Category: Creationism

2/24/2014

Dysfunction is not a life sentence - We CAN do better

THE CREATION OF ADAM Michelangelo

The ancient myth of Adam and his tribe gives definition to the term dysfunctional. It tells the story of a dust-made man who was placed in a lovely garden where it was assumed that he would thrive. But was he happy? No. He was lonely and bored. It’s not that there wasn’t a lot to do. There were fruit to pick and animals to name. But Adam didn’t like his job. It didn’t satisfy him. His solution? He got a mate.

What a gift! You would think they would have been a perfect fit, but not so. Unfortunately, she inherited a bit of Adam’s attitude. After all, she was pulled directly from his side. Eve was unhappy in her garden with all those animals. One creature suggested that it would be smart to eat fruit from a forbidden tree. Bad idea. And Adam, the poor dolt, followed his wife into the same trap.

Things slid downhill rapidly for the couple. Unhappy, dissatisfied, bored, disobedient, and now, exhausted… (Did I mention Adam was demoted from a fruit-picker and animal namer to a ground tiller?) … the couple decided it was the perfect moment to have kids.

CAIN AND ABEL Adriaen de Vries

Along came two sons. And, yup. Cain and Able were two apples that didn't fall far from the tree. Dissatisfaction led to jealousy, and jealousy to infighting. Given their roots, it seems only natural that they would become predators and victims in their turn.

The way the story goes, Adam’s tribe couldn’t really help themselves. They were born that way. It was the creator’s fault, of course - this miserable god who, out of mist and dirt, activated a storyline that was destined from the beginning to degenerate into dysfunction.

In all, the Adam myth is a pretty good explanation of what the nightmare of mortal existence looks like when we reason from the false premise that man is the victim of material circumstance, and that gods, or God, made us this way.

Some segments of the population take the Adam story as a literal truth. Certain others reject the general account while accepting the logic it emphasizes – material origins, dysfunctional comportment unavoidable – as generally correct. But a third point of view was first offered by a 5th century prophet, reiterated and demonstrated by Christ Jesus, carried forward by the apostles and early Christians, and later researched, proven and published in the works of Mary Baker Eddy. They give a better, accurate view of creation as spiritual, not material, and show us a way out of the chain reaction of dysfunction.

A discontented, discordant mortal is no more a man than discord is music. EDDY, SCIENCE & HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES,, 305

Through false estimates of soul as dwelling in sense and of mind as dwelling in matter, belief strays into a temporary loss or absence of soul, spiritual truth. This state of error is the mortal dream of life and substance as existent in matter, and is directly opposite to the immortal reality of being. So long as we believe that soul can sin or that immortal Soul is in mortal body, we can never understand the Science of being. When humanity does understand this Science, it will become the law of Life to man, — even the higher law of Soul, which prevails over material sense through harmony and immortality. IBID. 311

THE VITRUVIAN MAN Da Vinci

Spirit and its formations are the only realities of being. Matter disappears under the microscope of Spirit… When we learn the way in Christian Science and recognize man’s spiritual being, we shall behold and understand God’s creation, — all the glories of earth and heaven and man.
The universe of Spirit is peopled with spiritual beings, and its government is divine Science. Man is the offspring, not of the lowest, but of the highest qualities of Mind. Man understands spiritual existence in proportion as his treasures of Truth and Love are enlarged. Mortals must gravitate Godward, their affections and aims grow spiritual, — they must near the broader interpretations of being, and gain some proper sense of the infinite, — in order that sin and mortality may be put off.” IBID. 264-265

The good news about dysfunction is, we aren't born that way. It is NOT a life sentence.
We CAN do better, start from a better, correct view of who we are and where we come from. As we near the broader, spiritual interpretations of being, and gain clearer views of God and man, dysfunction will be - completely and finally - put off.

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1/28/2012

Moving beyond matter in the creation debate

An Indiana Senate committee voted 8-2 on Wednesday in favor of a bill that would require public schools to teach creationism alongside evolution in science class. Is this progress? Or is the already murky water of the creation debate just getting an infusion of more mud?

On one hand, there is the materialist view of man's origin excluding Spirit from the equation altogether. This is found in the teaching that substance and life is 100 percent material and self-evolved.

On the other hand, there is a religious view of creation based on the Adam and Eve story, with man originating in divinely activated dust. Setting aside or perhaps unaware of Biblical scholarship that exposes the contrary, creationists teach that the 7 day explanation in Genesis, chapter 1, results in the hopelessly flawed Adam generation in Genesis, chapter 2, - as if these two accounts are one singular literal rendering of the origin of man.

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Dysfunction is not a life sentence - We CAN do better

Moving beyond matter in the creation debate

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Dysfunction is not a life sentence - We CAN do better

Moving beyond matter in the creation debate

Find me on YouTube​

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