Masks have uses, but they are rarely for good, El Zorro, Spiderman & the Lone Ranger notwithstanding.

• In my experience, when a person needs a mask to hide his identity, it means one thing and one thing only; he is up to no good.

• I know that this is common now, and these avatars are offered everywhere you turn when online. But, when I first saw this in the mid ’90′s and attempted to use it, I began to see the dangers of chatting as an alter ego or more accurately as a pseudo-ego. I could step outside of myself and be anyone & say anything in anonymity.

• I quickly left the virtual chat room; because I recognized the potential for moral harm to myself, this was the only time that I have used the online ‘chat room’ forum. When one is hidden behind a façade, anything goes. People may take on the ego of a little boy, a little girl, a hypersexual femme fatale, or a big burly & muscular man. The only limits to a person’s avatar are the programming options that these various companies offer.

• I am sure some will say ‘It’s harmless fun.’ Or ‘they are just cartoons, so, what’s the big deal.’

• When these men are back in civilian life it happens occasionally, when a threat to a family member requires them to “switch on” in order to neutralize the threat. Family members will comment about the man, that he was ‘like a different person.’

• Police officers will often have difficulty moving from peaceful home life to the high stress of daily patrol. Police see us at our worst. If I am pulled over for speeding, it’s not a good experience for me and the officer is likely to hear things that is not me being my best. So, Police will “switch on” when on duty and be a different person when at home or with family.

• Finally, there is the life and times of Sacha Baron Cohen (a.k.a. Borat). Folks around the world are debating the good or bad of Borat. I am not going to debate about the fictional character. However, I will note something that Mr. Baron Cohen said in his interview with Rolling Stone Magazine. I will paraphrase Mr. Baron Cohen’s remarks. He said that he would not be able to do and say the things that Borat does and says. He indicated that he must get into character, so that he could behave boorishly and treat people with such contempt.

• Please note that Mr. Baron Cohen must “switch on” in order to do the things that he does. Actors such as Mr. Baron Cohen call it “getting into character.”

• If I must “get into character” or change my appearance & name to Borat in order to say things that are immoral, inappropriate, embarrassing, exploitive, and vulgar; then why is this a “good” thing? Why is this a skill that should be lauded? If I must hide behind a pseudo-ego to hurt people or “reveal” peoples ugly side, am I less ugly? Are those people made more noble by my masquerade?

• A mask rightly arouses suspicion for the person’s character, who hides his identity. And a prosecutor or law enforcement officer who surreptitiously encourages me to commit illegal acts will be guilty of entrapment, even if I am shown to be a lawbreaker.

• I submit to you, that Mr. Sasha Baron Cohen is that prosecutor. Therefore, even if the rest of the world is sullied, it is so sullied because Mr. Baron Cohen encouraged it for his pleasure as Borat, and his personal gain as Sasha Baron Cohen.
• Incidentally, the above right picture is a true representation of real Kazakhs, not the debased mythical ones that exist primarily in the mind of Mr. Sasha Baron Cohen.

(Satan has both sides of this dilemma in his hands and plays me alternately, when I allow it.)
The issue of being a religion of lists is not in Yahweh’s nature.
He rebuked Israel many times in the prophets for only going through the motions of religion.
Malachi records this ritual of going through the motions.
The priests have a list of “things to do”, but they are devoid of heart. “Their hearts are not in it” and so God tells them in verse ten,

(The words here and below that are posted in small gray text have been added because of an editorial request of my wife)

Well, here we are again. This is a follow-up to last weeks’ posting on symbols and God.

