Learning About The Nature Of Man: Part 1

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven 

against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 

who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because 

that which may be known of God is manifest in them;

 for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible 

things of Him from the creation of the world are 

clearly seen, being understood by the things that

 are made, even His eternal power and Godhead: 

so that they are without excuse: because that, 

when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, 

neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Romans 1:18-21

     Authentic Christian Faith is so important and unfortunately there is a lack of understanding of Authentic Christian Faith and about the true spiritual state of humanity. This subject is of the utmost importance and this subject is at the very heart of all Authentic Christian Faith. 

     A problem exists and that is too many people, Christians as well, overlook or deny, at in the least, and minimize what it means to be a fallen human being. Oh! We can recite the fact that Adam and Eve fell from grace and was causative for man to become infused in his soul sin. We all have seen or at least heard of the many atrocities done by the Muslims, the beheading, the killing of those women who in some way disgraced them (as they hold in their religious views), or to harm many by gassing them, or just not seemly to care if they are harmed when they decide to overtake a city. We may even know something about the inquisition, or that many ancient civilizations practiced religious rites where they killed innocent people to somehow appease the god(s). We might just simply acknowledge that the world has always been filled with wickedness and that human behavior tends toward sensual and selfish desires. We might even acquiesce that people act this way even if they do not know better, therefore people are just sinful. 

     Well! This is true! We don't deny them! They are obvious and yet, a mystery as to why so many people still believe in the goodness of human nature. We might know the facts, acknowledge that they exist, but we do not necessarily know, or even admit as to the source of the facts. Yes, some will say: "Satan is the cause!" At the foundation yes, but is Satan the cause for a person to do or to will to do sinful acts. Or, we rationalize: small failures or periodic problems are explained away and fail to get at the heart of the problem(s). You probably can recite this verse: "Pride goeth before destruction, and in haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18). That is true, but, we must look at this further: human pride refuses to face the truth. Too many Christians know this fact but still believe that humans are basically good and are subject to temptation and by means of a fallen soul they succumb to temptation. What is furthermore believed is that sin and evil are the exception, not the rule. 

     Do you really believe the Bible? Not partly, not only those verses that seem to speak to you, or to only hold to some verses that seem to agree with your opinion, or doctrine. The Bible paints a clear and plain picture that is in opposition to those views that mankind is basically good. The Bible teaches us that man is a apostate creature. Man is degraded, depraved, who thinks toward evil. Man does not tend toward the good, unless he/she gets something by thinking that way. Man does not actually believe that they have been so impacted by sin in their very core of his/her being. Man does not want to acknowledge these truths and this is evidence of the veracity of this fact about man as revealed in God's word. If you do not hold that the Bible is in all its words is inspired of God, written by men who were inspired of God, and that those words reveal to us what God desires of men, how to live, how to exercise life: well: that is the root of the problem and until you believe that the Bible is the word of God, truth, then nothing said in these blogs will have an impact upon you.  John Milton in Paradise Lost: "Into what depth thou seest,

          From what height fallen.

             John Milton, Paradise Lost, bk, 1, lines 91-91

     The human mind has amazing capabilities seen by evidence of the power to invent, to reason, to make judgments, to remember the past, to make decisions in the present, and to plan for the future. Humans are not simply an animal, as it is with a horse, a dog, a frog, or any other animal for man has the ability to admire, not just understand, to reflect on something for its beauty, and its moral excellence. We as humans have the ability to have emotions of fear, as to animals, but more, we have the ability to hope, to experience joy, and sorrow, to empathize and to love. Humans can will, and to exercise courage to do hard tasks and to exert patience to stay the course. With our power of conscience we can monitor the thoughts and desires of our hearts and we can use reason to regulate our passions. We are amazing!

     Here is what we know, unfortunately, this is not the way things are. We see that man has lost the ability of reason, for the most part, and has become confused. Human desires have become twisted, anger, envy, hatred and revenge all are seen in humans. We can blame Satan for the cause, but we cannot blame Satan for our willingness to be evil, to sin, this is on us! We have become as lower creatures and seemingly unable to do good. 

     WOW!  You may say: "This is a dark and horrible estimation of humans: yes, but you cannot deny this fact. But you can do something about it, you have will, you have what you need to teach you how to avoid this problem of human nature even if it is not removed from you in the present. You have God's word, you have the ability to learn about human nature so that you can examine yourselves and if need by, and probably so due to our fallen nature, receive the nature of God in us, to have the Holy Spirit to reside in us, to lead us, to guide us, BUT! You must decide to learn, to read God's  word, to believe. God is calling: can you hear Him, are you listening for Him. Do you want Authentic Christian Faith? Well these blogs on this subject as to what is Real Christian Faith is to guide us to learn what is true Spiritual Authentic Christian Faith. Stay with me, as we both learn how we can live an Authentic Christian life.

