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Ignorance

by Brother Kim

Before Jesus Christ got introduced to the public, he fasted in the desert for 40 days (Matthew 4:1-11). When he finally was hungry, the Devil (Mara) came to tempt him. In a vision he showed him all the kingdoms of the world and all their splendor. The Devil sad to him: "All this I will give to you, if you will bow down and worship me." But Jesus answered: "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'" Then the Devil left him for a while. Everything has its origin in Christ and belongs to him. So there is no reason to bargain with the Devil about the creation, which he unlawfully keeps in bondage, since the day, he as the serpent in the garden of Eden tempted the first man and woman to disobey God's only prohibition not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-5).

Different worldviews

It is important first to establish that there in the world today prevails at least three different worldviews. It is different ways of perceiving the universe and the manifold life on the earth according to different beliefsystems.

Evolution theory

Supporters of the western atheistic thesis about evolution believes that the world, animals and people are an evolutionary product of selection through millions and millions of years. After this life man has nothing else to look forward to than death, and it will happen to them as they believe.

But the earth is not at all as old as science insists. That the wold in fact should be 5.4 billion years old is contradicted by significant scientific facts. Firstly, it can be measured that the moon slowly is moving away from the earth. Where should it have started, and where would it have been, if so long time had passed? Next, it can be measured that the earth's rotation around its own axis is decreasing yearly. How fast would it have spun around at first, and how fast would it have been spinning today, if endless times should have gone by since the beginning of our solar system? Science is suggesting that the first man lived about 70.000 years ago. But if one draws a curve estimating the human population growth in historical times, and then count backwards, it is strange that one is not reaching further back than about 6.000 years. Science insists that the dinosaurs died out about 70 million years ago, and that no man has ever seen a living dinosaur. How come that there are pictures and stories from all over the world showing seamonsters and dragons? Should such amount of occurrences be the product of man's individual imagination? Such creatures could not have been described with modern terms, since the word "dinosaur" first was used in the 19^th century. Even in our time many people from different parts of the world report that they have seen dinosaurs (Dr. Kent Hovind, DVD Seminars about the age of the earth and the Bible and dinosaurs, Pensacola, Florida: Creation Science Evangelism 2002). If you have been brainwashed with the evolution theory in school, link from the menu to a website called "Creation science evangelism", which elaborates the evidence against evolution and for creation in far more details.

Samsara

What is then the third worldview, Samsara? Supporters of this worldview, that is believing Hindus and Buddhists, think that all existences, i.e. animals, people, demons and gods etc., all are of same basic substance, in such way that this substance without end can be born in still new existences according to the law of good and bad karma.

Who created samsara? Nobody can really answer that question among Hindus and Buddhists. However, it is certainly not God. For everything that God has made is good. He cannot be ascribed as the cause of endless sufferings. There is normally not any westerners with the atheistic or Biblical worldview, who believes in samsara. When zealous Buddhists, therefore, attempt to spread their teaching about the origin and cessation of suffering, they first have to convince people about samsara. You are not only going to suffer in this life, but you could be reborn to suffer in countless future existences. For the wheel of existences consists of birth and decay, grief, lamentation, suffering, despair, sorrow, old age, sickness and death (Paul Carus compiler, The Teachings of Buddha revised and abridged edition, London: Random House 1915, 50-51). That is bad news!

Creation

The good news, however, is that you only are born to live and die once and then to be raised to make account of your life before God your Creator. And if it happens through knowing the giver of life, namely Christ Jesus, it means the final end of suffering according to the promise of God. "The dwelling of God will be with men, and he will live with them…. and wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away" (Revelation 21:3-4). At the same time it will be the redemption for the whole suffering creation (Romans 8:18-23). "The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD" (Isaiah 11:7-9). But the Devil, who seduces people to evil and create much meaningless suffering, shall as deserved be thrown into the Lake of Fire and tormented forever and ever there (Revelation 20:10).

From the beginning, however, the creation narrative of Holy Scriptures of the Bible teaches us that God is the Creator of all things. The creation narrative in the beginning of the Holy Scriptures teaches us that God first made the light, the universe and the earth (Genesis 1:1-5). Next, God created vigorous plants and fruit trees on the earth for food (Genesis 1:6-13), and put signs upon the sky above as guidelines for settling seasons and festivals (Genesis 1:14-19). Then God created the fish of the seas and the animals of the earth, each according to kinds (Genesis 1:20-25). Finally, God created man and woman uniquely in his own image (Genesis 1:26-27). And God instructed mankind to spread out all over the earth and take charge to cultivate it, creating still new cultures as the product of the inborn creativity of man, though within a very basic framework concerning food and rest (Genesis 1:28-30 & 2:2-3). This is also the reason why Christians believe in a responsible administration of the environment of the earth and respect for the rich life of animals and plants. For it is the good creation of God, which mankind is expected to administer as the representative of God on earth. After the end of creation God inspected everything, he had created, and saw that it was very good (Genesis 1:31).

