Overcoming The Human Condition

Many people are “Turned Off” to anything said in Churchianity language. Effective communication of Biblical principles to this large number of people must be done in their language but without vulgarity. The concept of the Human Condition is well understood and I recently took this approach, although abbreviated, in such a conversation. I felt it would be good to share This Evangelistic message with my readers so I pray you come away with a great understanding of a back door approach to reaching people who “don’t want to be preached at.”

Origin of the Human Condition: Eden

Did you ever think of what it could have it been like if the 1st couple on this planet had not blown it so badly?! Hasn't mankind be trying to get back to Eden ever since they were thrown out? They may call it “Paradise,” Utopia,” Nirvana,” or something like that but let’s stick to Eden for now. People go exploring the frontiers for two reasons, their quest for wealth or Eden. That original state we were created for motivates many to search for the way back. So many others are short sighted and are driven by lust, greed, gold fever or whatever else you want to call it. And the worst motivation is self centered pride. Well have I summed up what is called the Human Condition? Let's add one more, something social studies called "Man's inhumanity to man."

Years ago I was in a conversation with some people who were talking about Communism vs. Capitalism. The root cause of every socio-economic or political system failure to create the Utopia it is designed to establish over time is because of greed. Greed, arrogance, self centeredness are nothing new, they started in Eden. The enemy of our souls touched that nerve and persuaded Adam and Eve to go after the one thing they were told not to do. Oh if they only took a second to consider the cost!! Everyone faces that same moment with every temptation. That cost for those two in Eden was exile, the eventual removal of Eden from Earth but worst off all was death and separation from the incredible presence and communication level they had with God the Father. This was further compounded in that they now had to work for their food, Eve had to have painful child birth and all of creation was corrupted. All this and more just because they listened to the enemy of our soul and opened their hearts to doubt God, to yield to the all the bad character traits mentioned above.

Examples of the Human Condition: brothers in contrast

The story of Adam and Eve’s sons, Cain and Able, further illustrate the out workings of

what happened in Eden. Able was doing what he was supposed to do the way they both were instructed to do it. He understood what was expected to get the job done and to gain the approval for a job well done. His brother, on the other hand, did things his own way, like his parents he thought he was smarter than to have to follow the Master's instructions. Not getting the approval for his "excellent alternative "Cain got jealous, so worked about it that he killed his brother. This was the first physical death of a human on the planet. This was the first example of "man's inhumanity to man." So many bad character traits were manifested in Cain, so many bad motives were allowed to flow through his blind rage.

Fast forward in time to Noah's era in our history. From time to time the glaciers of Mt. Ararat have shifted and people have seen he ark. The character traits we saw in Cain had spread like a cancer through the generations. Man's inhumanity to man had become so grotesque that the creator of the universe had to intervene or there would be nothing left. I wonder if the consequences of the lack of God's intervention would have been as drastic as all out nuclear war. Violence was the norm, life was not precious and life on Earth must have been horrific. There are man places in the world today that must resemble what all the world may have been like and we should pray for God to be merciful and step into those situations. I always remember the stories of Jewish life under Hitler. The list of horrific tyrants that slaughtered millions is lengthy in our history. They’ve answered to God for their actions and consequences I am sure are eternally horrific. These examples show the extreme dark side of the human condition. Unfortunately, no matter how “good” or “nice” or even “Christ like” someone may be, we all suffer the consequence of what happened in Eden in that we do not have the level of access to God people had before the screw-up in Eden. We suffer with imperfect bodies and minds, we get sick, we die physically. The first people were created so perfectly that they nd their descendants for a few generations had such great bodies that they lived more than 800 years. There is a remedy and we will get to that later.

Another couple of brothers exemplify the progression of the consequence of the fall Eden, Jacob and Esau. By any account of Jacob he was a greedy, self centered, conniving scoundrel. Even at birth he had it in for his twin brother who was born 1st but Jacob had a hold of his heel on the way out of the womb. As a young man Jacob is sitting at a fire cooking a fine pot of soup. His brother comes in from the field starving and the smell of that soup has him captured. Instead of being a nice guy and offering his brother some, he hooks that baited fish with a proposition. He says something like, "Bro you are the first born so you will inherit everything. I'll give you some soup in exchange for that." Esau isn't thinking straight or he doesn't take his brother seriously, he is so hungry eating is all he cares about at the moment so he says, “Ya right, sure, whatever you want just fork over some food.

