The Wisdom of the world and the knowledge of good and evil

This blog project began in December of 2009 so a year has passed and the New Year is a blank page to be written on and, a blank canvas awaiting paint. The blog began as a result of a trip back to a Bible-Belt funeral. I was saddened by what I found to be the position of many of the attendees and speakers. I will write a blog post explaining exactly what saddens me later on this year. For the time however, I will simply recall that over the year I wrote many posts that fit into several different categories. The categories provided an alternate way; and equally valid way to look at the biblical narrative. In fact, I presented strong evidence that this was in fact the way that Jesus looked at the biblical narrative and likewise, the way that he taught his followers to look at it.

The categories are as follows:

• The scripture has a solely redemptive purpose
• The word of God was redefined to mean Jesus or the gospel
• The little apocalypses (Matt 24, Luke 21 and, Mark 13) were fulfilled in the first century
• The period between the cross and the destruction of the temple was the total transition from old covenant to new covenant
• The New Heaven and Earth are completely available now by faith
• Current church doctrine is the strong delusion of 2Thess 2

The beginning of this year will open the door for looking at how the knowledge of good and evil and, what Paul called the “wisdom of the world” are synonymous. One of the major problems that humanity faces is grounded in the knowledge of good and evil… the ability to judge. The problem resides in the fact that humans do not really know good from evil only God does.

Along the way last year, I stumbled on to a book called Discovering the God Imagination by Jonathan Brink which, provided an alternate atonement theory. This atonement theory fit very nicely with my paradigm shift. His premise is that at the time of creation God declared that humanity was good… in fact… very good (Gen 1:31.) When Adam and Eve gained the knowledge of good and evil they judged themselves evil and reasoned that God did not think they were good; in other words, they did not believe God’s original decree. Brink reasoned and, quite rightly, that with the knowledge of good and evil humanity chose to reason that it was evil. Use of the knowledge of good and evil drove a wedge between Adam and Eve and God. They could not be sure that God thought that they were good and therefore they reasoned that they were evil. This is the exact cause of the chasm between God and humanity and is thereby the root problem.

When speaking of humanities downward spiral, the Apostle Paul said that humanity, claiming to be wise became fools (Romans 1:22.) Original sin was in fact the act of not believing God in his proclamation that humanity was good. This is why sin is not acts per se but rather, unbelief and, likewise why faith is obedience. The obedience of faith is found throughout the entire biblical narrative.