The heart of the righteous studieth

     to answer: but the mouth of the

wicked poureth out evil things.

                Proverbs 15:28

God gives hope and assurance: believe

Richard L. Crumb  

 

The Second Greatest OfGod

 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the 

Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ

 unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: and others save with fear, 

pulling them out of the fir; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Jude 20-22

            Christians if asked: what is the greatest gift given to man by God would answer: Jesus Christ. They would be correct for Jesus Christ is and will always be: the greatest gift given to man. Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise given to Adam, reinforced to Noah, and to Abraham. This gift was known be the Hebrews even before they were a nation as this gift of a promised Messiah was know by their forefathers and especially to Jacob (Israel): “And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And He said. Here am I. and He said, I am God, the God of they father: fear not to go down into Egypt: for I will there make of thee a great nation” (Genesis 46:2-3). When Jesus came into this world as a babe the angels spoke: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests” (Luke 2:14). No doubt: Jesus is the greatest gift to man. Is there a second great gift from God? As the first great gift from God was rejected outright by even those who called themselves believers in God, and by those who treated this gift with little worth (He was nothing more than another seer), so too, the second greatest gift has had the same problem: it was, and is rejected outright or has been so changed by men and women who call themselves “Christian” that it has little effect on the lives of people that much of it has been called into question or changed to meet a doctrinal or theological position of men. It is not that many people outright reject this gift, they simply ignore it as this gift sits on the shelves getting dusty, or dusted off so that they, when they go to Church look as though they read it. This second gift to man from God is the Bible and yet for too many the Bible is a book that remains mysterious, a mystery. This lack of knowledge and understanding of this Second Greatest Gift from God has led to, not only heresy, but for people to become cultural Christians, nominally Christians.

            What is a nominal Christian? A nominal Christian is one who says that they believe in the Bible as the word of God and even claim to have committed their lives to Jesus Christ. This nominal faith is one that simply agrees with statements such as, “It doesn’t matter what you believe; it is how you live that counts” and “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere in your belief.” This is absurd! As a side note: The word “sincere” has as at its etymology the Greek word for “ceres” that means wax and wax was used to hide cracks in pottery so that the buyer would not be aware of the faults. When the prefix “sin” is added to “ceres” the word changes from a noun to an adjective, that is it describes the noun and means then to be free of fault, to be genuine. The person who is sincere may be genuine and be without fault, yet if the adjective “nominal” that which describes a “Christian”, nominal meant to be in name only, to be in form only so if a person is a “nominal Christian,” that is in name or form only then their sincerity is based on truth, it is hiding from the truth.

            This is a fact: What we believe determines how we live. If a person believes, that is determined, that they are doing God’s work by killing heretics, they do this in all sincerity. They believe they are doing right even though in fact they have perpetrated a hideous crime against mankind who may not have done anything physical or in word to warrant death, maiming, or incarceration. We have recent events to show that mankind can be so determined to be able to kill as though this is godly. It does not need be so horrible as killing, or maiming to bring untruth, and harm to people as when false teaching or heresy allowed to be taught in our Churches. No matter how sincere: they are promoting that which is against God. Yes, it may that those persons are living good moral lives, yet they measure their lives, their beliefs, against some subjective criteria without realizing that this may be simply ignorance of fact, or due to wanting to gain personally leading people to not know right from wrong, they cannot distinguish between the two, truth or error.

            This is the reason we study God’s word, that great second gift from God. It is here in this great gift we find how to live our lives, to be instructed so we can know right from wrong, from false teaching and error, from heresy. We must come to know the principles and precepts or we will fall to and become victims of our own subjectivity. If this is not down then it is most possible that our hearts will become hardened, and our mind blinded to all moral distinction.

            This blog is to aid us to change from the inside/out, from false understanding of God’s second greatest gift. This will require critical thinking, reading of His word, common sense, and prayer. We have this opportunity and this opportunity is accompanied by responsibility. If we find that we have settled for cultural Christianity, and if we remain ignorant or even unresponsive to Authentic Christian Faith, how then can we face God, what kind of justification will we be able to give to God?

