In the world but not of it

Christians are told in Scripture to be in the world but not of the world. Christ Himself, before being crucified, prayed for those that were His.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:16 NIV  

In John 18:36 Jesus says…

…My kingdom is not of this world…

In a recent post I wrote of how many of the references to prison in Scripture are speaking of a spiritual prison. It is the prison of darkness….the prison of sin…that all people live in. The elect are saved from this prison when Christ saves them. It is in spirit, through His Spirit, that we are saved, because we are not of this world but are of the spiritual world…the heavenly realm.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 6:12 NIV

In light of that…that those that belong to Christ are to be in the world but not of it…that I would like to look to 2 Corinthians 6 and 7. In 2 Corinthians, Paul is addressing those in Corinth that are dealing with divisions and false prophets. In other words, they are facing worldly troubles among them. So Paul responds to them in light of what is happening among them.                                                                                                                                                              Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

“In a favorable time I listened to you,
    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

There he speaks of salvation and how it should not be received in vain. Peter Bulkeley (1583-1659) wrote the following…

This may serve to be a warning to all such people the gospel of Christ is come; let them in the fear of God take heed lest they neglect so great salvation, and let them with thankfulness and love entertain the grace which is brought unto them by the revelation of Jesus Christ…The time of grace is coming unto thee: this is the accepted season, now is the day of thy salvation. Oh, be wise to consider it, and walk worthy of it, esteeming the gospel as thy pearl, they treasure, they crown, thy felicity! Thou canst not love it too dearly.  (The lesson of the covenant, for England and New England)

Think for just a moment…of the magnitude of what salvation truly is. Think of what it means to receive such a gift. Think of how the salvation of the elect came to be…

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. ⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace ⁸ that he lavished on us. Ephesians 1:3-8 NIV

Christ Himself spoke of this very election, of those that were chosen. He prayed for them in His final hours…

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him…⁶ “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world….⁹ I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. John 17:1-2,6, 9 NIV

 But it’s to the next verses that I wish to look…

³ We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;

If we consider all of the above from an earthly…in the flesh…standpoint, we see only the horrors in life. No one likes to experience afflictions of any kind, hardships are met with groaning’s and resentment, calamities are seen as something we must survive. In our day and time we can hardly fathom the idea of beatings but the very thought of being beat makes us shudder and wonder how anyone survived such things.

 Next Paul speaks of being imprisoned…this in the physical, confinement kind of way…and once again our flesh rebels at the very idea of being imprisoned. Riots are something we seldom experience in America and when we do, they are usually the product of those wishing to do evil. Labors…or work…is easier to understand but still, we, in our modern times, can’t fathom the kind of work the people of biblical times had to do. But work and sleepless nights are things our minds can grasp, even hunger, we can understand and empathize with. Although I doubt our modern American bodies and minds can fully understand the kind of work, reasons for a sleepless night and hunger that Paul speaks of.

But all of those things are experienced in the flesh and if we face them in the flesh we quickly become discouraged and lost. We lose sight of that which is important as we struggle through the troubles of the flesh, the troubles of the world.

But Paul goes on to tell us how he experiences those things…to give us the example of how we are to face them…

 ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; ⁷ by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness…

There we see a reaction that is not of the flesh. It is through the power of God with weapons of righteousness that those things can be faced and survived in the flesh.

 We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

I particularly like the last of the above verses…

as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

If we think of that in light of the understanding that we are to be in the world but not of the world…we are to have nothing (worldly) and yet we will possess everything (eternity)…it takes on a slightly different meaning, it shows us how to survive the world and its afflictions. We are to be true, living even as we’re punished, sorrowful but rejoicing, poor yet rich… as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

And still the thought remains…we are to be in the world but not of the world. We are to have nothing and yet we possess everything. In the flesh that doesn’t make sense. There is no way…in the flesh…to possess everything if we have nothing. But it isn’t in the flesh that we possess everything, it’s in the spirit. Because we are not of this world, we are of the kingdom of God…

You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Romans 8:9-11 NIV

Realm is defined as kingdom in the oxford dictionary. Romans 8:9 clearly tells us there is a realm…kingdom…of the flesh and a realm…kingdom…of the spirit. Christ said His kingdom is not of this world…so what is His kingdom? It is a kingdom of the spirit. And that Spirit gives righteousness to those that have Christ in them.

We are to deal with the fleshly afflictions with weapons of righteousness. We must deal with fleshly afflictions with Christ. My husband is fond of saying, ‘Look to Christ.’

We must look to Christ, we must focus on Christ. It is in…and through…His righteousness that we can withstand those fleshly afflictions. There are times when afflictions seem to come at us one after another, in an unending line of troubles. 

When we face those troubles in the flesh we quickly loose heart. We are bogged down and emotionally drained and hurt. But when we face them in the spirit even though we still hurt, even though our emotions still bog us down and we may from time to time lose heart, we know that we are not of this world and therefore these things are but fleeting troubles that will be used for our good and for the glory of our Lord.

When we face every day as a stranger in a land that is not only foreign but as a land that does not belong to us and is not our home then those troubles take on a different meaning. We still suffer and hurt in the flesh, we still wish for things to be different than they are, but we understand that there is a reason for what is happening and that we are of a spiritual kingdom that is not of this world and has no concern for the things of this world but is of an eternal nature and is therefore concerned with that which is eternal.

2 Corinthians 6 goes on to tell us…

¹⁴ Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness?

Those that are in Christ gain righteousness through Him. He has taken us over and lives within us, living through us…so that we live through Him. The world is the domain of Satan. Satan is the god of this world, he is the ruler of darkness, the father of lies. He is, you might say, the mastermind, the owner, of sin. And sin is lawlessness.

And what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness?

Many a story has been written about the ‘good’ girl that falls in love with the ‘bad’ boy. Many a movie has been made about the same thing. But if we were to think of true goodness, righteousness…what partnership is there between good and bad, righteousness and lawlessness? Can light and darkness ever mix? Can good and bad ever partner and not cause the conversion of one or the destruction of the other?

Can the ‘good’ girl really marry the ‘bad’ boy without the ‘good’ girl going bad or the ‘bad’ boy changing his ways?

Can a rotten apple be stored long with a fresh apple? Can a mushy banana be kept with nice firm banana’s very long before the rotten mush of the bad banana oozes out and infects the good, firm banana’s?

Can good kids play with bad kids very long before they pick up bad habits?

I know someone that has said that my husband’s faith is a testimony for Christ simply because my husband lives what he believes. I know exactly what that person meant. I have told my husband often that I can see Scripture in him and that I can see him in Scripture.

He is a living example of much of the teachings of Scripture. He lives out the example of what a Christian should be before me every single day. I know better what it means to be a Christian because my husband lives out his faith, lives out the teachings of Scripture before me.

My husband, when placed among those that are not Christians, is in the midst of them but he is not of them. He lives in this world in a way that he is in the midst of it but is not of it.

