Bible – Many Things

The bible is about God, spirituality, history, morality, faith, ethics, theology, right, wrong and it is the foundation of Christianity.  But that is only part of the equation.  It is also God’s secular guidebook for life, work, friends, health, relationships, behaviors, and family.   Furthermore, this is true whether one does so intentionally or not, and this means His Way works whether one is a believer or not.

A point of clarification, the bible is God’s word, yet it is imperfectly recounted through humans, inclusive of our biases, mistakes and inconsistencies.  This statement may trigger some people negatively, but I caution people not to fall into the trap of it is either 100% accurate or should be ignored.  Divine wisdom is there, it just sometimes requires understanding and context; when it comes to wisdom, some assembly on the user’s part is required. 

Physics

God’s design is one of straightforward physics – a platform of action reaction.  It is a formulaic structure that goes beyond the physical properties of the seen, but also to unseen elements as thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, attitudes and life in general.  Think of sin as not so much as a moral blemish, but a misalignment with God’s Design.  Thus, moving beyond scripture being solely a treatise on morality, its principles promote alignment with his design that produce secular results and opportunities.  To be clear, the bible tells us How.

Exercise Parallel

It is not complicated; it is commonsense.  If you exercise, whether you know it, understand it, desire it or even believe it, you will get fit.  Similarily, the benefits of acting in alignment with God’s Way impacts all regardless.  And like exercise, our actions reactions are not always a one to one equation, for certainly context influences results, but directionally one understands the concept.  

Doing First

Commonly religions and self help gurus encourage change through belief, motivation, understanding, claiming when done with conviction it will lead to action.  And that may be true.  However, the equation works both directions…doing leads to belief. Change in our lifes most often comes from what we do for what we do leads to results and results change beliefs. 

Bell Curve

The world functions according to God’s consistent and logical design: it does not rely on magic or instantaneous results.  Rather consistent and persistent actions that move one forward (again, even if not intentional or destination thinking).

Implicit in this is that Biblical principles do not eliminate the need for skill, ethics, discernment, competency.  You can’t be a successful car salesperson without knowing product features and benefits.  You can’t survive longterm in the industry by being untrustworthy.  God’s Way does not make selling convertibles in Antarctica a good idea.  Staying in bed or never talking to people won’t work either.  Certainly context and surroundings matter.

But assuming you don’t have the excuse of operating outside the bell curve, the principles of God’s Way put you in a position to have good outcomes and should be tried. 

Doom vs. Benefits

Lead with what bleeds.  Scare people into action.  The easiest thing to do would be citing the hundreds of depressing statics as evidence of the rise of confusion, lostness, loneliness, despair, depression, listlessness and general ill-health. 

Yet, while the bible is not a prosperity doctrine, I would rather promote the upside to God’s Way:  The LORD has blessed my master abundantly, and he has become wealthy; He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys. (Genesis 24:35)  So if camels and donkeys and other things as these are important to you, you have that going for you as well.

Furthermore, leaving a spiritual desert is a good thing.

In conclusion:

There is much good progress in this world, but it also obfuscates and distracts.  The answer is not reverting to living the life of a monk and eschewing all technology and conveniences (though this would not be the worst alternative), rather the solution is in building a solid foundation based on the Way of scripture.  As the people in the bible abundantly demonstrate with their foilbles, God’s Way accommodates all variances, personalities, goals, environments, even incorporating imperfections. 

The bible is the stories of people whose DNA is within us.  Incorporate these into your life and the physics take over.  It is simple.  The promise is it is for your betterment.   The hope is that as a seeker you can not only be a shining example of a better way, that you can help others as well.  Give it a try.  Take a first step, no matter how small.