THE BIG ONE! 2.0

-(cont. from "The Big One! 1.0").......

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THE BIG ONE! 2.0

**My quick Editorial:

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice”- Rush- “Freewill”

Yes, I realize that this song speaks of the writer’s “belief” that there is nothing greater himself, his own choices, and his right to not choose, but unwittingly, Rush’s inclusion of the aforementioned line- which is easily the most memorable in the song- means everything to the stance of one who believes in a Purpose. I think they meant to plant a flag in the “I don’t have to choose! You can’t make me!”- stance- when in fact, what he really did was take AWAY the “Grey” option by insinuating that there is either CHOICE/yes, or “not to Decide”/no. Black and White. Pure and Impure. Right and Wrong…. And the assumptive point of the writer is a complete swing and miss- at a pitch never thrown:) – I’m not debating Freewill! No kidding, I agree! Adam/ Eve, Apple, / Sin, etc. Of course, I CAN choose to be as Good or as Evil as anyone, at anytime, in anyplace. I can choose to “Accept”/yes- or- (NOT only “Reject”) “Not Accept”/no. That is the core essence of Humanity, a characteristic given out of God’s desire for mankind to CHOOSE Him. (I fully understand the argument of Predestination but it doesn’t need to be addressed by this study). Having said that, if I choose to NOT decide, that’s still my choice.

*This issue isn’t between only those who say there IS a God and those who say there is definitely NOT a God, but I would propose that Rush was correct: the difference exists between those who DO Believe there is a purpose in life, a Higher Power, responsibilities as human beings to that Higher Power, a Destination at the end of our journeys- and those who DON’T Believe these things (some who perhaps “choose not to decide”, but in the “don’t” persuasion all the same). Let’s look at the core fundamentals of each:

1. DON’T BELIEVE

-“Life is complicated”; “you wouldn’t understand…”; “life is all about compromise, give and take”; “it’s naive to believe in God and Satan, Right and Wrong, Heaven and Hell”; “there is no absolute Good (white) or Bad (black) in existence, we all dwell in the Grey area in between”. "It's that type of radicalism that is the root for all the World's problems." "a Life lived correctly never goes to extremes, so everything we do should be in the gray area in between"; “all roads lead to the same place”; “that closed mindedness is to blame for many illnesses and depression;” “these people are just dragging us all down and slowing progression- Slowing the evolution of humanity”. “ There is no purpose, or real point to life.” “If there was a God, bad things wouldn’t happen to the religious people”; “I don’t really care”; “As soon as I see proof that I need to choose, I will- until then I think people on either side are fools- just divisive”; “I’ll cross that bridge when I get there.”

2. DO BELIEVE

There is Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Light and Darkness, God and the Devil, Heaven and Hell, Hit and Miss, North and South, Up and Down, Pure and Impure; a Purpose to Life: to bring glory to God; Live life out of Thankfulness; A light in the darkness creates Light; “Love the Lord your God, with all heart, soul, strength and mind- and neighbor as self”; the Universe, Earth, Humans, Everything- were Created by an All-Knowing, All- Powerful, Omnipresent, Loving God by the sound of His voice; Forgiven and Unforgiven; Everything was Pure, became impure, and is now offered the chance to freely become Pure again; a ball hit down the left field line is either Fair or Foul; the 6 foot putt, to win the Masters, either Does drop into the cup- or it Doesn’t. “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”-Romans 10:9;

