There are a number of concepts about God that are inconvenient for earth persons. They are not insurmountable problems for human beings unless they are made so. They are helpful in that, knowing them we can find adaptation and means for coping with any spiritual affiliation while we are also occupied in an earth environment with its conflicts related to the acts and perceptions of mankind and God. Some of the characteristics of God that trouble general societies include: holiness (so to be at odds with some human beliefs and conducts); time periods (so to determine how to function within the creation of time as nature’s periods); and, change (so to balance inevitable concepts of change practiced by mankind; and, the unchanging nature of God in his context). This story may be extended in the complexity of the factors related to the experience of life. The complications do not enter animal life in that there is no image of God in animals. Human life is unique in that inescapable factor. It is a factor that demands some attention after human death. To God nothing of his true image will die. To manage this factor we know about heaven and hell. There appears to be no recourse to annihilation which most persons tend to accept if they are thoroughgoing humanists. Humanists see life beginning in the fetus and ending in death. If there is anything beyond the grave, they believe, that information is unknown therefore mankind is left with nothing. The concept is addressed in Scripture, which is received by Christians as revelation from God.
For mankind there must be change, and that is a major interest from God. If perfection appeared in mankind’s context then mankind would also become unchanging. Who would change perfection? We must change as the circumstances of life change. The changes ought to relate to learning that carries out the command of God to dress the garden and know it. The order would make an excellent motto for educational institutions, for the rearing of children, for the purposes of nations. Currently there is a strong movement, taking many directions, for the Greening of the World. Each nation is urged to do something to assist in finding the best ways to adapt to nature so as not to foul it, or destroy it – but to use it. The uses of fire and water so basic to life are examined for the conservation of resources and adaptation to environment. This is fitting to the divine command. The command cannot be addressed without education about how the natural system works efficiently, how mankind fits in, or anything else that relates to good life and the safety of nature. God means for human beings to have good life which moves incrementally toward God.
It is generally agreed that mankind has been somewhat prodigal in the management of earth and life context. Better conduct in nature by the people of the earth offers better circumstances of life. Improvements were not meant to rest upon failure in the application of procedures which has often been the case. Learning must take place all along the line if the aggregate is to be successful. When an alcoholic tells me that I don’t understand his problem, my response is that I do not need to be an alcoholic to know that excess of ingested alcohol is harmful to my health and to society. The society begins with my family, and proceeds outward from there. I have learned that non-prescribed drugs, and sometimes prescribed, are harmful to my health and sensible conduct. I would not recognize the most popular addictive drugs, and the closest I have come to them is in pictures of marijuana plants. I have, by education, learned what I need to know in the uses of automobiles, money, nourishment, cleanliness, inter-personal cooperation – of many factors physical and spiritual that have made a good life that gratifies my mind for usefulness. This has required changing in my life from the dominance of desire to a dominance of function, from human desire to better values some of which have been foreign to my tendencies. To have followed my tendencies would have exacted from me some of the years I have lived and enjoyed life. I owe gratitude to those who were my mentors, in daily life, from my mother, pastors/teachers and friends, from books and experiences – all that served to improve my store of knowledge and related to proper life context. The greatest of these influences was from Scriptural instruction for spiritual life and values. We are obligated to seek truth. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020