Christians should live in the world, be in the midst of it, but be not of it.

When a person swims underwater they are in a world that is not their own and can never be their own. They may put on all sorts of gear, wear special clothes, pump air in through tubes designed to let them stay underwater for hours, but no matter what lengths they may go to they will never be able to stay in the underwater world indefinitely. It is a world that they are not a part of. It is a world that they can never be a part of.

With the right preparations they can be in that world, experience it, touch it, even taste it, but they can never truly be a part of that underwater world because they are not designed to live in that world. They have a home that is not of the world they are in. And they know, even as they live in, for however long, that underwater world, that they can never be a part of that world.

Fish swim past them, sharks may come close, they may touch the bottom of the ocean and hold tiny wonders in their hands, but they cannot be a part of that world.

Such is the life of the Christian in this world. We live in it. Move within it. Experience it. Even enjoy it. But just as the swimmers home is above and beyond the water…the Christians home is above and beyond the world.

The swimmer may be in the underwater world but they can never be of it. And the Christian may be in the earthly world but we can never be of it.

Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

Have you ever walked into a dark room and been unable to see anything? For most of us the answer to that is yes. When you flip on the light the room is flooded with brightness so that we are able to see in the darkness. We can now see where before the darkness blinded us. But have you ever noticed that the darkness and the light never mix?

Where there was darkness, now there is light. The light doesn’t mix with the darkness. Even in a dimly lit area the light and the dark do not mix. One may encroach upon the other but they cannot mix. Never is there a swirl of dark and light. Never do you see a mixing of the two as you do when you mix food coloring into water.

And have you ever noticed that the darkness never overrules the light? Always it is the light that overrules the dark. Even a tiny flashlight has the power to push the dark away. And the smallest of flame on a candle or match will push the darkness back.

Never does the darkness push the light back. Always light has the power to overrule the dark. And overrule it it does.

The light often banishes the darkness completely and even when it doesn’t it pushes the darkness to the far reaches…far beyond where the light is…because darkness cannot live where there is light.

Not even when we’re talking about a dark room and a light bulb.

Children are often afraid of the dark. They fear the night. What seemed perfectly safe and even welcoming and enjoyable in the daytime is often scary in the dark. They seem to somehow know that darkness is not a good thing.

That is a physical darkness that is easily cast away with the flip of a switch. A nightlight removes the fear that comes in the darkened room.

But in the spiritual realm…in the world where Christ is light and evil is darkness. The darkness…the evil…cannot live where Christ…light…lives. He cast the darkness to the outer reaches where they cannot touch that which is light. Because the two…darkness and light…cannot mingle. They have no fellowship.

¹⁵ What accord has Christ with Belial?

None. Because they do not mingle. One is light. The other darkness. One is holy. The other evil. There is no mixing of the two.

 Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever?

For anyone that is truly in Christ they will completely understand that part. A true believer…a fully converted, saved by the Lord, regenerated soul…in it’s human form will understand the difficulty of sharing anything with an unbeliever. Even the most simple of conversations are often difficult. The things that matter to the unbeliever hold no interest to the believer. The believer struggles to find a way to show even a small amount of interest in that which the unbeliever loves.

When my husband and I first met we talked much of Christ and Scripture. We both very much enjoyed speaking of those things and we enjoyed speaking with each other because we could speak of those things together. We would talk for hours going between the ordinary of our lives and the things of Scripture with an ease that flowed and was enjoyable to both of us.

But try and talk to the unbeliever about even the tiniest detail of Scripture or Christ and you often lose them. I have spoken with many a professing ‘Christian’ and although they claim faith in Christ if you take the conversation very deep into Scripture they will quickly get themselves out of the conversation.

They will jump out of the pool and run far away from the side. Even with the professing ‘Christian’ there is only so much that you can say to them about Christ. And often they will want to take the conversation back to the things of the world and not the things of Scripture.

The believer…or Christian…on the other hand is like a dry sponge dipped in water. They soak up all that they can and beg for more.

¹⁶ What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
    and I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Therefore go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
¹⁸ and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

Go out from their midst and be separate from them. Oh, how the Christian lives in the world as if they are visiting a foreign planet. We cannot love that which those of this world love even when our closest relationships depend on us finding a way to love something of the world so that we can connect with those we love. We are forigners in a country…world…that speaks a different language. We cannot join the conversations because even when we understand the words we cannot share the meaning behind them.

We live as strangers amongst even those that we love. We are alone, walking in the midst of many, except for those times when we come into the company of others that belong to Christ.

In Spiritual prisoners I wrote of the fences that surround our nations prisons. And I wrote of how those fences mark the line between prison and freedom. When you cross that line, in fact even before you cross that line, before you ever make it to the other side of the fence, you are in a world that is all it’s own. In fact it is so different from the world as we know it that it may as well be a different planet.

The men and women that live within those fences live in our country but they are not of our country. To the majority of people in our country they do not exist. Many of them do not exist to their very own families. They are locked away behind those fences and therefore they are forgotten…or ignored.

The majority of the people in our country are unaware of prison. They may have a general idea of it, they know it’s out there somewhere, but to them it does not exist. And neither do the people that live within those fences.

And for the people that live within the fences they must watch the world as if they live within a glass snow globe…or a goldfish bowl…they are locked away where they may only experience live as it happens in our world through television, books, newspapers and letters.

They are forced to live life, as it exists in our country, vicariously through those things. They can only experience a city street when they see it in a movie or read about it. They can only hike through the woods, go for a walk in the park, go to the grocery store, or experience family life through the words or scenes of someone else.

They are very much in our country but they are not of it. They live in a world that has its own rules and its own culture.

The world and all its cares are but a distant reality to them. Even for those that have close family on the outside they can do nothing for their families but worry and pray.

They live in our world but they are not of it.

They are locked away from the world by fences and locked doors meant to keep them from being a part of the rest of society…the rest of the world.

They are kept separate from the world by physical barriers that do not allow them to interact with the world as it is. And they live in a world that is totally foreign to most Americans.

Because they are in the world but not of it.

Life and laws have forced them to be separated. They were taken out of the midst and made separate.

The Christian is in the world but not of it. Christ has taken us captive…taken over our spirits…and transformed us so that we live and move within the world but we are not of the world.

2 Corinthians 7 takes us further into understanding that…

Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

So many of the things that the unregenerate enjoy are things that are defilements…they are of a sinful nature. Even those things that are clean and good are often elevated to idol status and therefore cannot be considered good.

But the believer must refrain from turning anything into an idol and putting anything above the Lord. It is a commandment that we cannot keep. Even the most faithful of believer cannot love God with all their heart, with all their mind, and with all their soul every day, all day, putting Him above all else.

We are fallen creatures that will fail daily. But we try hard to please our Lord and He, thankfully, has placed a heart in us that does not desire the things of the world the way the unregenerate do.