** God’s TRUTH (to my understanding through His Word- The Bible):

Humans were created perfect, in God’s own image (even higher beings than the Angles) and given the task of ruling God’s entire Creation; God walked with man and Earth was indwelled with Him; Man’s purpose in life is to walk in harmony with God and bring him praise; but God wanted man to WANT to praise him, CHOOSE to praise Him, so man was created with Freewill; and just like Satan did at a Celestial level, Man fell to his Greed to be more powerful than God Himself, and Sin entered the world; Sin immediately made a Perfect World Imperfect, unfit to be in God’s presence, creating a divide between God and Man; God spoke with His chosen people for many years and they attempted to “earn” the right to be children of God by following rituals and laws in an attempt to be “right” with God; 2012 years ago, God chose, out of His incomprehensible Love for us, to send his only Son (the “Son” in the Triune (3-in-1) God-sense ) to be born a Human, Live a PERFECT Human life, and suffer an awful death- only to rise again; Christ ultimately bore ALL of our Sin, nailed it to the Cross, descending with it to Hell, and rose again- defeating Sin, Death, and Satan Once and For All- for ALL Humans who simply ACCEPT this gift of Love; God sends his own Spirit into the Souls of His people, guiding, strengthening, and giving a PURPOSE to those who choose by their Freewill, to Love Him; Then by simply asking, we are once again Redeemed and seen as Pure in the Eyes of God; we ultimately fight the battles of this Life INDWELLED with the Spirit of God, and since He has come down in Love to again walk “with” humans, our mission in Life is once again to bring Him PRAISE; God “became Us”, to DIE for us, to make us Pure with Himself once again (of course that doesn’t make sense, that’s the beauty of it :), the Laws and rituals of the ancestors of God’s people were fulfilled and those many commands have been consolidated into: 1.Love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind; and 2.Love your Neighbor as Yourself; Our tasks, as those who have chosen (been chosen?) “Yes/God”, is to spread the Good News to the rest of the world, being the very hands and feet of God in the world (“…nor will they say, See here! or See there! For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21).

This thesis has become very biased and one-sided, and I’m sorry, but we are nearing the point where my Faith in God (admittedly not “provable” nor disprovable) clashes with the “Facts”, “Laws”, “Science”, and “Grey Areas”- all of the “constructs of the feeble human intellect”--- woah….relax! Maybe “constructs” is a bit strong, but rather elements which are created by the Divine which we THINK we can grasp, but which are too small to register in this much larger topic(?) Regardless, there are segments of this whole discussion which don’t make sense to me. I think that, with the help of Rush, we have concluded that there is in fact not a safe “choose not to decide” landing zone. I suppose this question of God or no God, could better answered as Yes/God or “Not Yes”/No God. A Good vs. “Not Good”. A Right and “Not Right”. On one hand, I can appreciate those who are adamant that there IS NO God, and who are convicted in this belief. (But, NOT those who obnoxiously go around trying to erode the foundations of civilizations and entire countries which were thriving before their meddling, but those who are solid in their beliefs all the same). But at the same time, the inability of a staggering amount of the population to lower their egos even to the simple IDEA that there may be something greater than the human mind, is maddening! WHY? Power? Greed? Pride?.... WHY??? What even is the argument? What’s the question? All that I’m saying is that I Believe In Something. Period. Some choose to believe in another Higher Being. I choose to believe in God. The opposing belief is not really a belief, and it’s also not truly an opposing viewpoint. This “opposing viewpoint” is to believe in nothing…. other than the belief that one needs not believe at all! What?! That sentence barely made sense because that’s what this viewpoint requires- a belief. A defendable, yet IMPOSSIBLE to prove belief. (The best one can do is spend every waking moment trying to be the ultimate Contrarian and PROVE that everything MAY be possible without a Creator. Guess what? You’re far too late! You can’t lose what I have found!!! 10's of millions of humans throughout history already know FOR A FACT that God does exist, because He LIVES in our hearts!!) So, yes, Freewill. Freewill to believe whatever, or don’t. But, you can call me smug, self-righteous, whatever…… I DON’T NEED TO BELIEVE ANYMORE! I KNOW!!! (*breathe……)

Regarding Nature/ Creation:

Let’s lead with the trump card on this subject: the subject of GOD and His role and view of the issue. It’s mind blowing! God was first our Creator, then Savior, now Strength, and someday Judge! God IS the full cycle of our existence. So, does it really matter what I think, or what you think, or anyone else? I feel it may be wise to ask Him, and He supplies those answers through His Word- the Holy Bible. (read it!)* Now I could begin spewing precursors and tossing out asterisks to appease the majority who see me as a fool for carrying on as though there really is a Divine, all-loving, all-knowing Creator of existence, not to mention that He would have the audacity to actually expect certain responses and actions from the beings he created!! Unfortunately, in exactly the same way that I can’t diminish the role of blood to my very existence, I can’t give an intelligent thesis without the strong influence of God- who flows through my veins and who IS everything to all that I AM and to all that I DO. So, if you’re still with me, because you either agree or are entertained by my insolence, this is my understanding of God’s understanding of this issue: Jehovah God created a Species, an Earth, and a Universe that were perfect- Pure Light- Pure Right- “It is Good”. “29.And God said, See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food; and it was so.31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day” Genesis 1:29-31. So, in the Beginning, we were Mankind, created in God’s own image to manage and care for His creation. We were All Right, All Pure, All Good! So in God’s eyes, when Sin entered the World, all of creation became not All Right, not All Pure, not All Good. Creation had fallen into darkness and its status was inadequate for the Glory of its Creator!

