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and God said " let's make humans ! let's make them like us, to be like us "
icons of Godbeing
idols designed to show and reflect Godhood
..
" hey .. did God really say you can't eat the fruit ? "
..
the Lord had commanded " you can eat freely of any of the fruit in the garden, but don't eat any from that tree, the tree of knowing-good-and-evil .. if you do you will die "
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two trees had been planted there by God - the tree that gives life, and the tree that brings death
how do we suppose those humans knew what death was .. ?
nothing in this 'good' creation had ever experienced death
and too life - doesn't an understanding of life imply a knowledge of what death is ? or at least an explanation ?
the same could be said of evil and good
without some understanding, however obtained, of evil, how were they to comprehend its pervasive cancerous spread, infecting all that good creation with death and its horrific bondage, from which Jesus set us free ( Rom. 8.21; Hb 2.14 )
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the challenging difference was the allowance of the one and the restriction of the other ..
the restriction was quite unique, for everything else was allowed ..
the real challenge for the humans was in recognizing their affinity to the friend that frequented their garden home in the cool of the day and conversed with them ( Gen 3.8-10 )
an affinity they had with none other of the created order
an affinity He ( the preincarnate Christ ) had with none other of the created order ..
and not only recognize this, but embrace it as uniquely privileging, for they were quite like the Creator ..
in their failure, slyly greased by the engaging slippery serpent, they had ' decided ' that their privilege ( which extended beyond the physical and encompassed at least some other characteristics, and which allowed for the Creator's endowment of governance over the pristine Earth to them ) was insufficient ..
somehow they were being deprived, cheated, and the restriction of the Tree was unjust ..
they deserved better
their friend was being unfairly secretive, cordoning-off their rightful inheritance ..
they had been lied to
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in doing The Deed they did not undo their inherent status of ' imago dei ' ..
rather they soiled the image of God among the cosmos, adding immeasurable weight to the only other instance of such recorded for us - the insurrection of Lucifer, the Angel of Light, the Satan, the nefarious serpent ..
the images of God, apparently unique cosmic creatures, had denied their God in whose image they were, and rebelliously taken the side of the Accuser .. against God
the predicted result was forthcoming
the human story dramatically turns as they are barred from eating of the other Tree, the Tree of Life, to which they had enjoyed unfettered access .. until now
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perhaps this Tree of Life represented the unique ' space ' in which the humans and Creator comingled in their affinity .. it was the ground of their unioning, the shared experiencing of each other progressively through regular engagement in the cool of the day, strolling, chatting, hanging out ..
it portrayed the space of their bonding
particularly for the humans whose existence was fresh, whose knowledge was infantile, even though their minds were brilliant in potential, and far more capable of perception and analysis and conclusion and imagination than we could ever imagine ..
to trespass into the space of the other Tree, of knowing-good-and-evil, was a statement: The Deed was a determined preconsidered step into the void of separation, individuation, and disconnect from their Affinity
apparently they considered that they were well able to bear the weight of experiencing evil, while consequently removing themselves from the Life-space they shared with Creator - they figured they could handle things themselves ..
trust, to them, became of lesser value
independence, and the power of the perceived self-determination was too rich a payoff to turn down..
no doubt the tipping-point, the convincing deciding factor was the Dealer, the Satan, who deceitfully turned their Privilege into deprivation, Fool's Gold ..
..
the wages of that transgression was indeed death ( Rom 6.23 ) ..
the resounding historical truth is that sin entered this world scene by the original humans, the original overseers of Earth
and the result was the death of all creation, a progressive decay into rot
additionally, and glaringly ubiquitously, that death-result is experienced by all humanity, for all humanity sins .. every one ( Rom 3.23; Rom 5.12 )
hence the mission of Christ ( in part ) to release humanity from their bondage to death
“ O death, where is thy sting
O grave, where is thy victory ? “
thus undoing The Deed in the Garden of Privilege
they lost sight of the innate God-breathed connection with their Creator, and allowed their privilege to sever trust, and to enable the arrogance of questioning God in their heart ( when certainly they could have done that during their daily converse as they strolled together ) and of presuming the status of God ( when they already were uniquely like God ), thereby dismissing the faithfulness of God ..
they undervalued the faithfulness of God
treated it as a common thing ..
sound familiar ?
just so .. precisely what Lucifer, that highly privileged archangel who was ironically tasked with guarding the glory of God, had done
only .. Lucifer had not been created in the image and likeness of Creator ..
you judge whose transgression was the greater ..