² Make room in your hearts for us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. ³ I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. ⁴ I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

⁵ For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within. ⁶ But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. ⁸ For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

There is much to be gained from the above verses. We can see much of what mattered to Paul in those verses. We see what gave him pride, comfort and joy. We see too what grieved him. Paul gives us insight into the things ‘we’ experienced and how they got through them. But he also gives us insight into how the things he said affected others to the point that they repented.

¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Oh, the wisdom, the understanding in that single verse. Godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation but worldy grief produces death. If we remember from chapter 6 we saw much of the difference between suffering in the flesh and suffering in the spirit.

In the flesh we weep, and moan, and cry. We grieve but it is a grief that is of the world for the things of the world. It is a grief that is in this world and it leads only to eternal death.

But there is a different kind of grief. It is the godly grief that makes us ache and hurt…and repent…for the sins that we commit. It is the grief that makes us cry out to the Lord and beg him for mercy and that he might save us. It is a grief that goes deeper than the emotions and hurts our very soul. And it is a grief that through repentance leads to salvation.

Because it is a grief that is of the spirit…a godly grief…and it is not of this world even though we feel it while we are in this world.

¹¹ For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment!

Here we have the believer that is in the world but is not of it. So many things that have been produced in the believer. They are eager for their Lord. Eager to leave behind their sins…even when they struggle to do that very thing. They are eager to learn the Scriptures. They are eager to gain favor with the Lord. They are eager to be in the spirit with the Lord.

They experience indignation at the things of the world even while the world…and those of the world, the unbelievers, the unregenerate, are indignant at them and their faith.

They fear the Lord to the point that they exalt Him above all else. They understand the power held by their Lord and cannot help but such a fear that they are left trembling and longing for the very Lord that holds such power.

And oh, how they long for the Lord. So much so that it is a physical ache within them. An ache that is so deep that there is nothing physical or emotional that can touch it. It is a longing of the spirit that can only be quenched with the Lord and the more of the Lord they experience, the more of Him they want.

No matter how outspoken they are or how quiet they are in nature they cannot help but speak of the Lord and the Scriptures. They have a zeal for Them that cannot be contained no matter how hard they might try, and try they do because they often find themselves among those that do not want to hear of their Lord or the Scriptures.

And all of that becomes a punishment while in this world. The regenerate believer is punished for their way of life, a life that must be removed from the ways of this world because the believer aches and hurts when they encounter too much of the world.

When I think of punishment as I understand it from this verse I must admit that while we are punished in this world by our faith, often losing family and friends for the very faith that makes us who we are, I must admit that the punishment is pleasure. What joy it is to live to the Lord even when the world is disdainful of our very reason for living.

Though many may claim a faith in Christ, they will often tell us we are wrong for ‘taking’ our faith to such extremes.

There is punishment of being in the world but not of it…but what sweet punishment it is.

At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. ¹² So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. ¹³ Therefore we are comforted.

And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. ¹⁴ For whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. ¹⁵ And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. ¹⁶ I rejoice, because I have complete confidence in you.

I will admit that I see little of being in the world but not of it in those verses. I am, however, including them because I said I was going to look to 2 Corinthians chapters 6 and 7. And those verses are the completion of those chapters. And they very nearly throw me off my train of thought and topic.

These verses, like a few of those above, seem more about what Paul and others are experiencing, and less a lesson on being in the world but not of it. But even in these verses we can gain some insight into just what it is like for a Christian in this world.

Paul speaks of our Titus’ spirit was refreshed by his encounter with other believers. Why would Titus be so refreshed from visiting with other believers unless his time when not with believers left his soul alone and ‘thirsty’ for the edification that comes through talking with other believers?

We see in those last verses that Paul speaks of Titus’ affection for the believers and of the obedience they had. We also see that these believers received Titus with fear and trembling and that they should rejoice.

But…I still admit I see little of being in the world but not of it in those last verses.

Which is of little matter because there was so much in the rest of 2 Corinthians 6 and 7 that speak of just how we are in the world but not of it.

I once told my husband that being regenerate is like having a huge secret from the rest of the world. We know something that others don’t, even many that profess Christ, and yet if we tell them what we know, they either don’t believe us or they think we are heretics.

Even those that profess Christ…most of them want the ‘Christ’ that enjoys all the things of this world…or at least the things of the world that they enjoy. They don’t want to admit that Christ might ask something from them in exchange for the love that he pours onto them.

They don’t want to admit that the lives they lead are nothing like the life Christ spoke of or that the Scriptures teach of. They want the world…to be in the world…and to be of it. And they think that being a ‘Christian’ allows for that.

But they do not understand that for the person who has been taken captive by Christ…whose spirit is not there’s but the Lord’s…that we do not chose to be of this world or not of it. We made no choice for Christ, did not choose to serve Him, did not decide to make things difficult for ourselves by following the Scriptures to the extreme.

We are captives of our Lord and He has placed us in a foreign world. We cannot love the things of this world, even if we try. We cannot live for this world as so many do because this world is not our home…it is a place we are visiting much the way the swimmer visits the underwater world. We are here but for a time and just as our Lord is concerned for the things of the eternal…so are we.

They do not understand that while they speak to us of movies, videos games, and music bands we are aching for the condition of their souls. They do not understand that while they ask us why we won’t partake in this or that, we are wishing we could sit them down and share the secrets we know.

They do not understand that while they are worshipping that video game…and yes, they are worshipping it when they desire it, long for it, go to great lengths to get it, and rush home to play it for hours…we are thinking of the tightrope they walk that dangles them over the open pit of hell and how we can do nothing to enlighten them to the danger they are in.

They do not understand that while they try to get us interested in the things of this world it is the eternal that we think of. They do not understand that even when we speak with them of hunting or fishing or television that even while our minds are temporarily occupied with the things of this world, so that we might find a common ground to converse with them, that our spirits are connected to the eternal and may in fact be crying out for them even as we laugh and talk with them about things we cannot put any value on.

They do not understand because they are in the world and are of the world.

And we cannot join them in their world but for a very brief time because we are in the world but we are not of it.

In fact we may be in this world but we can never be of it.

Because while we are in this world…

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12 ESV

And though we may try to find a common ground with them we are kept from this world as sure as the prisoner is kept from the outside world by the fence that marks the boundary line where prison ends and the world begins.

We go through our days…our very lives…living in this world…

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 3:20 esv

Because…

We are in this world but not of it.

Suffer together

A while back I did some research into prison life. In doing so I came across statistics that say that more than 90% of all married couples that go through any prison incarceration will divorce. Those are staggering statistics but not all that hard to understand. If one thinks of the roughly 50% overall rate of divorce, is it any surprise that a couple experiencing the extreme stresses of prison would have a higher than average rate of divorce?

And although I can't say those statistics are shocking, sad, yes, upsetting, yes, but not shocking, I can say the statistics I came across today are shocking. According to statistics held by the CDC, the number of children with disabilities is on the rise. No surprise there, we've been hearing that for years. What was surprising is the fact that along with the rise of children with disabilities has come the rise of divorce among parents of children with disabilities.