Regarding Actions:

The decisions we’re faced with and the decisions we must make are inherently constructed of aspects of Wrong and Right/ Black and of White, so, to be agreeable, let’s cut right to the chase and conclude that: Yes, in fact, the Decisions and Actions we make are shades of Grey In that they are not Pure as a whole. To illustrate: I dare say that the most devout Christian, when they bow their heads to pray, are influenced by somemotive, however slight- perhaps that they expect to receive something from God or they feel sullenly obliged, or that they want others to know what a Righteous, God-fearing person they are. As for Love, “Pure” Love; it never truly exists. (This part I am not certain of, but I suspect that pure love cannot be shared between 2 “impure” persons(?) Perhaps the Love is given for the physical gratification, or emotional support, or….something given with the requirement that person’s own desires will be met as well. Or to spite family or ex’s. Or just to prove some other point. A champion Great Dane or Boxer or Basset Hound is either purebred or it’s not. As soon….. I won’t dig deeper, but you get my point. Once something Pure is infected or contaminated by something Impure, the entire honor and classification of “Pure” is GONE! So is there a “Good and Evil” debate? I don’t know, but there’s surely “Pure and Impure”, Pure and “Not Pure”. There is Pure and there is everything else. I have been rather biased (unintentionally) thus far, so to be fair, let’s proceed like there are no Wrong or Right actions in life. Let’s replace Right and Wrong with Correct and Incorrect. Each response can either be Correct for it’s function or Incorrect. So, as Humans, the best we can do is to choose the RIGHT THING at that moment and make the BEST CHOICES. Quite dissatisfactory? (perhaps I’m missing something?) The Purity aspect makes me lean toward the pro-“Good and Evil” camp, but there were some aspects that let me see why some would consider Actions to be Grey Areas. So, to be agreeable, let’s say that actions are not Wrong and Right, not Black and White. We’ll say our actions occur within a giant “Grey Area”.

Regarding PEOPLE:

Regarding people…..hmmm. “Well, you people are all…..wait,” I AM one of these People. So…. As fellow humans, good or bad, right or wrong, big or small, light or dark; we’re all in this together. We don’t need to agree with someone to respect them, their cultures, and their beliefs. And we don’t even need to agree with someone to like them and care. Amazingly, we don’t need to agree, like, or even know that person to show them Love! Therefore, seeing that it would be foolish to debate the fact that not one of us is flawless, why should we still view each other as either/ or entities? We should learn to enjoy one another’s individuality, displayed as various colors with many tones, and shades and textures that combine to form the Picasso of Life, painted by the Almighty. So, as Humans, while we shouldn’t view each other in a Black or White way, we aren’t Grey either. Jesus Christ, in Luke 6:42 says- “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brothers eye.” However, I can’t remove my own plank from my own eye, so I won’t hold your speck against you either. However, while I try in earnest to accept everyone and love each one, it doesn’t make it my responsibility to conform to their ways in order to fit in. And it doesn’t mean that it’s wise for me to follow the lead of just anyone and everyone with an ounce of charisma, or repeat even the actions that don’t coincide with my personal beliefs. That’s my Freewill, isn’t it? Does that really make me a judgmental person? HOW?!! But on a human level, we do NOT decide who is Good or Not, Pure or Impure, Right or Wrong. And it really shouldn’t even be of concern to us... who Is and who Isn’t. All of us are in the same boat. We ALL sin and fall short of the Glory of God, so by no means can one consider themselves better than anyone else. We are neither wholly Good or purely Evil. So in regards to how we, as Humans should view each other, we are neither Black nor White, Good nor Evil, but rather vivid, unique colors, combining to form a universal masterpiece…… Unfortunately, our actions as Humanity have EARNED us a different fate:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”- Romans 3:23;

“For the wagesofsin is death….” – Romans 6:23.

**My study, however basic and uncontrollably biased, is nearly complete (for now) so my final chapter of “The Big One 3.0”, with the Final Arguments and the Results will be coming shortly…….

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(see “The Big One!! 3.0”)

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