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sin has made a mockery of Original Image, veiling it behind a theology of Original Sin
to be sure our progenitors failed, miserably so
but the blindness .. the utter darkness that covers our deep
that deprives us of the true Originalwe are the imago Dei
and God has all this time been working at the unveiling, the recovery of our sight, the recognition of who we are and of our inheritance as adopted children ..
that grand recognition undoes the pervasive blight of our sick world, releases the powerful truth that allows us to see through stained glass clearly ..
by faith
that God is fully committed to redemptive recognition is seen most clearly in the Cross and in the sharing of Godself through God's indwelling spirit
God has resumed conversation with us personally
a wink in the direction of the Garden
a nod in the other direction, towards the kingdom, where we shall again eat freely of the Tree of Life which lines the river that flows out of God's throne, and where we shall reign with the Lord Christ
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perhaps our greatest failure is failing to recognize who we are
drowning as we are in this present darkness
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but the veil has been rent asunder
the light, that Glorious Light, has come into the world to show us God in all God's loving splendour, arms extended in welcome invitation - “Come. Sit at my table with me. Eat. Drink. Let's talk.“ ..
children of the King in open communion with the God Who Lives, the God of our Image
the embracing of that truth is the beautiful and wonderfilled entrance into kingdom life now, here, in between the happening and the not-yet happened, between the faith-reality of now and the realized reality of the kingdom in fullness when God will dwell with us, here, on Earth, and be our god and we God's people
in peace
in original communion
..
when we release the veiling of original sin and unleash the original image, our createdness in Christ, veritable image of God, we with unveiled faces reflect the glory of the Lord by the spirit of God ( 2Cor. 3.18 ), and God becomes all, in all
we are the image-bearers of God
ours is to know this and honour God's majesty by fairly reflecting that Image ...
image recovered
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we, as Original Images, have allowed ' Original Sin ' to misdefine us
and original images we all are
that ' all ' loosens a few binding-cords in my historic theology ..
..
in my revised theology, we are born into this world as Godimages – pure, untainted, innocent
but the world, having been utterly affected by sin, we are immediately influenced at every turn, and soon learn the brokenness of the images and systems around us ..
everything nudges us in the direction of disconnection from Creator God
our image becomes veiled
we stray from the Image ..
all of us experience this disconnect
the mission of God is to unveil the images that we are so we can recognize God and recognize who we are
the primary means of that unveiling is God's unveiling Godself to us through the advent of Jesus
we look at Jesus to see what God looks like as human-imaged ..
Jesus perfectly imaged God
and that imaging we recognize precisely because here is God become human, like us ..
and the recognition inverts ..
God recognized Godself in the human being
now we as human recognize God in human as God
and we recognize God in us .. .
we see the perfect imaging of God
and our Godimage sparks recognition
and there is reconnect
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Rohr quotes Merton as follows :
“ At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a pointer or spark which belongs entirely to God, which is never at our disposal .. this little point of nothingness and of absolute poverty is the pure glory of God in us. It is so to speak [God's] name written in us .. It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together . .. “
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so then, we all are Godimages, and we all lose the purity of that image in this world
ours is to respond to the recognition and affinity we have with God, and allow God to gradually unveil our blindness as we focus on Jesus
as we look at Jesus we are transformed into his image, which is the Image of God, which is the image of God in us
and the two great commandments come to life
love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
love your neighbour as yourself
even the neighbour you don't like or that doesn't like you
even my enemy
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the key is not Original Sin
it lies in Original Image
Original Affinity
it lies in the recognition of God in me
in every ' me '
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