the biggest problem and I only place it here for convenience sake as it affects all of our areas — family, church, universal church, and society.
Sin. There is nothing that is wrong anymore it seems we have rationalized most sin away in one way or another. Most things are relegated to the gray areas these days. If you can do it with a clear conscience then it is okay for you. There are a few definites yet, but we see even divorce as becoming accepted in churches. One of the main line denominations reportedly has a divorce service in their Ministers Manual now.
Many Christians allow things in their home, via the television, that they would never have dreamed of allowing ten years ago in light of "well the kids need something to watch."
11. We dwell on the body (of Christ) at times to the exclusion of the lost.
OUR UNIVERSAL CHURCH
1. A bloated fleshly mass that is comfortable — so comfortable that we can't send ministers of the gospel out full time. I'm not speaking of missionaries only. I'm sure we would be shocked at the number of pastors in this country, right now, which are working outside their churches to support their ministries. Many other pastor's wives work to help their husband have time for their ministry.
At least the humanist is trying to change all of man. The church primarily is only trying to improve itself. We are letting the world go to hell while we continually build ourselves up and make ourselves comfortable.
2. Pastors that are turning down $30,000 plus a fancy parsonage as not enough. I was recently told of a man that had been turning down churches offering $40,000 pay packages, so that he would be able to accept one offering a $50,000 pay package when it came along.
3. Churches of 125 members with two missionaries on their budget.
4. Million dollar building programs. One report mentioned that churches spent over one billion dollars on buildings in one year in this country.
OUR MISSION BOARDS
I see in missionaries, something which bothers me greatly, and I believe it stems from humanistic thought in the church and possibly in the workers as well. I see a cold view toward support and supporters. When retirement age comes — you owe me — you shouldn't drop my support when I retire. The thought that this is Gods provision seems to be way in the background. It is a business to keep your support. This is in part the problem of the church in their spastic and oftentimes, sudden ending support. It is also in part due to the worker looking to the church for support rather than to the Lord.
You write supporters at least every other month, you go see them as often as you can, you send them small Christmas presents, you send prayer letters to report your progress, etc. These things are great so don't take me wrong, but some view this as "have to" to keep their support, and this is not right.
Some talk I hear concerning support sounds like a farmer talking about so many potatoes that he is going to take to market.
Some missionaries chose the church they go to while on furlough based on which church they think they might receive support from. Some attend two churches regularly in the hopes of gaining support from both. (One in the morning and one in the evening.)
I was told once by a pastor of a pioneer work that I was the only missionary that had ever contacted him. "We are too small to bother with," he told me.
It has been said that there is little money out there so you can be sure the flashiest person will get it. Is that anyway to finance missions?
Humanistic thought dictates how we approach the lost. In the past God was almost universally held to by the world. It just depended on how they viewed God, or in which god they believed. Today many reject any and all concepts of god. These people must see that there is a God, and then we can introduce them to the God of the Bible.
The lack of commitment of Christians is making recruitment very difficult. We are going to retire many more workers in the next ten years than we recruit. The search for a fulfilled life is not to be found in the underpaid position of missionary. The fun life style certainly isn't in the South American jungle. Etc.
When it takes as long to raise support as it does to gain your education, recruits are going to go a different direction.
OUR FAMILIES
Dr. Kienel the executive director of Christian Schools International in a short article shared some thoughts about the humanization of the Christian home. He mentioned "disrespect for authority"/"decline in discipline at
home and at school"/"decline in academics"/"self centeredness"/"total academic freedoms"/"total sexual freedom." Any of that ring a bell with you?
Dare we ask how much television has affected ourselves and our families with this thinking? The screen is pumping their thinking into our families at nearly every show in some way or another -- even if only the commercials...
OUR SOCIETY
Schools: It is obvious. We have covered this already.
Business: From Beneficial National Bank, Wilmington, Delaware. "Dear Mark Derickson: Only those who 'have arrived' will receive this particular offer, Mark Derickson. . .and rightly so. You see, at Beneficial, we've created the prestigious preferred credit program with successful professionals like you in mind. . .proven individuals who have already achieved a station in life far above many people, and most of your peers." WOW. What a dose of humanistic thought to get me to borrow from them.
