The Most Powerful Force in the world
is not thought to be the human will, not by a long shot.
Maybe an earthquake?
Or hurricane?
Tornado?
But the human will?
A resounding YES! Only we-of all His creatures-have the capacity to deny the Creator
- Of this world.
- Of this universe.
- Of all universes known and wholly unknown.
- Only human men and women have the capacity to refute our nature as sons and daughters of God.
- To deny the divinity of Jesus Christ.
- To walk away from salvation and Eternal Life.
Because I think about Eden-right, the Garden of- a lot, I write about it.
Usually I ponder those idyllic days when the first couple, Adam and Eve, walked with God “during the breezy time of day.” Born in His image and likeness, the man and woman lacked nothing. Not infrequently, I sense the echoes of those perfect days.
Don’t you?
Every now and then isn’t there a flash of belonging to a place of perfection where peace reigns? No actual sounds, more like the absence of them. As if you are one with the universe, suddenly all things feel connected to everything else. A complete whole with you exactly where you should be.
“God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.”
Until we listened to the evil one.
Tosca Lee’s description of Havah‘s (Eve) reaction to her dreadful act sets in stark relief and heart-rending prose all that has been lost.
I cried out in a language without words for the One to restore me. Too late; I was like the child that reaches up with broken arms. He said very quietly, I will greatly increase your conceptions. With pain you will give birth to children. You will long for the man, but he will rule over you….
….You talk of God?” I screamed at him. “You, who say that you ate what the woman gave you—you, who hold no responsibility for what you put in your own mouth?”
“Go! Run to the eastern gate!” the adam shouted over a distant rumble. “Run!” Run? My body had rebelled against food and consciousness already. How could I run wearing this terrible trophy? “I am going for our things.” He pushed me away. “Go!” I took one last look at the face I loved and abhorred, and then turned on my heel and ran.
Had the animals turned traitor to us as well? I thought of Adah and her mate. Or had we turned traitor to them?
I tried to shout the holy name of God, which I had known, but when I opened my mouth, it was like something just beyond reach, so that I stuttered the unintelligible. “It is I!” I cried. “It is I!” Thunder drowned out the sound with a roaring clap, and lightning flashed so brilliantly it blinded me for a moment after.Havah
Incredibly, expulsion from Paradise is not the end of our story.
Humanity is so filled with self-hatred and fear that we cannot conceive of a god who can love us…just as we are.
- A God-man willing to empty Himself of every shred of divinity and accept 2000 years of crucifixion and cursing.
- A Triune Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who bend to the most powerful force in the world-the human will.
- Never shouting, forcing, or coercing, but whispering with impossible, implausible love.
- Waiting for each one of us to crack open our hardened heart.
My Beloved Atheist
Surely you have the power to renounce God
To divorce yourself from mystery
To walk alone
To reduce your talent
To chain your spirit to the cliff.
In the beginning, you do.
You walk away. Quietly.
You find the power to announce yourself
To make your mark
To have effect
To manage pleasure
To orchestrate your path.
You walk your way. Marching.
Marching, banging your drum
Right with your will, with sheer will
Left beating your drum, beating
All drums, you find only hum.
You sense humdrum.
You get angry. You stomp.
You collect ravens and rear them
On razors. You starve them
Then show them the dove.
Daily, you see offenses, daily
You run shrieking back to the cliff where
You peck out your own eyes. Daily it hums and
Mystery still transgresses.
In the end, you are blind.
In the end, you will be quiet. You will be
in an eternal silence when Mystery
Calls the dove
To reconcile your ravens.
Maura Harrison