From this website you can from the menu download a special spiritual map for a meditation, which points out the different elements and spheres of the creation. Print it out on paper with Acrobat Reader and use it like this: Set aside one hour for quietness and come before God your Creator in Jesus' Name and read contemplatively through the texts from Genesis. Learn to honor God our Creator!

It must be admitted that the look of the spiritual map is inspired by a Tibetan Buddhist spiritual map over samsara, the wheel of existences, but the explanation is of course totally different. Firstly, beware that God the Creator is outside and not a part of his own creation. There is no confusion of living beings as spirits, animals and human beings. Each are created as they are, and they don't change into something else in another existence. Animals exist each according to its kind. And just like Buddha understood, mankind is the unique crown of God's creation; for only man is made in the image of God. Only did Buddha not possess the knowledge about honoring the Creator. For that reason you should notice the keyword, which states that from the beginning God created everything good. Hallowed be the Name of the Lord! It is only after the first man and woman broke God's only rule that the place of the dead became a reality. After first having listened to the Serpent man came to live in continuous battle about the control in his own life and in the world with the Serpent and its offspring, i.e. the evil spirits. Notice that the all-enslaving Mara (The Serpent or the Devil) is exchanged with a bat, which symbolizes darkness or blindness. The bat cannot see, but it sends out signals, which get reflected, when they hit something. The Devil is not like God omniscient, he has to use intimidation and provocation to get into people's minds. He is a created being and not the equal of God. The battle of God against the Devil has therefore nothing to do with raw strength, but it is about winning human beings over from darkness to light. The enemy of man is figuratively presented as the Batman symbol, which at the same time indicate people's futile dreams about synthetic saviors, i.e. idols. Finally, you should notice that Heaven, i.e. God's place, and the Lake of fire does not appear on this spiritual map, which presents the beginning and not the finish of God's work.

Mara

From where does evil enter into the picture? The Devil (Mara) first appears in the Garden of Eden in the form of a serpent and seduces the first woman with a lie, which contradicts the Word of God (Genesis 3:1-5). The Holy Scriptures does not teach from the beginning, where the serpent came from. But as one among the angels the Devil even had entrance to the council of God in Heaven for a while (Job 1:6-7). The prophet Isaiah later explains the Devil as a fallen angel, who opposed God because of the desire to be honored and worshipped like God (Isaiah 14:12-14). It is at least clear that the Devil not is God's equal, such that the fight between the two might fall out to the advantage of one or the other. The Devil is only a fallen creation and far inferior to God. It is different, when it concerns human beings. After the initial disobedience, God said that they should live in a defense position, in an ongoing struggle against the offspring of the Serpent in the Garden of Eden, i.e. evil seductive spiritual powers (Genesis 3:15a). The battle of God with man against the Devil is therefore not a question of brutal force, but the struggle is about the mind and loyalty of man and woman. And God has from the beginning promised that the offspring of woman (singular), i.e. Jesus Christ, should crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15b). This particularly happened, when Jesus Christ died on the cross to expose the false power position of all evil authorities in the world (Colossians 2:15).

The realm of the dead

Finally, we are going to look upon the beginning of the other big evil of the creation, i.e. the place of the dead. Just like evil not was there from the beginning, when everything was exceedingly good after God's creation, the place of the dead was not there (Genesis 1:31). But the Devil suddenly appears in the form of a serpent and seduces the first woman to break God's only rule. God had said that they must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The consequence would be expulsion from the access to the tree of life, and death (Genesis 2:15-17, 3:6 & 22-24). Now somebody might think that the beginning of the Holy Scriptures with man and woman in the Garden of Eden might be a little childish, but very soon the brutal reality of death appears in the world of man. In Genesis 5 the narrative tells about the descendents of our first ancestors in several generations, that they lived until an old age and then they died. The reality of human mortality is universal.

Since death means separation from the land of the living, God has strongly prohibited man to seek contact with the dead (Leviticus 19:31 & 20:6 & 27). For it is not possible. There is nothing good to collect from the dead except in the form of memories, earthly goods and writings etc. No earthly power could ever comfort the dead. Trust that God himself will comfort whoever deserves it. All this Jesus taught in his story about the rich man and Lazarus in the realm of the dead (Greek: Hades). The poor Lazarus received comfort, while the rich man was in torment (Luke 16:19-31). In the same way one should not seek contact with dead saints in Christ as if they already were in Heaven. For they are not available. The Apostle Paul teaches with clear words that the dead in Christ, including Peter, Paul and Mary, are resting in the realm of the dead for the return of Christ in glory and power (1. Thessalonians 4:13-17).

Now the serpent had tempted the woman with the promise that she should not really die, but should become like God, if she ate of the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:5). Since the body obviously dies, there was nothing left but the hope of the immortality of the soul. This teaching we find much later with Plato and Aristoteles. And you should be aware that many western Christians stick to that doctrine, even if it has absolutely no foundations in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible. The consequence is that they believe that unsaved people will be tormented in Hell forever and ever. But such could never be in agreement with the loving kind nature of God to punish people forever for simple earthly sins. It might even be my beloved father, mother, husband, wife, son or daughter.

