God's Hegelian Dialect Part II: Our Problem

In Part One, I covered The Problem as if the issue were solved, which it is. Both The Problem and The Solution were foregone conclusions an eternity before anything in Creation came to be. They were “known knowns” as Donald Rumsfeld would have redundantly categorized this matter. 

The Fall of Man, as recorded in the third chapter of Genesis, was not only expected, but... (You may want to brace yourself. Fair warning)... necessary. 

Yes, that’s right, I said, “necessary”. The Fall of Man was incontrovertibly, inexorably, and categorically unavoidable. It was an essential part of God's Plan. Now, before you start warming up a burning stake for me to occupy, allow me to explain…

However, for the benefit of the less reactionary readers among us, few though they may be...

• The Tree of Knowledge wasn't placed conveniently within Eve's reach by some design flaw on God's part.

• The “craftiest of all the creatures” didn't appear by parthenogenesis, nor was his craftiness the result of happenstance.

• Eve didn't just happen to be as gullible as she was by chance.

• Adam wasn't so easily influenced by his wife by a role of the dice.

• God wasn't incommunicado whilst the Serpent plied his trade.

If the Fall narrative is true in fact or merely allegory, this leaves us with only one reasonable option, it was planned. So precisely well planned by the Ancient of Days, Himself, that He begot the Solution prior to the Problem, our Problem. 

Now, before you curse God for The Fall of Man, which might have been more appropriately named, “The Trip of Man”, consider what this means. Moreover, consider the Nature of the Supreme Being that Created this most beautiful Universe with perfectly balanced chemistry, physics, and geology to produce our galaxy. Then, consider this God, this Almighty God who placed our solar system out of harm's way at the outside edge of a spiral arm a long distance from galactic center. Contemplate this awe inspiring God who waited the 12.75 billion years for all to be perfect for us to inhabit the place we call home, planet Earth. Mull over this God of Love and Forgiveness and  Provision and Protection, and when you have thoroughly reviewed all of these Works of the Almighty ask yourself, “What's His purpose for all of this, this Creation?”

Are you Stumped? 

Okay, I'll give you the answer…

As any proud parent, He made our nursery beautiful…

Spacious too...

Deep as well...

Plenty of headroom to grow...

We can have company…

Or make it just you and me…

God will be there too. Guaranteed!

All of these wonderful features and everything else we know and love is right here in God's nursery. 

God did a great job, did He?

So, here we are in the safety and comfort of Our Father's beautifully prepared physical nursery for spiritual beings. We are so well provided for that we can envy, covet, and become jealous of each other just like a toddler who always want the other child's toy even when holding an identical toy. We all know that type of selfish, greedy, self-centered child. They are so easy to identify, especially when it's your toy at risk, but somehow when we are that demanding brat we have a hard time taking that blame.

Here, we learn the cost of sin in its fullness. One painful lesson or more at a time. The syllabus covers important subjects like the folly of deception, the sting of betrayal, the bitter fruit of narcissism, the emptiness that a life built on consumerism provides to the dying, and all the other nasty stuff that our broken human nature entails. These are the types and kinds of experiences and feelings that we will need to be complete beings, our finished product, capable and worthy co-rulers with Christ.

Today, there are many Christians praying for the Rapture. They will tell you that they want to leave this wicked, sinful world because they just can't wait to be with Jesus. However, I think that they we're the kind of kids who couldn't wait until summer vacation, or the weekend, or whatever else was off in the future and not happening right now. They miss a lot of life waiting for it to happen. They forget or perhaps never understood that our physical lives are not trivial, they are essential specifically to God. 

The time we spend as a corporeal seed may be ephemeral but it is absolutely vital to our purpose. The horrors we witness, the beauty we experience, the evil we endure, the warmth we share, the pain and the pleasure we feel are all teaching tools for our benefit. The negative experiences; horror, evil, pain, and so many others are often cited as evidence that there is no God or if there is, then He must be a malevolent deity. However, all of these maligned experiences provide us with the most valuable lessons we will ever receive. The lessons we learn through suffering are those we best remember. Indeed, if we never suffered injury, injustice, or betrayal, how would we ever learn forgive?

Today, suffering is something our modern paradigm urges us to avoid at nearly all cost. Pain avoidance is the primary focus of many human endeavors; healthcare, liability insurance, government bailouts, welfare programs, and even copper bracelets with bio-magnets sold on late night television infomercials. All are devised to eliminate or attenuate some form of suffering and all are all based at least partially on fraud. It makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Pain avoidance is dry-labbing a critical lesson. Without having truly suffered in our lives, how would we ever learn compassion?

Without evil in all its manifestations, how would we be able to comprehend good in all of its far more abundant forms?

Without knowing loneliness, how could we understand what it means to be in relationship, and to desire it?

Without the loss of your life's love, how would we know how to cherish every moment together?

How could we know much of anything that really matters unless we had suffered what it is to lack those very things?

So, that's our Problem. This is our homework problem assigned by the God who is the Solution here in the nursery He built for and with us.

May He bless you for and in all of your work on Our Problem.