The issue of symbols in communication is necessarily implied. All communication is symbolic. These letters are symbols, put together in a certain order to represent abstract ideas or concrete things in reality. So, you see it is not so extraordinary to talk about God using various symbols to represent and convey deeper meanings.
However, the issue is so very important, necessarily because it is absolutely fundamental to humanity and God.
Humanity is different from all of creation by one simple & tangible principle. We have language for communication. This truly sets us apart. Animals communicate by various means, but none have language.
This measure is basic and it includes sign language, spoken oratory/auditory, and written pictographical/alphabetical.
I believe that this issue of language and Symbology is a key to human sin. Sin begins as a breakdown of trust in the thoughts and feelings that are conveyed by our symbols of language. Let’s consider some questions to see if you can understand my point on sin and language.
What is the purpose of language? Is it not to accurately convey thoughts from one to another? I might refer you back to an earlier posting on Quantum Mechanics to get to the idea of our space & time dimensional universe.
Symbols allow us to communicate across time, whether it is days, years, or even aeons.
They allow us to communicate across vast distances in space, whether the symbols are exchanged between a husband and wife separated by a war, oceans and continents or between NASA mission control and the astronauts in a spacecraft.
Our thoughts are formed and exist primarily in a Spiritual realm, but we must convey them or transfer them across a physical dimension and into another Spiritual mind and heart. The goal of our communication by language is to create a unity of mind between one another.
This, hope for unity, results in pain if our thoughts are rejected by those with whom we try to create the union. We may become defensive and perceive the rejection as an attack. Sin at this point is beginning to become manifest.
There are a lot of obstacles to overcome in this transference of thought and feelings.
And still, all the while these thoughts and feelings are being carried into and across the very domain of our enemy, and God’s “would-be” rival, “the prince of the air”, “the prince of this world”, Satan.

To communicate with you, I must take my thoughts and convert them to symbols that we mutually understand. When you hear or read these symbols, an idea or thought is created in your mind. That thought, in your mind, if communication is done correctly (My wife corrected me on this point and I concur, so I want to include this caveat. “Perfect” communication is not possible in our 3D universe, therefore, the idea of “correctly done communication” is only in a perfect world, e.g. Heaven.) , will perfectly match the thought that I had in my mind.
Good communication is very cumbersome in our universe.
How often do you misunderstand your spouse, children, employer, etc?
How often does your spouse, children, employer, etc misunderstand you?
You get the point.
Now we need to deal with another element of communication, which is deceit.
If we are in agreement, that the purpose of language is to accurately convey thoughts from one to another, what does this imply about deceit? (I know that I am presuming that we will agree on the above point, but if you would like to debate the point, I am certainly willing to listen to the other side of the issue. That being, that the purpose of language is not to accurately convey thought, but rather inaccurately convey thought or obscure thoughts. Please post an alternate view if you can support it.)
Nevertheless, I will presume that we are attempting to accurately convey thought. Thus, when we read John 8:44 we see why I believe that deceit is the foundation of all sin. And, it’s not that deceit has necessarily occurred in-fact, but that there may become a presumption that deceit has occurred.
44 For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don’t, it proves you aren’t God’s children.”

Also, when we read the account of the sin of Eve and Adam in Genesis 3, we see that the communication was working effectively, until they were persuaded, by Satan, that God was using language to inaccurately convey thought or obscure truth, e.g. “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed. “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”

We should not presume that people are trying to deceive us, as Adam and Eve did concerning God. We should give our fellowman the benefit of the doubt and always assume the best. Also, we should never attempt to deceive as the serpent did and neither should we ever encourage any to presume the worst of others, as he did. (My wife asked a very good question on this point. “Should they have assumed Satan to be a liar? If so, then this becomes a paradox. My answer to this point almost made it into the original post, because I recognize the “seeming” paradox. However, we have four (4) potential options to resolve this problem. There are only four options of which I am aware that will adequately address all of the data for this problem. When we apply logic to the puzzle, we may resolve the “paradox” more easily.

1. We may assume that our Creator is lying and Satan is telling the truth.

   With option 1, which Satan implies is the answer, we do have a Creator who is all-knowing [omniscient], but who is not all-good [omnibenevolent], because he is deceitful, paranoid and suspicious of others. This does not fit my experience with God. But, even more to the logic issue, if I believe this about God, it robs me of Joy. I am forever looking over my shoulder for an all-powerful God who knows everything, but is mean, hateful and paranoid. This is how many live in our world, but it is not a joyful existence and it is not logical to give oneself over to a belief that may or may not be real, but will certainly lead to my despair, as I try to “outwit” my idea of a capricious God.