Labor: We have already mentioned the problems of labor.
Government: Governor Richard Lamm of Colorado once said that terminally ill old people ought to just die and get out of the way. He likened the dieing as humus for the other plants to grow on. He felt that keeping terminally ill patients alive was ruining the countries economy.
How do we combat the effects of humanism?
On ourselves?
On our local churches?
On our universal church?
On our mission boards?
On our families?
On our society?
Ourselves:
1. Take time to know humanism and it's god — Satan. realize what it is, and commit yourself to avoiding it's teachings.
2. Commit yourself to holding to the Word only, and not trying to apply humanistic thinking to it.
3. Ask God to show you any areas where you need to change your life.
OUR LOCAL CHURCHES
1. The board should be educated about the subject. They should consider motives, methods, and programs of the church to see what influences of humanism have crept in. All new programs should also be reviewed in light of this problem.
2. Inform all people in the church of the problems of humanism — from adult to child. This should be done with a strong eye to the Biblical absolutes that humanism tries to destroy.
3. Be sure that new staff members are knowledgeable of the problems as well.
What areas should we consider and evaluate?
Music: Does it bring glory to God or the performer?
Education: Are we using proper materials and teaching proper concepts.
Worship: Is it centered on making us feel good, or is it centered on God?
Church Government: Is our church government Scriptural or do we accept a lot of tradition?
Youth Program: Are we teaching the Bible, or some feel good about yourself material?
Discipline: Is it properly administered? To all people?
OUR UNIVERSAL CHURCH
1. As you meet other Christians challenge them with what you have learned — challenge them to do their part at their own church.
2. Leaders: See to it that the schools and seminaries are teaching a proper view of things in all subjects such as theology, philosophy and psychology. If they aren't, don't send them money or students.
Our leaders should be educating Christians through magazine articles, books, and teaching.
3. Is not the overemphasis on "Jesus" in our music and in some of our movements a "Humanizing" of Christ? Keeping Him on our level — Someone we can identify with as a man, and not be convicted because we don't see Him as God, and pure, and holy? Just a question.
OUR MISSION BOARDS
1. This is similar to the items mentioned for the board of the local churches. Education of the people.
2. They might even want to change some of their procedures. Possibly their fund raising is a bit out of line. If so, they should change it.
OUR FAMILIES
1. I am not a proponent of Christian schools usually, but this is one very good way of cutting the amount of humanism that your family is submitted to. Most of what your child learns of humanism comes from the public school system. The rest from the media.
2. Be on the alert to what they see and read, and help them to understand the Scriptural precepts involved.
3. Limiting television will help, to be sure.
OUR SOCIETY
We need to be helping govern. The public schools are going to keep pumping out humanistic centered people. We need to have our own spokespeople. Help govern. Help run public schools. Get behind politicians you can support, even work for them if you have time.
I won't go into the detail of a study I did once, but let it suffice to say if you compare humanism to Hitler's program and to the Roman Catholic Church, I'm sure that you will find many similarities.
What does it boil down to then?
Be knowledgeable, be sure you aren't a sermon for humanism, share the knowledge you have, be challenged to labor harder for the Lord, serve and give of yourself, and watch for signs of wrong thinking in your family. Correct it as soon as you can
Be assured, the one world government and economy won't come until God is ready for it. The humanist movement can't get ahead of God, yet it can affect our families and churches, as well as our own effectiveness.
Think about something for me for a moment. Is not all of sin tied to satisfying self? Is not all of humanism tied to satisfying self?
I REST MY CASE.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
I would like to trace some different topics backward through the Bible to see what we might see about the Garden of Eden and its possible location. We will deal with a number of topics and show their relationship to one another.
The Millennial Temple: Take a few moments to read Ezekiel 43:1-9. Wow. Let's turn to another text in Ezekiel and read a few verses. Ezekiel 11:22-23.
The context of this passage shows the Lord has been completely disgusted with the children of Israel and is removing His special presence from His temple area. "Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city."
We see from these two texts that the Lord was in the temple in the time of the prophets, but that He left due to their sin. We also notice that He will one day return to the temple that will be built in the time of the Millennial Kingdom.