I can state from first hand experience that raising a special needs child is different than raising a so-called normal child. Those special needs bring extra work, extra medical needs, extra therapy, extra hours and hours of attention from the parent, and extra stress on the parent. There are days when just surviving the minute takes more effort than you have. There are days when you sit and cry because there's nothing left to be done. There are days when all hope is lost, when you flounder for a way to help your child. And there are days of extreme joy and gratitude.

All those things combine together to create more stresses in the parents life because the special needs of their child rule their world. Everything they do must be weighed against the needs of their child. Many times they will ask themselves if it's better to do without milk or have to take their child to the grocery store. Many family experiences will center around trips for medical care. Day to day life is restructured to work around the needs of that child. And all relationships are experienced or endured by the parent based off who they are as that special needs child's parent. Your actions and reactions often stem from who you become as a parent of a special needs child. You see the world through new, different eyes, and you see relationships through those same eyes. All relationships.

I understand how and why a child with a disability...and by the way ADHD is classified as a disability, so is asthma, so is autism...would take a toll on the parents marriage, what I can't understand is how 90% of those parents divorce. When you live in the midst of extreme stress and trial, you need someone that understands, someone that is there for you when the day ends. Facing those stresses and trials alone is so much harder. Sometimes you need someone to hold you while you cry. Parents may be the only safe place their special needs child has but unless those parents have each other where is there safe place? Grandma and Grandpa will never fully understand what Mom and Dad face each day. Auntie and Uncle don't understand. The neighbors don't. I can only imagine the added anguish of a difficult marriage or divorce in the midst of all the hurt and stress of daily life with a disabled child. But statistics say that 9 out of 10 parents with a disabled child face just such anguish.

Yesterday I encountered a woman that spoke of having watched a video that showed husbands go off for the military. This woman talked of how that video brought back all of her own pain and anguish of having said goodbye to her husband, of having sent him off to military. I never sent my husband to the military but I have had to say good bye. I fully understood the pain this woman spoke of. I relived my own experience leading up to telling my husband good bye and of those final moments. I felt the pain again of that last good bye before we would be separated. I hurt as that woman told her story. Hurt for her and what she went through because as she told her experience I relived my own, feeling what she was putting into words, not because she worded it so well, although she did, but because I had experienced exactly what she spoke of first hand.

That separation, both mine and my husbands, and that ladies and her husband's were stresses in our marriages. They created problems that did not exist before one spouse had to be away. They created pain that did not exist before. There was anguish at the separation. But I can say, at least in my case, that even in the midst of the pain, in the separation, my husband was my safe place. He was the one I shared my hurt with. He was the one I shared the pain with. And surprisingly enough, or maybe not so surprisingly, he was the one that made the pain better, even if he had to do it from a distance.

The woman whose story I heard, whose story reminded me of my own pain at being away from my husband, showed me something too. In that woman's story, a story I felt because I had been there even if for a different reason, was the story of a woman that agonized over being away from her husband. I don't know what the divorce rate is among military marriages but I've seen enough things to lead me to believe that it might have a slightly higher rate than the average, although I really don't know. I have seen programs for married couples offering them free marital counseling once the deployed spouse comes home. I have also seen programs that offer free vacations to amazing locations to military couples after one of them has been deployed. So the stress must be high. And maybe the divorce rate too.

But even if the divorce rate is the regular, average, American divorce rate...well, statistics tell us that the odds are against them. Add any stress into those already horrible odds and they just decline from there, or skyrocket, depending on how you look at it.

I read an article by a disabled lady. In her article she wrote of her desire to be married and of her very low chances of actually getting married. She used the CDC's statistics on marriages that involve a disabled child to support her belief that there is little chance she will ever marry. I have no idea if she is right or not. It would seem that a disability would take away some of her options for marriage but I have seen couples that married despite one of them being disabled.

Not all that long ago I had a conversation with a family member about how there was a time in history when disabled people were hidden away in asylums because 'normal' people didn't want to have to be around them. About 17 years ago I met an older woman that told me she had one child, well, she said, I had two but... And there she began telling me of how she had had a daughter born with disabilities, I don't remember what but she told me what her daughter had been born with, and then she told me of how she had another daughter, I think, three years later. The second daughter was healthy and had no disabilities. The woman and her husband put the older daughter in an institution, yes, she used that word, because they didn't feel it would be fair to the younger daughter to be raised with a sister with disabilities.

I have never forgotten that conversation. At the time I was shocked to hear that they had given away one child to be 'fair' to the other. Today, when I remember that woman's story, I am still shocked. I can't fathom such a thing and yet I know it happens.

I have to ask...why?

Why would a parent put a very young child into an institution to save their other child from being raised with their sibling? Why would parents divorce over a child with disabilities? Why would couples divorce over forced separations?

Sin and selfishness are the answers that come to mind. But as I think on those situations, I also think of something else. It falls into selfishness but I think it may deserve a category of its own. It is the inability, or unwillingness, to suffer, or go through hardship, for someone else, with someone else. In times past, people with disabilities were hidden away in asylum's. Why? To save those that were 'normal' from having to deal with them. I'm sure there were a million different reasons why a person was placed in an asylum then. But I am also certain that social stigma played a good part in those decisions. Disabilities weren't always seen the way they are today.

And while the way people with disabilities are viewed may have improved...the way marriage is viewed has become atrocious. I read something once, I have no idea where, that many people today marry just to make their affairs legitimate. They have no intention of staying in those marriages. They fully plan to divorce just as soon as that marriage is no longer fun or as soon as the next person comes along that catches their attention. And as shocking as that is, I'm not sure that divorce rate among parents of disabled children isn't more shocking. What makes those divorces happen? Does one parent not want the stress of raising their child? Do the parents simply become so caught up in caring for the child that they fall apart? Statistics say that 90% of marriages with a disabled child end in divorce. With an average divorce rate of 50% that means that at least four out of ever ten marriages where there is a disabled child may end in divorce as a direct result of having a disabled child. Prison marriages have a slightly higher than 90% divorce rate, putting them at just over 4 out of every ten marriages ending as a direct result of prison.

With statistics like that, marriage has become a throw away relationship. Where marriage was once seen as special, where divorce was once rarely ever heard of, and when it was there was a social stigma attached, divorce is almost like a badge of honor today. I recently saw a list circulating on social media. This list was a list of things accomplished in one's life. I never looked at the entire list, the beginning of the list was more than enough to turn me away. This list placed 'fall in love', 'get married', and 'get divorced', all in a line up, making get divorced look like some kind of accomplishment. It's just one more thing to do, and expect to do, in a person's life.

Another shocking statistic is that 75% of marriages where one spouse has a chronic illness ends in divorce. So much for the 'in sickness and in health' part of marriage. It would seem that, when it comes to marriage at least, people aren't so good at staying close to those they love, or should love, when illness or disability crops up. It also makes me wonder if we have really come as far as we think we have from the days when those that were disabled were placed in asylums. Maybe disability no longer carries quite the stigma it once did but it would appear that it is enough to put an end to the majority of marriages that encounter it.