2. We may assume that Satan is lying and the Creator is telling the truth.

   With option 2, which I advised, in the original post, as being not acceptable, we do have an all-knowing and all-good Creator, but Satan is the deceiver. This option is a good possibility, but for one salient point, the devil doesn’t work independently of carnal beings. Satan tempts God’s creatures to do his bidding for him. The serpent certainly has culpability in these unfolding events, but the words spoken through him were not his words. Furthermore it is not necessary to accuse him of deceit. The man and woman could have said ‘You are ignorant of the facts Mr. Serpent, because God has told us that we should not eat.’

3. We may assume that Yahweh is ignorant of the facts concerning the tree, but Satan has the full knowledge. With option 3, logic must immediately rule against this. The created being, Satan, cannot possess more knowledge than the Creator.
4. We may assume that Satan is ignorant of the facts, while God has complete knowledge. Only option 4 meets the logic and the standard for glorifying God. Furthermore, in the New Testament book of Jude, we find this curious admonition and rebuke from Jesus’ brother in verse 9; “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” It is not in our purpose or job description, to condemn or bring charges of accusation. Interestingly enough, that job description is reserved for one being in creation, Satan. His very name means “accuser.” From wikipedia; “Satan, from the Hebrew word for “accuser” {Standard Hebrew: שָׂטָן.}

[I want to briefly relate a true story about a businessman with which my company once had dealings. We had done a project for the man and after submitting the invoice he attempted to negotiate the cost of the invoice, but because he and I had already agreed to the price for the work, I refused to revise the invoice. After six months had passed someone asked one of the officers of my company about this other gentleman's company. The response was, paraphrasing 'Well, I think John Doe is having financial trouble, because they haven't been able to pay a little invoice that we submitted.' The businessman got word that my company was telling people that he was having money trouble. He called us and expressed anger that this supposition was being told to others. The simple answer to him was this, 'Mr. Doe, either I can tell them that you are having money troubles or I can tell them that you're a thief. You should tell me now, what answer should I give the next time someone asks.' The response, as I recall was silence followed by a check within the week. The man realized that he had been granted the benefit of the doubt, but his pride was so big that he would have preferred to be thought of as shrewd, deceitful and "more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made", rather than being thought of as an honest man who is struggling with finances.]

I don’t know if this response is common, however, I do know that this response brings glory to God. It allows the person the option of making the honorable decision, albeit after-the-fact, because it does not condemn them at the outset of the event.

I believe that the moral choice taken late is better than the evil choice condemned prematurely.

The symbols that God uses are all intended to reveal truth. And everything in our physical creation is symbolic and represents something deep and more real in the realm of heaven.
What does the ocean reveal about God?
What do the mountains reveal?
What do the trees tell us?
What do the stars and constellations say?

God is wild and fearless. He’s no stranger to risk. He is passionate. Yet, he is peaceful. And He is an adventurer.

What does marriage tell us about God? What does motherhood tell us? What does childhood say? What about fatherhood?

God is romantic and nourishing. God is vivacious and exuberant. God is strong and faithful.

The symbol of marriage is used for God and Israel many times in the Prophets, with God as husband and Israel as an unfaithful wife. You should read Hosea. Look at Jeremiah 3:1ff, “If a man divorces a woman and she marries someone else, he is not to take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, says the Lord. Yet I am still calling you to come back to me.”
And Ezekiel 16:15-17, 15 But you thought you could get along without me, so you trusted instead in your fame and beauty. You gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking! 16 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you carried out your acts of prostitution. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? 17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me.

I don’t want to labor the point by giving too many passages, as background for my point. But, the simple point is made that the Church is called the bride of Christ. We are married to the savior. This is the symbol that God himself has chosen for our relationship to Jesus. Why do you suppose this is portrayed to us so vividly? Why has God instituted the union of marriage from the beginning? Is marriage only a convenient means of propagating our species?
This could have been achieved by many other equally effective means. So, why did He chose marriage and why the method of “union”?
My belief is that Unity is represented throughout the New Testament books and it is intensely portrayed by Jesus’ final prayer before the passion, John 17. Unity is the word. Union is the symbol of marriage, in our wedding bands. The two shall become one flesh.
God is three in the Trinity, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. My contention is that That God teaches us by His symbols. The marriage is also a symbol for Yahweh’s divine relationship, which exists within God. The Father is one with the Holy Spirit and both are unified to Jesus the Son.