The old temple was on the site of a rock. Indeed, today the Arabs have a mosque on this very site. It is called the Dome of the Rock. Most expositors agree that this will be the site of the future Millennial temple. Indeed, Jews of our own day state that this is the location where they will build the temple of God one day, for it is the site of the old temples.
Well, we have looked at Jerusalem and the temple site in the future and in our present day, so let's take a look at this site in its past.
Herod's Temple: In the time of Christ there was a large temple on this site which was built by Herod. This temple was destroyed by the Roman armies in 70 A.D. when they destroyed Jerusalem. The temple burned, and they found that the heat had melted gold and that the gold had run down into the cracks between the rocks. The next logical solution to greed was to tear the temple apart rock by rock to get the gold.
The only part of this temple that is left in our own day is what is called the wailing wall. It is a small portion of the foundation of the old temple where orthodox Jews pray.
Let's consider the Matthew of Olives for a moment or two. Baker's Bible Atlas gives a good description of this mountain. "Paralleling the eastern elevation of Jerusalem, separated from it by the Kidron Valley, is the mile long ridge of limestone hills known as the Mount of Olives, or Olivet (elevation about 2,680 feet)." (Pheiffer, Charles F.; "Baker's Bible Atlas"; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1961)
Let us look at some items of interest relating to this mountain:
a. Christ prayed there: Luke 31:37, "And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of olives."
b. Christ taught of the end times there: Matthew 24:3, "And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?"
By the way the context of this was a statement by the Lord that is of interest. They had just left the temple and Christ speaks to them.
"And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Matthew 24:2
Sound familiar? That is what happened in AD 70.
c. The Triumphal entry began on the Matthew of Olives: Mark 11:1. Christ sent the disciples, from the Matthew of Olives, to get the donkey and then marched into Jerusalem from there.
d. He ascended from there: Acts 1:11-12 "Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet...."
e. He will return in like manner and I would assume to the same place: Acts 1:11. Indeed, Zechariah 14:4 states this as fact. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." (Ezekiel 43:1-7 speaks of the return to the city as well.)
f. The Glory of the Lord departed from the Mount of Olives: Ezekiel 11:22ff
It seems that this temple area has some importance to God.
Ezra's Temple: Prior to Christ's time there was a smaller temple that had been constructed by some of the Jews that returned from captivity in Babylon.
This return was under Ezra and the temple is mentioned in Ezra 6:13-22. Verse 16 mentions, "And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy,"
Since this was a rebuilding of the temple, we must assume that it was on the site of the previous temple that had been destroyed when the people were taken into captivity. The purpose of this return and rebuilding was to restore Jerusalem, their city. This by the way was the site of the Herodian temple of Christ's time as well.
Solomons Temple: This temple was of great splendor. The site of this temple was on the site of David's sacrifice after the sin of numbering the people. 2 Samuel 24:18 mentions, "And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
The account mentions that David purchased this floor and made the offerings. The temple site that Solomon chose is seen in 2 Chronicles 3:1, "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite."
We see from this text that Solomon's temple was built on the site where David offered, however a third title is given to this particular place. Mount Moriah.
What significance is there to the term Mount Moriah?
If you have a cross reference in your Bible, it will send you to Genesis 22:2 where Abraham is told to offer Isaac.
"And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
Since the writer of Chronicles names the temple site as Mount Moriah, there must have been basis for thinking that it was where Abraham offered Isaac.
Notice the phrase the mountain "...which I will tell thee of." There was a special place that the Lord wanted Abraham to meet him with his offering. It is also of interest that the priest that came out to meet with Abraham after Abraham had saved Lot from the armies was from Salem. Melchizedek was the king and priest of Salem. Salem, by the way is Jerusalem.
Do you begin to feel that the temple site in Jerusalem and the city of Jerusalem are of some importance to the Lord our God? Might we take one step further backward and see what we can discover?
Cain And Abel's Temple: Cain and Abel offered sacrifices according to Genesis four. Genesis 4:3-4, "And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:"
We don't want to get into the offerings and problems, but we do want to notice one thing from the verse. Both "brought". What does that indicate? They "brought: this term would indicate that they brought it to a specific place. Since God was showing Moses the history of man, it would seem that the Lord was trying to indicate that the sons of Adam brought their offerings to God.