Military marriages carry no stigma, as being in the military is generally looked at as being a very good thing, and those in it are looked up to, but what toll does that service put on the marriages that must go through it? Prison carries a heavy stigma, one that really never goes away. That stigma is on everyone involved, the prisoner, the spouse of the prisoner, the children, even the prisoners parents and extended family. Anyone close to someone that has been to, or is in, prison must face the social issues of being related to a prisoner. Oddly enough, from what I read, it would seem that the spouse of a prisoner actually gains some kind of standing if they divorce their spouse. There is something about prison that, supposedly, makes the husband or wife, held up in society, or among family, when they divorce the prisoner.

Funny thing...I don't see prison listed as a reason for divorce in Scripture. Nor do I see illness, children with disabilities, extended family problems, or the million other reasons people come up with to end their marriages.

Illness and disability are only two of many trials we may face in this earthly life. And instead of running from our spouse, maybe we should run to them, share the troubles and sorrows of all of life's trials with them. Feel the pain of every separation, not just the long term, unwanted, one's, with them. Hold them closer through the pain. Cling tighter in the stress. Talk more in the quiet moments. Just as we should hold tight to Christ in the difficult times as well as in the good times. We should cling to Him, hold Him closer, talk to Him more. And in this earthly life our marriages should be a representation of Christ and His bride, His people. Instead of running from our husband or wife when trouble comes, no matter how difficult the trouble is, maybe we should run TO them. Seek our shelter in our husband or wife just as we seek shelter in Christ.

Suffer together so that, as Christians, your marriage will stand out from the other, world based marriages around you. Let your life, your heart, and your marriage be an example of Christ. Don't live for your own happiness but for Christ. Be the light, even in marriage, that points to Him.

Keeping them restrained

I recently picked up a book from a reformed company and read over the first couple of pages. On the second page I discovered a paragraph that I thought perfectly summed up America's 'churches'. In this book a woman was speaking to a preacher and she suggested something that the preacher didn't agree with. The lady quickly dismissed the preacher by suggesting he go eat and work on his sermon. The part that stuck with me though was how the woman told the preacher that they would need him to preach as good as he could to keep them from turning on one another. She told him that if he could preach well enough to keep them all on speaking terms than he would have more than earned his pay.

That is a fictional book written in 1917 and reprinted by a reformed company today. I know little else about that book, only the publishers description of what the book is about. But that single paragraph so accurately summed up today's 'church' buildings, at least I thought it did.

I was once told by someone raised in the Roman Catholic faith that the Catholic 'church' seemed to be the cover for sin. They went to the services than lived a life of sin all the rest of the time. I recently read something written by someone raised in the same faith that essentially said exactly what I had been told before, only this person said that Roman Catholicism is used as a license to sin. Only thing is, most denominations are that way, at least the one's I have experienced are.

I heard a preacher sum it up great one time. This preacher said that they put on their Sunday face to go to services then live their normal lives all the other time, lives that look just like the rest of the world. If even a preacher spoke on it, than what purpose does the preacher serve?

I had a relative tell me about a year ago that God wants more preachers to preach on hell. That spawned a short conversation that I won't go into here but the gist of it was that this person truly believed what she said. She honestly thought that God wanted those preachers to preach on hell and the preachers were not doing it. Since then I have seen several things online that say we need preachers that will preach on sin and hell. Only thing with that is if you share online sermons given by preachers that truly do preach on sin and hell, they don't want to watch or listen to them. It all sounds good in theory, even looks good shared on social media or their blog, but let them really come face to face with a sermon, with a preacher, with a person, that tells them that their lying, their covetousness, their selfishness, their lack of total devotion to the true Lord, are sin and they don't want to listen. Give them a sermon that tells them that the prayer they prayed at some point may have only deluded them into thinking that they won't spend eternity in hell and they will quickly turn it off. It sounds good to say they want to hear more about sin and hell but the truth is most of them don't want to hear anything of the like.

Week after week, 'Christians' fill the pews in their chosen 'church' and what do they hear? They are told of how they should help others, of how to better their marriage, of how to have better family relationships, of how to get along with coworkers, of how to...manage their lives. And really, if you think about the majority of those sermons, what they want, and what they get, are sermons that keep them corralled enough to keep them from turning on each other and those who they encounter every day. Oh, they may or may not literally turn on each other but that's the gist of what the sermons do, they rein them in for a time, keep them corralled, keep them contained within a certain area.

It is as if the sermon puts a gate around the person that lets them stray so far and only so far. They are restrained within the gate. When I was seven I was put into a 'Christian' school. I was signed up for it before the school year started. I remember sitting with friends, in my home, one day and one of the kids wanted me to say something, I can't remember what. The part I do recall very well was telling those friends that I couldn't say that because I was about to start going to a 'Christian' school.

On that day, the enrollment in a 'Christian' school restrained me. It kept me from doing something simply because I knew I would soon be going to that school. Somehow, in my childish mind, I believed that what school I went to determined, in some way, what I could and could not do.

Does 'church' work the same way for the people that fill the pews each Sunday?

I've heard my husband say many times that the Lord uses 'churches' to restrain people. How many people that go to those services are restrained in their sins because of what they are taught within the doors of the building? How many of those people are restrained week after week because of the sermon they hear every Sunday?

If a person goes to a 'church' every Sunday and sits through the weekly sermon, they will hear a different message every week. This week they might hear about restraining their speech. Next week they might hear about resolving marital conflict. Another week they may get a lesson on bill paying under the title of 'Christian' stewardship. On and on the list of sermons goes, and with it comes an endless selection of topics, much like walking into a library and picking a book off the shelf. This book is about cats, that one dogs. Another book on plumbing. Others on famous people, small pox, cholera, shoes, dolls... There is no end of topics to the books one can find within the walls of a library. And, it would seem, there is no end of topics that a preacher might pull from his hat to 'teach' to his congregation.

But what purpose do those sermons serve?

Listening to a sermon on restraining one's speech might be beneficial, a reminder to watch the things we say, but in the end does it serve any purpose? Wouldn't a true Christian already be aware of the fact that their speech should be restrained? I'm a tell it like it is kind of person and I can attest to the fact that I am well aware of the Scripture verses on speech and how we should speak to others. I also have a tendency to encounter times when my mouth works almost before my brain. But even in that, I control my speech. There are certain things I do not say. Ever. Are there things I say that maybe I shouldn't? Probably. Do I sometimes say things I later wish I hadn't said. Yes. Do I try harder next time? Yes. Do I need a preacher to get up on stage before me, mentally hold my hand, and tell me how I should be careful of the things I say? No. 

I already know to be careful of my speech because Scripture tells me to. I already have a restraint on me because my Lord, through His Word, says...

