Have we bought the lie?

Tomorrow is the 4th of July...a time of celebration! There will be hotdogs, apple pie, and probably a few impromptu baseball games. Water slides, watermelon, and water....okay, I don't have another water word. There will be laughter, honoring of veterans, and hopefully prayer for our nation, because no matter who you ask, you'll probably hear that despite our celebrating, our nation is in trouble.

Some will say the problem arises from recent court developments. Some will say the problem arises from our lack of reverence for human life. Many will point at the prevalence of government in our lives. Some will say it's the liberals. Some will say it's the conservatives. I'm thinking it may be something different. I'm thinking it goes all the way back to Genesis and a tiny little lie. A question actually.

Recently I had a conversation with someone who is MUCH more educated than me. She is, no doubt, a wonderful person. Very intellectual and has a heart to help others. I will not say a bad thing about her...but we definitely did not agree. To be honest, I'm not even sure how our conversation took the turn that it did, but within moments it became evident that she believed in evolution as opposed to creation. Her arguments were that while God created, He used evolution to do it. (I've heard this argument before.) She also believed much of the Bible to be metaphorical in nature. Needless to say, we disagreed.

Since that conversation, I seem to see articles on creation everywhere I turn! You see, I believe that TRUE science points TO creation...and while I am not a scientist, there are many scientist who agree with that point of view. If one buys into the idea of evolution for creation, there are a number of issues you must then wrestle with. For one, how then did sin enter in through one man? How did Jesus come as the second Adam and die as a sacrifice for that sin? (We disagreed on this as well, by the way.) How can you deal with Jesus speaking of Old Testament writings as fact? Either He was ignorant or a liar...neither of which I can agree with. But all these arguments are really not the purpose of today's random thoughts. It's identifying the root of our problems....

Is it possible that we bought the lie? You know, in the garden that's what started the ball rolling. In Genesis 3:1, "Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” Did you get that? It started with questioning what God said. The enemy craftily inserted doubt into the legitimacy of God's Word. It was the meshing of an idea that was NOT of God with something that IS of God. Verses 4 & 5: "⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Seems he forgot to include the part about the knowledge of good and evil being because they would experience separation from God's presence and the beauty of the life they knew.

Is it possible that the "problems" our nation, even our world...and yes, we ourselves face are due to buying the lie that has woven itself into our books, our tv shows, and our minds. It's a subtle one...just a little bitty question. Did God really say? Or, the idea that God's Word is a collection of metaphors, not to be taken literally? Yes, I realize there are some pretty hard parts of the Bible. I'm thankful that God does not require me to gouge out my eye...it does not sin so getting rid of it really wouldn't fix the problem. Plus, and far more importantly, Jesus died for my sin. Yes, that literally happened. It's not a metaphor or just some feel good story. Nothing I can do would "fix" the problem anyway.

I'm sure there's more to all of this than my puny little mind can embrace, but this is really just a collection of MY random thoughts. Maybe we allowed the "lie" to weave its way into our lives and before we knew it, it was like the ferns that looked so lovely in my yard until they took root everywhere and started to choke out my rose. I really didn't think it was any big deal to begin with. It was so tiny and looked entirely harmless. Yeah....tell that to my rose that it killed. (Check out my previous blog, "The Pruning Process...")

I don't want to buy the lie. I believe God's Word is true...and I want it to shape everything I do. I know I have a long way to go...but recognizing that truth is truth is the first step. Maybe then, we can truly ask for God to bless America.

But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent.
2 Corinthians 11:3