The $64,000 question is just where did they bring the offerings. Well, since the text does not tell us might we make a sanctified guess that it was to the same place that Adam and Eve probably took their sacrifices. Since there were only four people on earth I must assume that there was only the First Baptist church. They wouldn't have had time to split and start the Bible church yet.
The next question is the same as the last, Just where did they bring the offerings? I am sure in my own mind that the Lord told Adam and Eve where to bring the sacrifices. He doesn't just let us make up our own minds about such things.
Can you think of where Adam and Eve would take their sacrifices? Where is the last place that they saw the Lord? Turn to Genesis 3:22-24, "And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life."
What do you make of all that? Do you see anything in that text that rings a bell with other Old Testament items?
Cherubim — where do we know them to be? Over the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle.
The sword of flame — could that be similar to the pillar of fire and smoke that was over the tabernacle when the Jews were wandering in the wilderness.
There is some interest in the word "place". It can, and is translated dwell in other texts in the Old Testament. The verse would then read "so he drove out the man; and he dwelled at the east of Eden...."
It is likely in my mind that when Adam and Eve sacrificed, they did it at the entrance to the garden where the Cheribium were. If they taught their sons to sacrifice, then it is logical that they would bring their sacrifices to the same location.
God was quite possibly dwelling at the entrance to the Garden of Eden where he had placed His Cheribium. If you look at Isaiah 6, and Ezekiel 1, you will find that the Cheribium are a part of the throne scene of God.
So, what conclusions might we draw? The garden of Eden was in the area of Jerusalem and the gate quite possibly was at the site of Matthew Moriah, the site of Ornan's threshing floor, the site of Solomon's temple, the site of Ezra's temple, the site of Herod's temple, the site of the Dome of the Rock, and the site of the coming Millennial temple. Does that grab your interest just a little bit?
By the way the cheribim in the Holy of Holies were at the east end of the area, which faced east. The entrances to the temples were on the east and here we see that the cherubim were on the east of Eden.
A couple of texts that might be of interest to you now:
Psalm 48:1-2
"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King."
Zion was another name for Jerusalem. Zechariah eight tells of the restoration of Jerusalem. It also shows the great love that God has for this city. Zechariah 8:1-3
"Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain."
Psalm 87 mentions the importance of the city to God as well.
"His foundation is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah."
And one last reference, Isaiah 51:3,
"For the Lord shall comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found in it, thankgiving, and the voice of melody."
One last thing that may add to the information that we have drawn together.
Turn to Genesis 2:8-14,
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every three that is pleasant to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads. The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; And the gold of that land is good: there is Bdellium and the onyx stone. And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia. And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates."
One river that divides into four rivers. The Euphrates is named and is probably the one that we know of today which is to the northeast of Israel. The Hiddekel is thought to be by most the Tigris also of which we know.
The other two rivers are unknown to us. I would like to notice however, that one of these is related to Ethiopia which has always been viewed as being south of Egypt. The only river related to that area would be the Nile, or the Red Sea. Or might we wonder if the one is the Nile and the other is the Red Sea?
If we were allowed to wonder about that, might we know what the first river is then? The only possible is the Mediterranean Sea, and guess what is at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. A rift that is over 10,000 feet deep. In places it is 12,960 ft below sea level.
Since most agree that after the flood, there were some tremendous upheavals and down drafts. Might we assume that possibly the Mediterranean was one of the down drafts as was the Dead Sea. Indeed, if you look at maps that show the lay of the land the rift goes to the northeast corner of the sea and it is possible that the Sea of Galilee, the Jordan river and the dead sea were a part of one of the rivers.
Unger holds that the garden was in the Tigris Euphrates valley and that the other two rivers were canals between the Tigris and Euphrates. He does not speak to the question that he leaves — what the first river was.