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29 ESV


And that restraint lives within my heart and conscious. If I say something I shouldn't I know it and feel remorse for it. I know to watch my speech because Scripture tells me to, not because a preacher got up on stage, read a few verses, shared a few stories geared to tug at my human emotions, and said I should.

Likewise, I don't need a preacher to get up on a stage and tell me how to manage my money as a 'good 'christian' steward' because I already know, from Scripture, that nothing I own truly belongs to me. Everything I have is because the Lord allowed me to have it. I also know that all of the world belongs to the Lord and therefore all that is in the world belongs to Him. I don't need a preacher to give me a sermon on why I should manage my money well because doing so is good 'christian' stewardship. 

I know what the Scriptures say. I know, from the Lords Word, what is expected of me. Do I always do what is expected of me? I'm human. I fail. Are there times when I should have given money to someone and didn't? Are there times when I should have spent less on things of this world and invested more into people? Sure. It happens. Are there times that I buy something without giving a second thought to how the money I just spent could have been used for someone in need? Often. Are there times that I buy something and then regret it? Yes. I'm human. But I don't lavishly spend money. I don't have fancy cars, houses, clothes or jewelry. Does that justify anything? Not a single thing. 

My husband is fond of saying, 'we could live in a cardboard box under a bridge'. THAT is something I would not feel the least bit comfortable doing, for safety reasons, but I'm sure that if I did live in a cardboard box under a bridge I would still have too much of this world in that paper home.

There is a movement in America right now toward tiny homes. Supposedly some of those tiny houses are no bigger than a parking space. I have never actually seen a tiny home but the idea holds some sort of interest to me. My husband gets claustrophobic at the very thought of living in such a tiny home. I find the idea...intriguing. I highly doubt I would truly want to live in such a small space but there is some kind of appeal in the way the houses are made and in the imagining of how one might manage to live out their life in such a small space. I am sure, though, that that small space would get very old, very quick.

These tiny homes have become something of a trend. People claim that they save on utility bills and that living in a smaller space frees up money and time to focus on other things, things one wants to do. I'm sure they are right. Utility bills must go down when you live in a space the size of a parking space and how long can it take to clean such a small space. I can clean my living room in about twenty minutes, that sweeping, mopping, dusting, putting up anything that may have been left out, even washing walls and doors. My living room is bigger than many of these tiny homes. How long can cleaning one of them take? An hour?

So people move into these tiny homes to save money and time but the price of buying these parking lot sized homes is astronomical. One could live in such a tiny home and actually spend more money than if they simply lived in a normal house. Then, too, would come in the...pride...of owning such. Is there pride in living in a tiny home, in doing what many think they could not? Are they just as proud of their 100 square foot home as the person living in a 5000 square foot home is of theirs?

And guess what? There's a preacher out there somewhere that stands before his congregation on Sunday and preaches on the evils of pride. There is evil in pride but does the lesson he imparts on Sunday going to sink all the way into the hearts of the people sitting in his congregation? Or does it simply make them stop and think for a while?

Would a true Christian, a Christian that knows Scripture, need to sit in a 'church' and be told about the evils of pride so that they don't take pride in their home or their car or their...whatever? Or would they know not to be prideful because, 1) the Lord has changed their heart and removed most, if not all, of the pride they once felt, and 2) they know that pride is wrong, a sin, and they fight any hint of it in their life. 

Pride could be a sin for a Christian. I'm sure some struggle with it. Being a Christian doesn't take away our humanness, it just changes it. We are still human. We still stumble. We fall. We do wrong. But we don't need a preacher holding our hand and telling us, oh, so gently, that we are doing wrong. The Lord will do that.

But week after week, sermon after sermon, that is exactly what preachers in 'churches' do. They get up on a stage, standing before their loyal subjects, and mentally hold their hands, guiding them through things that if they were the Christian they claim to be they should already have at least a passing understanding of. And if they somehow don't understand those things, their changed hearts should guide them. 

Instead of seeing that in the Sunday 'Christians' though, we see people being led, gently, by their preachers. They learn to control their speech, if they learn at all, because their preacher tells them through a few verses and a lot of stories that they should control it. They learn to be good financial stewards because their preacher says they should. And the reality is that most of them don't really learn the lessons taught by their preachers. They are merely reined in until the lesson fades from their thoughts, replaced by the next feel good rule that gives them just enough of a challenge to motivate them to better behavior. That is, of course, unless the preacher should actually preach on something that they find too much of a challenge to give up. 

But the preacher knows that. He knows that his congregation is mired in the ways of the world. He may say that they are different from the world but he knows that they live as the world, even if he doesn't voice it. He knows it because there is no way to get past it. All he has to do is walk the aisles and hallways of his 'church' before or after a service, mingle with those there, listen to, or join, their talks of baseball games, kids dance classes, television shows, books, and whatever else they may speak of.

The preacher knows they live like the world, although he may not understand that they truly are just like the world. He may honestly believe that because they said a prayer, or did some other right of passage, that they are different than the world and that the right of passage that gave them 'salvation' has made them different. He may truly not understand that they are no different than the world they just lay claim to a difference that really does not make them different. And why might he not understand that? Because he was led, possibly his whole life, by preachers that got up on a stage and fed him bite sized bits of Scripture, twisted and changed, to form a certain idea or belief or to support a certain way of believing. These preachers taught him to be another one of them. He has had his hand held and his emotions manipulated and his mind altered to believe what they want him to believe. He most likely went to a special school, called a Seminary, to learn just how to manipulate those that he finds himself in charge of. He was taught that there is an art to preaching, that he must give them what they want so that they will come into his 'church'.

When I was in junior high I took a choir class. In that class we often sang a song about little boxes. I can't remember the name of the song but I can well remember the point to it, can even remember a good amount of the words. This song was about neighborhoods that all the houses are the same although they may be different colors. And about people that are all the same. Some may be doctors, some lawyers, some business men but they are all the same.

Preachers, with few exceptions, are all the same. They are like carbon copies of one another. Oh, they have differences, they teach and preach different things. Some are married, some aren't. Some have kids, some don't. Some have hair, some don't. Some are old, some are young. They may have different allegiances. Some are Baptist. Some Pentecostal. Some Methodist. But...they all, generally, are the same. Their goal is to bring the crowds in and keep them coming in. They need to boost numbers. Those numbers show up in the form of how many souls they 'won' and how much money comes through the offering plate. They boost attendance. They boost vacation Bible school attendees. They boost their missions contributions, missions trips, and outreach programs. But...they are the same. 

They stand before people week after week, giving watered down sermons that tug at the emotions, hit just enough nerves to make people feel pushed to step a tiny bit outside their comfort zones, but really asks nothing of them and does not tell them that they are perishing in their lives that look just like the rest of the world. These preachers have done their jobs and earned their pay if they keep their congregations from turning on one another, figuratively anyway. 