However, just as you can count on God's promise of salvation in Jesus Christ, you can also count on his warning about final death. Impermanence, i.e. the reality of death, concerns the whole man. Therefore the false idea about reincarnation, which assumes an immortal substance (spirit, soul, self, consciousness etc.), which can survive, is just an illusionary invention of the thought and idees of mortal man. If something is right to do, it should be done today without hesitation and not conveniently be postponed to another life. The belief in samsara is often used to continue peacefully in the usual business in hope for another life to seek the true spiritual virtues. Therefore, nobody, who suffers because of poverty or misfortune, should think about it as if they deserved it by ascribing it to misdeeds in an earlier existence. At the same time nobody should boast about birthright, happiness and wealth as if they deserved it by deeds in former lives. But without being reconnected to the source of life in Christ by faith, the final end of man will be the Lake of fire as explained by the Apostle John (Revelation 20:14-15). There is no alternative existence besides God and his creation.

Estrangement from the Creator

Jesus Christ confirmed the Ten Commandments of the prophet Moses as we find them in the Old Testament of the Bible (Genesis 20:1-17). He summarized the teaching of Moses and the prophets around these commandments and taught that we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and all our mind, and our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:34-40) The first of the Ten Commandments teaches us not to worship other gods than God our Creator. The second commandment prohibits us to carve any image of anything in heaven, down on earth and under the earth, and worship and cultivate it. To do such thing would result in still greater estrangement from our true God. It is still an important issue on the Way of Christ. On the first council of the Apostles of Jesus Christ they did not require observation of much religious rules of the new non-Jewish disciples, except than that they should keep away from getting polluted by idols, abstain from sexual immorality and from eating blood (Acts 15:19-20).

The Apostle Paul brought the decision about keeping away from idols into practice, when he proclaimed the Good News about Jesus Christ in Athens. He called the extensive idolatry of the Greeks for ignorance. He said that God in the past had overlooked such ignorance, but that people all over now should repent and seek God our Creator through his only Son Jesus Christ (Acts 17:29-30). Later the Apostle taught the Roman disciples with some more elaborate arguments (Romans 1:18-25). In fact people have no excuse for carving images and fall down and worship them. For they always had the opportunity to know something about the Creator from looking to the creation. It is indeed foolish to give thanks to a dumb idol for provisions, when in fact God always provide abundantly for all men, good and evil alike (Matthew 5:45). The Apostle concludes that the nature of idolatry in short can be described as worship of the creation in stead of the creator.

The Escalation of idolatry

The Old Testament of the Bible tells the history of the chosen people, Israel, and how its peace and prosperity continually depended on their right relationship with God. The people had progress, when it kept close to its God, and backlash happened, when it allowed itself to be seduced by idols (the golden calf, Baal etc.). God's Law against idolatry began with the simple prohibition against carved images, but since then idolatry has escalated into huge proportions in our time. Buddha's simple request to his disciples not to count on gods for their sanctification is also not valid anymore. For it doesn't really matter whether the god is called Hanuman or Buddha. Now somebody might believe that idolatry is a particular Asian phenomenon. Not so, the modern problem of idolatry is indeed universal. And idolatry always leads to estrangement from the true God in Heaven.

The issue of idolatry is not limited to pictures and figures made by the hands of skillful artists. It concerns as much mental images, which people can create in their minds. Such might look exceedingly pretty, but they will never mount to more than illusions of the mind. They are completely without power to add anything to the carrier, except a certain state of mind. Mental idols could indeed never save anybody from the impermanence of human life.

Another form of idolatry is Pantheism, i.e. the worship of the whole creation as god. Anything could be god, whether it is stones, trees, monkeys, elephants or people. But the soul of our Creator does not live in the universe. According to the Apostle Paul idolatry consist exactly in worshipping the creation in stead of the creator.

A third form of idolatry consists in worshipping dead ancestors, who by death apparently becomes god or buddha, no matter how unholy lives they might have lived on earth. It is truly correct to honor parents. It is one of the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20:12). But honoring parents is not bowing down to them at their funeral. It means that children have a duty to take care of their parents, when they get old.

A fourth form of idolatry is unhealthy involvement with the characters of stories and movies. In the spiritual map over God's creation the evil Mara is presented as the bat symbol from the Batman story. Batman as the fighter against evil stands out a synthetic savior. Man's hope of real salvation is totally forgotten. What people like about these stories is the entertainment, which they bring. But they are totally without any human obligation.

This brings us forward to the worst idolatry of history ever. That is worship of mortal people as god. Worldly people live for themselves and for the attention they can get from others. Young people adore popmusicians, actors and sportstars as idols. The truth is that they with their materialistic and sexually immoral lifestyle often are totally unworthy to such status among men. It is even worse, when gurus and others allow themselves worship as if they were god. It is of course unheard to worship Mara.

The teachings of demons

Finally, Jesus Christ, as Buddha also did, prohibits his disciples to seek security and health, identity or future vision through occult objects, advisers or sciences like talisman, witchcraft, healing, astrology, fortune telling or contact with the dead. Such are the teachings of demons, through which people get spiritually unclean (Exodus 19:31). Consequently, a disciple of Jesus Christ cannot continue to offer such services to others.