INTERVIEWING GOD
(Serialized Version)
by
by
Michael A. Lawrence
Part II
“Suffering – What’s That All About?”
WHY ALL THE SUFFERING? IT SEEMS LIKE THE ONE IN CHARGE WOULDN’T LET IT CONTINUE. WHY DON’T YOU STOP IT?
You would be surprised to learn just how much of it I won’t allow – but back to your first question. I once created a uniquely beautiful and gifted angelic being. I made him an authority in charge of heavenly worship. It went to his head. He thought it would be a good thing if he relieved me of the whole operation.[1] He corrupted a third of the angelic beings. I had to give him and his allies the boot.[2] He went on to deceive and corrupt the first parents as well. That was the origin of all the suffering in the universe.[3]
Why don’t I stop it? My long suit is to take what is very bad in essence and use it to my advantage to make something very, very good.[4] Suffering is no exception to that rule.
ALLOWING THE SUFFERING TO GO ON SEEMS SO UNKIND. ISN’T THERE A BETTER WAY?
My son asked that question in the garden at Gethsemane, so you know my answer.[5] It might help to look at the stage play analogy again. It’s one thing to just produce something that the audience will enjoy and yet another to reveal the heart and mind of the director plus bring it all to a glorious conclusion. My intentions are greater still. A truly great director will reproduce himself in the players. A patron meets one of mine on the street, I want it to be more than a little like touching me. My son is the pattern but, by design, just the first of many with what I would call family resemblance.[6] He was no stranger to suffering and did learn from it.[7] To be genuine, none of the siblings[8] can bypass this part of the equation – even though many mistakenly go to such great lengths trying to avoid it.[9]
BACK TO THE USURPER IN HEAVEN, THE SOURCE OF ALL THE SUFFERING, AS YOU SAY – WHAT WAS HIS PROBLEM?
His pride caused him to loose sight of the principle that still governs the success or failure of every being in the universe – submission to authority.[10] To make matters worse, he went on to infect some of his closest angelic charges with the rebellion. They, in turn, infected others. It was like a virus run amok. I had to clean house.
YOU TALK LIKE YOU HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT SCENE. DON’T YOU CONTROL EVERYTHING?
I’m in charge, but every being – angelic or human, due to his or her inherently high order – is responsible for his or her own attitudes and actions.[11] Of course, it’s all based on a level of understanding. One is responsible only for what one knows. So, we’re back to the robot question. Delegating responsibility is a part of my control function.
LET’S GO BACK TO EDEN. WHY DID THINGS GO SO BAD AFTER THE FIRST PARENTS WERE DECEIVED?
To be able to fully grasp the gravity of that situation, one must have a look at how things were before what is now commonly called “The Fall.” When we created the first Adam in our image, he got a multi-dose of life, if you will. “Lives” is how it now best translates from the original autographs. I breathed more than one life into the first Adam when he became a living being of enormous potential.[12] He received a biological life not so unlike that of mere animals, and he was given a personality, commonly called the soul. It was fledgling at first, but highly capable of development. In our final stroke, I breathed my very life into him. In seed form, of course. That allowed for spirit-level interaction, designed to fast-track his development.[13]
WHY THE RUSH?
Well, the rebellion in heaven had created a completely new dynamic in the universe. For the first time ever, more than one will existed. Previously, there was just my will and all those sub-wills in perfect alignment with me. The usurper changed all that. I’ll let you in on a little secret – that’s when what you now call “time” began.[14]
Anyway, I had big plans for Adam and his mate, but they were going to have to be able to resist temptation from the infected beings in order to carry off their assignments. Thus the need for development. But the usurper was Johnny-on-the-spot, so I said, “Why don’t we just use him to develop our somewhat naive couple.” That concept became a pattern, a useful tool for us down the road.
End of Part II
Coming soon: Part III, “The Trees, The Fruit, The Snake – The Seed”
[1] Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptural references are from the New King James Version. All parenthetical items contained within Scriptural references are my emphasis.
“The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:13b-15).
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14:12-14).
[2]“So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:9). “(The dragon’s) tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth” (Revelation 12:4a).
[3]“Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil.’ . . . The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate’” (Genesis 3:4, 5, 13b).
[4]“When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘Perhaps Joseph will hate us and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.’ . . . (But) Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive’” (Genesis 50:15, 19-20).
[5]“He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, ‘O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will’” (Matthew 26:39).
[6]“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be (just) the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29).
[7]“. . . though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
“For it was fitting for Him (the Father) . . . to make the captain of their salvation (the Son) perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10).
[8]“For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified (set apart) are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren . . .” (Hebrews 2:11). “. . . go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God’” (John 20:17b).
[9]“He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6). “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2).
[10]“. . . Because your heart is lifted up, and you say, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods . . .’ yet (being) not a god . . . you set your heart as the heart of a god. . . . By your great wisdom . . . you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches. . . . Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you” (Ezekiel 28:2b, 17).
[11]“. . . work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12b, 13).
[12]“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26a) . . . “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life(s); and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).
([1 life] + [1 life] + [1 life] = 3 life(s) is how the Hebrew word used best translates.)
[13]“Now may the God of peace sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). “For the Word of God is . . . piercing even to the division of soul and spirit . . .” (Hebrews 4:12a).
[14]“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today’” (Hebrews 3:13a, New American Standard).
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