I read a news article a week or so ago about a preacher that preached against a certain sin. As he preached his congregation was so offended that he later said 50-75% of the congregation walked out of the service. Someone commented on that, saying that the preacher had weeded out the bad and now had the good in the audience. He could now proceed to preach to those that were the ones that should have been there in the first place. 

I wonder though, if that preacher had changed topics, taught on say why those that watch certain television shows are enjoying and promoting what the Lord hates...how many more would have walked out? If he had then gone on to tell them that the prayer they thought 'saved' them was nothing more than a delusion that will lead them straight to hell...how many more would walk out? If he had told them that their fancy house, their pretty clothes, their hobbies, their...earthly joys that they spend so much on...was covetousness and a sin...how many more would have walked out? How many 'weeds' could he have removed from his congregation? 

50-75% of his congregation walked out that day because he preached against something they supported. But he preached on one topic. He weeded out the 'bad' with a single sermon, on a single topic. What if he had gone through a whole list of sins? Would he have had anyone left in his congregation when he finished?

I once heard a reformed preacher say that he went somewhere to preach once. He was supposed to give a series of sermons. After the first sermon he was approached by the leaders of wherever he was and told that he would not be allowed to preach again. He had delivered a message that they did not agree with, a message that told them things they didn't want to hear most likely, and was told he had to leave.

People don't want preachers that tell them the truth. They don't want preachers that preach on hell and sin, although they might claim they do. They want preachers that stand before them week after week and gently guide them just enough to keep them from 'turning on one another'. They want preachers that give them a goal to work toward, a goal that makes them feel better about themselves and makes them feel that they are different because they do these 'christian' things.

They can be proud of themselves because they are 'christians' and they sacrifice certain things for their faith. They give their money, their time, may even learn to be more cautious in their choice of clothing, words, or entertainment. But it is a gentle reining in with a wide fence that keeps them corralled while still giving them plenty of room to enjoy the world. The forbidden things are out there but they are the things they generally don't want anyway.

Preachers are taught in Seminary how to learn the likes and demographics of their congregation and to preach to those things. Rich congregations require different preaching, different sermons, than poor ones. Inner city congregations require different sermons than country congregations. Mountain congregations require different sermons than ocean congregations. The people have different perspectives on life, different beliefs, different morals, and those things, preachers are taught, must be taken into consideration and preached to. 

Congregations are coddled where they are in their lives. If you have a 'church' that supports rescuing animals a preacher would never think of going into that 'church' and preaching about how animals have become huge idols for people. Likewise, a preacher would never walk into a 'church' that takes great pride in holding a 'fall festival' and preach on the evils of anything having any connection to Halloween.

Preachers in most 'churches' are simply giving a well thought out, even researched, sermon, designed to pander to his audience, sure as a plumber would not walk into a building and work on the computer system. A plumber knows his business and he sticks to plumbing. It keeps his clients happy and it keeps the building working properly. It would do him no good to connect kitchen sink plumbing up to a computer cord. It would create nothing but trouble for the computer and the kitchen plumbing and it would result in him losing his job. A preacher cannot walk into a 'church' where the congregation wants their hands held and their emotions touched and give them the gospel straight from the pages of Scripture. He would create confusion, upset, and would, most likely, eventually lose his 'job'.

So instead, they walk in, week after week, and give a gentle sermon that reins in his congregation for the next week. It keeps them in their 'christian' persona just enough to ensure they don't turn on each other. It restrains them from living in complete sin. It slows them down, settles them a bit, and lets them believe that they have been stretched as 'christians'.  

Why did sin come into the world?

I was recently sort of a third party to a conversation in which one person asked, pondered really, on why God allowed sin to enter the world. It was an interesting question and I've asked myself a very similar question before. I didn't question why sin entered the world but why God didn't simply make a world where only those that belong to Him live, a world where there is no Satan, no sin, no evilness. A world where the people on it live for Him and there are not all the other issues that come with living in a fallen world. After all, God created the world, what need was there for all the evilness when it could have been created as good and kept that way? Needless to say I eventually stopped asking myself that question. Oh, the thought still crops up from time to time. My human mind thinks it's perfectly reasonable to simply make the world for good and put only those that are yours in that world, keeping it good and serving You. After all, if I made an apple pie I wouldn't put mostly good apples in it but stick one bad apple in there to show that the others were good. In my humanness it seems perfectly logical to simply make it good to begin with and to keep it good.

I think that was sort of the point this person was getting to when they asked why sin entered the world in the first place. The question didn't get very far though before the customary 'sin entered the world so that man could chose sin or chose God' response. There seemed to be this one person, that even after having it explained to them time and again, kept sticking on the 'free will' of man. The person that voiced the question gently explained that man has no free will and eventually resorted to explaining that free will wasn't the question. The question was why sin entered the world and could they please stick to the point. Trouble was, for that person, sin and free will were one and the same...they had free will because sin entered the world and sin entered the world so that men might 'freely' choose Christ.

The person that asked the original question made a very good point, they said that they thought sin may have entered the world to show our complete and utter dependence on God. Let's face it before sin the world was perfect. Who hasn't imagined what the garden of Eden must have been like? There was this perfect place, formed by God, for his masterpiece creations, Adam and Eve. In that perfect place was everything they needed to sustain life. How sweet the air must have been, with perfect air quality. How moderate the weather must have been for them not to need clothes. How...just right...the intensity of the sun must have been. How...perfect...the location must have been. Were the fruits and vegetables that grew there extra sweet? Was the water so clean and crisp it left their thirst fully satisfied or was it so wonderful that they longed for more with every drink? There was perfection. There was God's perfect place. It was His chosen home for his greatest creation...man. All of the rest of creation was made to serve that greatest creation of man. The water was here to quench the thirst of man and to cool the land he lived on. The plants grew to provide food, medicine, shelter, and shade for man. The animals were put here for service to man, to work for them, to help them, to feed and clothe them. It was the perfect world.

How long did Adam and Eve live in that perfect world? Or maybe the better question might be...how long did it take man to mess up that perfect world? But mess it up they did. And because they did, they also lost the perfect world. Many, many times in my life I have lived through, and with, the results of what feminism and women's liberation have done to our world. Because of decisions made by women I will never know, many of whom are dead now, I live with the results of their actions. And quite honestly, in just about every case I wish they would have kept their ideas to themselves and left us in a world where women were not seen as equal to men. Just the other day my mother was watching a television show from the 1950's (I think). In that show a group of women were protesting the demolition of a building, actually I think it may have been a house, I really wasn't paying it any attention. What did catch my attention was the way the police on the scene treated and interacted with the women. To start with, these women were only ever referred to as ladies. It was 'Ladies' this and 'Ladies' that. There was an almost gentleness, a difference, in the way the police treated the women. In that very short scene it was clear to see that women, in that time, were treated differently than women of today are. Now...I won't get into the fact that there was a huge difference in the women also. Those really were, for the most part anyway, ladies and today...a lady is almost extinct.