Finally, in this symbol we see the Father choosing the bride (the Church) for Jesus the Son. The Father, by the sacrifice of the Son and the nourishing/nurturing power of the Holy Spirit (the Mother), sanctify the Church and make her holy for marriage to Jesus.

These are the symbols that I believe are revealed in God’s plan for our redemption.
I know that many will feel that I have taken the symbols too far.

But, I am convinced that the reason why Satan attacks our families, so relentlessly, is because it is the perfect carnal representation of Yahweh’s holy nature. And so long as our families remain true and sound, it is an affront, an insult to Satan, who could never take part in the divine nature, as humanity can. Satan is proud and angry that we mortal humans have caught the eye of the creator.
And the devil resents the fact that our creator loves us so passionately and so romantically that He will, literally, move heaven and earth to see that our wedding to Jesus takes place.
This life that we slog through is nothing less than the cosmic & heroic love story of all eternity.
We are God’s captivating love.

Symbols of God…

God bless,
DSM

One of the things that has become more real to me over the past few years is the issue of God’s subtlety.

This is really what lies behind the purpose of this blog.

I have attempted to be a “perfect” example and model of Jesus in my relationships, but, this has led me to subconsciously itemize my strengths and weaknesses for the sole purpose of either underlining the problems, for needed work, or ignoring the strong points as being already accomplished.

I have tended to become, on the one hand proud and self-reliant or defeatist and downcast on the other.

Either case does not serve Jesus commission to me. Satan has both sides of this dilemma in his hands and plays me alternately with both lists.

I can display an attitude that comes across as; “I’ve got this covered, because it is a strength.” Then I forget from where my Power comes. This typically results in very awkward and embarrassing moments in front of a Bible study groups, when it happens as I prepare my lessons. When I fail to pray for help I fall flat. When I pray, Jesus is glorified. It is this simple.

My eventual recognition of the two extremes has allowed me great freedom. I now know that “yes, I am imperfect in my carnal nature”, but that I am made perfect in my Spiritual nature.

This is what the apostle Paul talked about in Romans 7.

14 The law is good, then. The trouble is not with the law but with me, because I am sold into slavery, with sin as my master. 15 I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do the very thing I hate. 16 I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 But I can’t help myself, because it is sin inside me that makes me do these evil things.

18 I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn, I can’t make myself do right. I want to, but I can’t. 19 When I want to do good, I don’t. And when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. 20 But if I am doing what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing it; the sin within me is doing it.

21 It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another law at work within me that is at war with my mind. This law wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin?* 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

You will notice the emphasis that I have put on verse twenty, the reason for this emphasis, is that Paul quite clearly does not identify with the sinful nature. He hates his sin and says in verse sixteen that this revulsion of the sin and his conscience is a testimony to the goodness of the Law.

This point was, to me, like a hammer on a drum. It is good news.

Folks, if you feel bad when you do wrong then you are in tune with who God is and who Satan is.

Our guilt, if we feel it, is a very uplifting emotion. So long as I feel sorry for committing sin, then my heart is standing for the Lord. Paul is making this point, and he goes further, to say in verse twenty-five, “Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord.” Jesus will extend grace to you as long as you are looking to him for your perfection. It’s not inside of your natural/carnal nature. It was not in Paul’s carnal nature. It was however, in his spirit or his heart and that prompted a gift of God, the Holy Spirit, which transformed him, as well as us, to the image of Jesus. When the Father looks at me He sees Jesus. He doesn’t see my old sinful shell.

This encourages me. I don’t have to keep lists. I don’t have to fear my sinful nature. And, I have no strengths of my own force of will. If I am not being tempted with a particular sin that used to drag me down, then praise God for my continual transformation to the perfect image of Christ. I can’t claim any credit for the growth. That is God’s territory. My heart is just the soil for the seed.

So, the next time you find yourself involved in sin, don’t give-in to despair, instead do what Paul did in Roman 7:25, praise God the Father and thank Him, as well as Jesus Christ and God’s Holy Spirit, for giving you a ‘new heart of flesh and removing from you, your old heart of stone.’ (Eze. 36:25-27)

It’s a very subtle (nuanced) difference, but it’s a big difference, nevertheless, and it culminates in the difference between hope in life and despair in death…, for me.

God bless,

DSM