Incline not my heart to any evil thing,

    To practice wicked works with men

That work iniquity: and let me not eat

    Of their dainties. Let the righteous

Smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let

    Him reprove me; it shall be an excellent

 Oil, which shall not break my head:

    For yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

                                  Psalm 141: 4-5

Change may be hard: but it is necessary if found wrong

Richard L. Crumb

The Greatest Gift: Some Ignore It

And I saw the dead, small and great, 

stand before God; and the books were opened: 

and another book was opened,which is the book of life: 

and the dead were judged out of those things 

which were written in the books, according to 

their works. And the sea gave up the dead which 

were in it; and death and hell delivered up the

 dead which were in them: and they were judged 

according to their works.

 Revelation 20:12-13 

     Question: Would our world be better if our system of morality, our lives, were based on the Bible standards instead of being devised by the world culture and cultural Christians? We soon forget: all laws are made of and from morality! take the time to examine the laws: i.e., speed laws for instance; and you will see that those laws meet the standard that Jesus set forth: "....and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matthew 19:19b). We have a second witness: "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10). There is a civil responsibility of all citizens of the United States and to the state in which they live, and furthermore, as a Christian we have a responsibility to God. We are to deny ourselves, those pleasures that we just want to have in our lives. (Secret: I love fast cars too: those muscle cars: but no matter that my speedometer goes to 140: I as a Christian as good citizens: must obey the law and that law has as its foundation the law of God. A moral law)! There is this paradox, that is a contradiction: we say we love God: we say we follow God: But we do not follow the laws of the land as though God is not looking, that He will not judge us according to all we say or do (Opening verses). 

     This is a serious matter, and a danger that this paradox presents that speaks of our inadequate faith. These are eternal issues and the stakes are high.

     God is eternal: God is everywhere with no boundaries: God does not live in time: and God is all knowing. Yes: God is love but God is also just. God does demand that we follow after His laws and we will one day have to give an answer with what God has given to us. We are to be the stewards of the laws of God: first in are lives; then towards our fellowman, our homes, our cities, our states, and even our nation. Do you want the love of God in your life? Do you want blessing from God? Good! Then become an Authentic Christian and apply Authentic Christian Faith in your lives. Example: Drive to fast, over the speed limit, you are not only in jeopardy to get a speeding ticket and if you do you are spending money that could go towards you family: they lost. Maybe you are speeding and get into a wreck because you were not able to stop due to your speed: People are hurt, maybe die, maybe only a wrinkle in the car: nonetheless you are not following the will of God towards your neighbor. 

     I have noticed and maybe you too: people, especially the young know the words to songs, they can sing them, recite them; but when it comes to knowledge of the Bible they are not able to recall verses, maybe the ones that they have heard over and over: Jesus loves the little children, or John 3:16, but they have little knowledge of what the Bible actually reveals for us in this life. People are not taking advantage to learn the truths of the Bible, the truths as how to be an Authentic Christian. They listen to sermons on Sunday only to go about the rest of the week living like the world. I wonder: What does God thing about our voluntary ignorance? 

      It is true: understanding Christianity is not something that comes without effort. Almost every example in the natural world teaches us this principle. We must make an effort, especially when It comes to God, as to what He has declared to us in His word. I have two hobbies: 1. oil painting and I must take the time the effort to learn about brushes, color, and techniques so that I might make a painting that I would be proud to show others and for myself. 2. I play the guitar: I must and do take time and effort to learn some music theory, the notes and how to play them, and if electronic to learn about how to use it, all takes time and effort and I am willing to take the time and effort so that I can enjoy all the good. God has given us what we can have for joy in this life, and He has provided us with many lessons for us to learn and to enjoy the freedom that comes by following what He is teaching. Here is the crux: YOU MUST WANT IT! This requires effort! The wealth of this knowledge will never be mastered without diligent effort: And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge patience; and to patience godliness" (2Peter 1:5-6). 

     The greatest gift is the Bible, a gift from God to mankind. This gift tells us of the greatest of gifts mankind has sought throughout the centuries. That gift so sought after by men and women in every land even though so often off track of the truth, they still sought after this gift and that gift was and is: JESUS CHRIST! Jesus is the light, the light of and for the world, and this light brings freedom, freedom from darkness and slavery that this world imposes upon all who follow after their doctrines and ideologies, and philosophies, a light that is Good News, news about God's love that He so love the world that He came to become a babe, to live as a man, God in the Second Person, still God, but fully man, just to save, yes to pay the debt owed to Him that no man can pay: but more: He came to apply that sacrifice and payment to all who will believe upon the Savior: Jesus Christ! The early Church valued this message and received it with joy and overflowing gratitude. Question: will you?

He hath shewed thee, O man,

    what is good; and what doth

the LORD require fo thee, but

    to do justly, and to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with they God?

                  Micah 6:8

What hold your highest priority?

Richard L. Crumb