It is self evident that human beings have problems which they cannot solve. History demonstrates that the fundamental problems of our existence persist. We need only glance at news reports for verification. The age old problems of greed, power and war remain. Despite its horrors, for example, the First World War a century ago did not prevent further armed conflict; it resulted in the even worse Second World War.
Circumstances change of course, but the underlying problem persists. That problem is our refusal to recognise our Creator and to grant that Creator respect and obedience.
Instead we resort to our own human ideas and efforts which may result in changing the issues but not in solving the problem. The fundamental problem persists because it is not truly addressed. Therefore the condition of the human race does not change, and we still have not eliminated the most basic evils of our existence: famine; war; abuse of power; injustice; exploitation – exploitation of each other as well as the very planet on which we rely for physical existence.
With all their technology and their sense of Moral Rights, human beings cannot solve the recurring predicament associated with our humanity. Why ? Because we refuse to face up to the basic problem.
That problem is the rejection of God and alienation from our Maker.
The reason why we are deluded and deceived is our own erroneous sense of what we really are, ie created not emergent. As I have indicated previously, we have rejected or distorted the truth about our origins and about our dependence on God our Maker. We have instead made our own instincts, ideas and talents the way in which to view and live in this world, even though all our human resources constantly fail us in the most fundamental need we have, namely:
To live in harmony with each other and with the physical environment on which we utterly depend to survive.
The old, basic problem of deception and delusion is ever present with us. Leaders lie to us; the media exploit our instincts; everywhere powerful figures promise to resolve all our problems. But our basic problem is never resolved because the fundamental issue is not addressed: GOD – the fact that we belong to God and that we are beholden to God.
Even when people acknowledge God, they often just go through religious rituals. In fact, we need to live our lives by the norms which God has placed in our consciousness. How many people actually endeavour to bring that perspective to the problems of this life ?
Today we find Powers adopting the age old posture of hostility and war in place of understanding and tolerance. The propensity of human beings to resort to hatred and lethal conflict always brings suffering on a scale we can never want. But, while recognising moral right and wrong, people still persist in foolishness which breeds more injustice and suffering.
To seek harmony and the welfare of others lies within our consciousness, but ultimately not within our capability. Instead, our default response is self preservation with all the consequent neglect and even destruction of other human beings. We live in the delusion that we can answer the human predicament if we can only pass more laws or spend more money; if we have bigger armies and more powerful weapons than the nasty nations who don’t see the world the way we do. They of course are wrong because we are necessarily right.
There is no end to the human predicament in sight, despite X thousand years of our presence on this planet. The increase of wealth and its redistribution have been hailed as the means to achieve heaven on earth, but wealth just brings its own problems: persistent inequalities; ambition to possess even more, whatever the cost; the delusion that our happiness is dependent on material possessions.
We are trapped in a conceptual and psychological mindset which tells us that our desires are normal and right; that we are in charge of our destiny; and that we must find our own solutions. There is no God to answer to.
We fail therefore to see that WE are the problem. Our instincts; our perspective; our ideas. We fail to see that our Maker is the Answer; that our Maker has the answers; that our Maker is the answer in every aspect of our existence and of our behaviour. That by referencing our Maker as our God, we begin to identify the problem for what it actually is; we begin to access the conceptual perspective and terms of reference which can mediate that answer to us, conceptually and actually. Then we can begin to align ourselves with reality and with the opportunity to escape DELUSION and identify both problem and consequent solution.
The solution lies in rejecting our self DELUSION that God does not exist and that God has no right to command our lives. We must wake up to the fact that every breath we breathe must come from the one who is called, “I AM”. The one who has demonstrated via the facts of creation that God’s nature is creative and harmonious, desiring justice, peace and security. That God is the source not only of all that is physically necessary for us to live, but of all the wisdom which will enable us to live as we know we should.
But, while we refuse the idea of God the “I AM”, we refuse to identify the disease we suffer, and we refuse to apply the only sure solution.
It comprises:
- God as our central point of reference for thought and behaviour
- God as our very source of life
- God’s manifest generosity and harmony in place of our evident self-centredness and disharmony
- God’s demand and God’s right to be God in our lives, causing us to realise that others interests are as important as our own interests for the general well-being of us all
Once we recognise that we are mistaken about God; once we realise that the ever present, all knowing and all powerful Being does exist, then the answer becomes available.
God as fact and therefore as paradigm of thought and expression will help us to align ourselves with God and therefore God’s power to live as we ought: in harmony with others, the planet, and with God.
But where in practice to begin ? Interestingly, all 3 monotheistic world religions agree the necessity of the ‘Decalogue’ – The Ten Commandments – recorded in the Bible:
- obey our creative, harmonious, moral Maker and Sustainer
- refuse to misrepresent God, and reject anti-God thinking
- respect and never denigrate the concept and presence of God
- make respect for God real by observing one day each week as an opportunity for Rest and common attendance on God
- respect the primacy of family and parental authority
- never hate but understand and forgive
- keep marriage sacrosanct
- respect others rights – never steal
- preserve trust – never lie or twist the truth
- never hanker for what others have but be content with who you are and what you have
Such moral commands constitute the acid test. Either we align ourselves with God, or else we align with Self and Delusion. Therein lie both Issue and Answer.