Unger mentions, "Shifting river beds and accumulation of enormous deposits of river silt make the task of locating the site of the Pishon or the Gihon virtually impossible. But the other two rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, are well known." (Taken from: "Unger's Bible Dictionary"; Unger, Merrill F.; Copyright 1957, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago; Moody Press. Used by permission. P 406)
Baker's Bible Atlas interestingly enough places the land of Havilah on the south east coast of the Red Sea.
If our thought is correct, it certainly fits with the Scripture. Pishon is related to Havilah which is the Red Sea and Gihon is related to Ethiopia which would be the Nile.
You might ask if there are any authorities that agree with my thinking? No, to this date I have found none. I will read a comment from Baker that backs up a belief in much of what I have said.
To quote Baker's Bible Atlas, "The temple Mount, the location of Araunah's Treshing-floor purchased by David and later used by Solomon as the site of the Temple, appears to have been north of the original Zion. It is traditionally associated with the place where Abraham offered Isaac -- Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2; II Chron. 3:1), Although the land of Moriah in the patriarchal record appears to have been a remote spot, removed from human activity. The Moriah of David's day is the central portion of the eastern hill, and the term Zion, initially used of the Jebusite fortress to the south, came to be applied to the Temple Mount as well (cf. Psalm 55:1; Jeremiah 31:6). Once the site of Solomon's Temple and the Temple built by the jews who returned from Babylon, the Temple Mount is now the
location of the Dome of the Rock, a beautiful octogonal structure built late in the seventh century to serve as a mosque." (Pheiffer, Charles F.; "Baker's Bible Atlas"; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1961, p 150)
This is something that I have been thinking about and teaching as serious Theory for some time. I have worked on it since in the 70's and have added to it as I have found references that might relate.
I trust that others might build upon this study as time goes forward. There is to me, a large amount of information that indicates that the entrance to the garden was at the site of the temples. Notice I used the term "indicates." We want to realize that the Bible does not state this clearly. This is only a logical conclusion based on the information available to us.
1. The pillar of smoke and flame was Christ Himself. He was over the tabernacle, and at the gate to the garden of Eden. Can we say that Christ was always the access to God the Father? I think that we can.
The last phrase of Genesis 3:24 is of interest to us in this context. "...sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life." One commentary translates the verse as follows: "And He (God) dwelt at the east of the Garden of Eden between the Cherubim, as a Shikinah (a fire tongue or fire-sword) to keep open the way to the tree of life." (Jamieson, Fausset and Brown)
Indeed, Christ is the only way that we can ever see the tree of life that will be in the eternal state according to Revelation 22:2
"In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,
was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits,
and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of
the tree were for the healing of the nations."
2. Christ is the Angel of the Lord, and the Angel of the Lord is the pillar of fire/smoke over the tabernacle. Exodus 13:21,
"And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar
of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night."
There are a number of references to the pillar leading the Israelites. The pillar also came down so God could communicate with Moses at the door of the tabernacle.
As a side note to the idea of a pillar in relation to meeting with God, Jacob after the vision of the ladder and the angels, took the rock that he had used as a pillow and "...set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it." (Genesis 28:18) Then in 28:22 mentions,
"And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee."
This was at Bethel. (Bethel was a little way north of Jerusalem.)
3. If this has been a profitable study and we see that it may well be true, then are there any questions of Scripture that are unanswerable if we have the time to seek all through Scripture for information that relates to the question?
I have very few questions raised about scripture that I cannot find an answer to, if I take time to do the proper study. A few are still bothering me, and I am boiling those on the back burner until the rest of the information that I suspect is there is brought to my mind.
I trust that the study is of value and interest to you. We should come away from it with a feeling that our God is very definitely interested in meeting with man. We, in the New Testament age have easy and free access to His throne. We should enjoy that privilege to the utmost.
INTRODUCTION TO
HAMARTIOLOGY
Hamartiology is a theological term used for the doctrine of sin.
It comes from a Greek word, hamartanein which relates to the archer that has sent an arrow on its way, but the arrow misses the target. In simple terms it is doing what is wrong or not doing what is right. Someone has suggested tragic flaw. I don't know how theological Tragic Flaw is, but it sums up the thought of sin quite well. Not only is sin a flaw, but it is a tragic flaw in that it detracts from what we were when God created Adam.