But there was a huge difference in the actions of those women in that show and in what women in an exact same situation in a show made today would be doing. Those women were ladies even as they stood in protest. Today if women stood in protest of something more often than not they would little resemble women much less ladies. Which is all to say that I, as a female in today's world, live in a world that was forever changed by women wanting to be equal to men. And I, and the rest of mankind for all of time, have to live in a world that was forever changed by Adam when he ate the forbidden fruit.

Now, I know the Lord allowed that to happen for His purposes. I know that it HAD to happen in order for everything to work out just the way it did. There was no need for Christ in a perfect world. There was never going to be a need for a savior when there was nothing in need of saving. Through Adam sin entered the world and through Christ salvation from that sin was given. It's short, simple, and easy enough to understand. But... I also understand the question that asked why sin needed to enter the world to begin with. Why not just make a perfect world, keep it perfect, and have all of creation, man included, recognize the holiness of God and worship Him for all of their time on earth?

I've also wondered why in the world Christians must go through trying experiences to make us more Christlike. Before we are given salvation we are sinful creatures that lust after the world and seek nothing of the Lord, even if we think we do. When we are given salvation our hearts are changed. Why not simply change us to the point He wants us changed. If He is already changing us, against our will, against our wishes, against our wants, why not just make the changes complete? Now, these are things I asked myself during a trying time in which my mind and heart could not grasp the reason for what I was going through. I didn't want the hurt I was experiencing and I couldn't help thinking...wishing even...that the Lord would simply have changed me from what I was to the finished product of what He wanted me to be. Why make me work my way, through pain, to that finished point? But that was all my human self wondering and wishing during a time of pain and stress.

And here I sit today, understanding the question that someone else asked...why did sin enter the world, why did it need to enter the world...and really, truly, I do understand. But...I don't think we can ever really have an answer. Sin had to enter the world for the world to need a savior. That's easy enough to understand but it's all the other parts of that question, and it's many answers, that leave the question hanging and leave us to continue to wonder. When a holy God creates something...why doesn't He create it perfect and leave it perfect? Why would He want something to mess it up? Why would He want His people to live in the midst of evil?

Not all that long ago I found myself frustrated with people, for the most part in general but there were specific people I was frustrated with. Now, these same specific people frustrate me often. I have a hard time dealing with people that act in certain ways. My husband reminds me often that we are simply to love people as they are but I find myself wanting to shake some sense into them more often than not. My way of loving someone is to tell them like it is.

Which leaves me wondering why the Lord would put up with evil people to prove His holiness when he could simply have left the evil out and shown His holiness through...good ways in good people.

And I feel almost guilty even thinking or writing this because I know, Scripturally speaking, why it happened. The question of why sin needed to enter the world in the first place can be answered in a single sentence. Sin entered the world so that the world would need Christ. There, it's a quick, easy, answer that explains everything. Christ is life. Christ is salvation. All of creation was made through Christ. He is the lifeblood of all of life and of all that is. The world had to need Christ. And when man lived in a perfect world there was no need for Christ in perfection. When one already has all that is perfect and good...what reason do they have to need to be saved? What reason do they need the One who is perfect?

Yet...I can understand the question. I can understand the reason for the question. It was a human question, voiced by a human heart, that feels the need to understand. And in a lot of ways, the almost immediate response of 'so that man might chose God' was the perfect example of why sin did enter the world. There, in that single response, shows sin. The very belief that man can chose Christ when Scripture clearly says He can't shows the lost condition of man. There was a person that believed in themselves for their own salvation.

When I was a kid I was taught, somewhere along the way, that the earth was a battleground where souls were separated. Here on earth people would chose Jesus or they would perish. Essentially saying they would chose heaven or hell. The idea in that was that souls would be sorted out based on whether or not they were for God or against Him. And people needed this time on earth to get that all sorted out. There time on earth gave them a chance to see whose side they were on.

I read something recently that said that when a person grows up in 'church', when the Lord saves them they have a lot of false teachings to sort through to get to the point of knowing and understanding real Scripture. I can certainly relate to that. That 'understanding' I just wrote of on why people are on earth is a perfect example. I pretty much had to erase everything I was ever taught and learn all things new again. Some of those learnings were painful and confusing.

And the person who kept saying sin came for the 'free will' of man is in that place where knowledge is not power but a hindrance. I saw a comment by a reformed preacher a while back that said something to the effect of how people that believe in 'free will' cannot be shown the Truth because they are so deluded by the belief in 'free will' that they think their own will is all that is needed to save them.

In the answering...or trying to answer...of the question as to why sin entered the earth, that one person showed the truth in that statement. I've spent lots of time with 'free will' 'christians' and can attest to that first hand. 'Free will' almost...or totally...becomes their savior. 'Free will' is of more importance than Christ. It wasn't Christ that saved them but their own 'free will'. They didn't NEED Christ, they CHOSE Him. There is the single most important factor in their salvation...their own 'free will'.

'Free will' becomes their god. They are saved because out of their own 'free will' they 'chose Jesus'. They 'got saved' because they 'chose' to believe. Why then did sin enter the world? So that men could be given 'free will'. I'm seeing a pattern here. Without 'free will' men don't have the 'freedom to chose' and therefore can't 'chose Christ.'

I recently saw comments on a reformed article where someone posted about how the original article was heresy. Now, the original article was one I enjoyed so if you enjoy what I write you wouldn't think it was heresy but if what I write goes against what you believe and you think I'm writing heresy...well, you just might agree with the person that commented on the article. Of course the fact that the original article was published in a reformed group leads me to wonder how anyone that believes reformed views are heresy would even be there to begin with but they were there and they were stirring up, what seemed to me, trouble. Or trying to anyway. The thing is, the person that posted the article backed all of their comments with Scripture. The commenter kept spewing views and beliefs but never backed it with Scripture. The original poster asked them time and again to use Scripture to support what they were saying. And the commenter never did.

I understand that. About a year ago I found myself in a conversation where I repeatedly asked the other person to use Scripture to support the beliefs they were trying to get me to embrace. And this other person never did.

It is all very much like the 'free will' understanding. I've never asked anyone that believes in 'free will' to show me where in Scripture does it say that man has 'free will' but I'm pretty sure they could not do it. Oh, they could probably show a few verses that they interpreted to say that man chooses Christ but the problem in them would be that it would be there interpretation and would not stand up to being interpreted by Scripture.

'Free will' is a false belief that becomes a god to many so-called Christians that 'freely chose' Jesus.

And it is a very good example of just why sin had to come into the world. Even among religious people, people that believe in God, people that believe in Christ, they cannot, of their own accord, believe in Christ. They believe in their own belief to believe in Christ.

Who is the most important factor in their belief? Christ? Or...themselves?

They 'chose' to believe. They used their 'free will' to believe. They...and the list goes on, always followed by what they did and how that gave them salvation.

Now, that isn't the reason sin came into the world, it's only an example of the state of men's hearts. Sin came into the world so that we would need the savior through Whom our world was made and for Whom our world was made.

Sin came for Christ.