Double Standards

[aron]

God is good and wonderful, and emanates His goodness and wonder throughout all of His creation. "The heavens declare the glory of God..." How much more, we who were made in His image.

But of course you know the drill - we disobeyed, and our species (human) was, although in the likeness of God, darkened and thrust away from His kingdom. Yet God did not give up on these failed and cut off creatures, and repeatedly sent messengers, emissaries, to turn them back to the light.

God's adversary Satan got wind of this practice, and alternately rebuffed and entangled the messengers, and sent his own emissaries, some of whom cleverly disguised themselves as agents of light, in order to trick the unwary. So you found seekers of truth and goodness and beauty and even reality itself, holed up in a bunker in Waco Texas, blasting away at ATF agents. Or in a jungle in French Guyana, being handed cups of poisoned kool-aid. Or committing mass suicide so that they could teleport to Jesus, who was coming to them on a spaceship riding behind the Hale-Bopp comet.

I once thought the passages in Jude and 2 Peter warning of "wandering stars" among us to be semi-raving paranoia. My experience over the years has made me rethink my position.

The great act of God was to send His Son, as the True Emissary of Light. We the failed believed into Him and were saved, and partook of His victory. We were transferred into light, and began to modify our behaviors accordingly. But here's the rub - the True Light is Jesus Christ. Any emissary who begins to presume for him/herself pride of place becomes separated from the light. And when the light turns to darkness, how great is the darkness!

Thus, the safety in the well-worn paths of old, and the peril in striking out anew. Anyone offering new and better teachings should be suspect. Especially when these new doctrines are essentially held as a contravention of our behavior. As if works were dead, and "eating Jesus" or somesuch were sufficient. I see this as teaching something novel and without scriptural basis, that being hearers (or eaters) of the word were enough. As if saying, "I am becoming God" or saying anything (reciting, declaring, chanting, pray-reading etc), would make it reality itself. No, it is the living that is the true testimony. Our faith is indeed in the teachings of Jesus, but not because they were cleverly presented, but because His living was pleasing to the Father, who furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead.

Jesus taught, "Do not be hearers of the word only, but be doers of the word". If your theology merely tickles the fancy without the transformative power of the divine command - e.g. "Love your neighbor" - then what is it but distracting speculation? No value.

I think that the Father has rescued and restored us so that we might now obey, where once we failed: we obey by seeing the Obedient Son before us, now beckoning us onward. Theology should guide us in our quest, not distract us. Our theology should hone our steps.

The original message of this thread, "Double Standards", gives warning enough, what happens when the original message of repentance and return to the light gets distorted and contravened. Our thinking gets warped, and we begin to simultaneously spout sweet and bitter water, blessings and curses, light and darkness. And we contradict ourselves at nearly every turn, but think that because we do it, we won't be judged. Even though God judges everyone and everything, He will overlook our hypocrisy because, well... because. Because we want Him to.

I don't think "we become God" is a false teaching per se; it can be argued as false, and argued as true. But the arguing doesn't bring the reality. It is only the living that brings the reality. LSM now (I presume) trumpets the "God-man living" as the universal elixir for all mankind. But what has this phraseology added, and what has it side-stepped (love your neighbor, etc)?

And I don't think Lee was a decepticon, any more than I am, or anyone writing or reading this forum. Jesus alone is the witness to the Light. The rest are, at best, but pale imitators. "Imitate me, as I imitate Christ", said the apostle. Jesus alone is the way back to the Father. Nobody's theology, not yours or mine or Lee's, will fully capture, or match Him. My daily and hourly failures show me that I am nothing and have nothing. But today, at least, I am not so ignorant, that some smooth-talking profiteer and merchandizer will easily and quickly ensnare me with his/her speculative elixirs, his/her confidence games. Thank God for hard experience. It is worth something, after all. Thanks be to God for that.