            Esau didn’t take Jacob seriously but he was. When their father was blind and dyeing, Esau goes hunting to fix his dad a feast of fresh meat that he knows Dad loves, then receive the blessing of the first born. Jacob, motivated by his greed, plots with Mom (obviously he was her favorite and Esau was Dad’s), disguises himself as Esau and brings Dad that feast, only cooked by Mom. Dad enjoys the food then gives the blessing of the first born to Jacob. Can’t you hear him saying, “Mom, it worked.” Then Esau goes to see Dad and the jig is up. Dad can not bless Esau as he did Jacob. Jacob stole the blessing of the first born. Esau was so angry he was ready to kill Jacob so Jacob runs away Uncle Laban’s, his mother’s brother who lives a long way away.

         Well we all know that “what goes around, comes around.” Uncle Laban was better at the selfish deception game than Jacob. Basically Jacob got the worst end of the deal for fourteen plus years. He had to be married Leah, the ugly older sister for seven years before he could marry Rachel, the beautiful love of his life. Uncle Laban worked the young man’s butt off for many years until finally Jacob’s had enough. He gather’s up his wives, his 12 kids and a vast herd of sheep he grew during all those years and decides on head on home. Jacob thinks that Esau is still carrying the grudge and is petrified of what his brother will do when he hears that Esau is heading his way with a small army. Jacob thinks he needs to appease his brother so he divides his resources and family into droves as peace offerings to Esau. Jacob had now conception that Esau could have, “gotten over it.” Well Esau had, and had also become very wealthy so he didn’t accept these peace offerings. He was just very glad to be reunited with his long lost brother.

The keys to getting beyond this Human Condition

Something amazing happened to Jacob shortly before he sees his brother, something life changing. Jacob had a personal confrontation with God. Have you ever had a mental and emotional wrestling match when facing a crisis? Jacob still thought Esau might kill him and all his family in order to regain the birth right. Jacob wrestled with God all night. Jacob emerged from this night with a permanent limp and a changed heart, so changed that his name changed from Jacob to Israel, from Deceiver \ Supplanter to Prince. The scoundrel is now a mature man who understands that God is the King. So many Jewish prayers begin with the phrase, “Blessed art thou oh Lord our God, King of the universe…” It is that understanding that begins the process of overcoming the human condition. In order to follow His ways we all need this change of heart that is special, personal and life changing.

The second key is to understand that the screw up Eden has been passed down genetically into every person ever born on the planet. We all recognize that, ”nobody’s perfect” and use that as an excuse. The expression, “my bad” is often a ticket from consequences of messing up, of making mistakes. But mistakes are cost somebody something every time. How many families do you know of that are not al all dysfunctional? How many companies can produce 100% perfect product 100% of the time? How many people never suffer the slightest physical malady? How many women give birth with no pain? Why are there wars? Why is the earth so messed up as to have famines, earthquakes, tornadoes, deserts or floods? Why has no one created an eternal utopia?

The answer to all these questions is that humans, as a race, messed up so badly way back in the beginning. There is a cure, there is a remedy to the situation but is must be a personal, special thing for every person. Just like Jacob, we need that confrontation with God where we surrender to God and accept that He did something so significant, so drastic, that was such a dramatic show if His loving character as to demand a response. What I am about to say can not be intellectually grasped in such a way as to change your life. What God did was to come to Earth as a person, He sent His son as a perfect person who never screwed up because He was born without the bad gene. It was a miracle, something that no man could make happen. He was conceived by God in the womb of a woman without having sex. He broke her membrane on the way out. He lived a perfect life, He taught us how to live and love one another. Then He paid the ultimate price of love, taking the Human Condition and allowing men to kill him in the most horrible, painful way ever devised. He paid the cost of our screw-ups. Then, as He said He would, He only stayed dead for three days. He walked out of the grave, showed himself to over 500 people, taught us some more then went up to heaven.

JESUS IS THE REMEDY, HE DID ALL THAT BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU.

JOHN 3:16 IS ABSOLUTE TRUTH, that God loved all mankind so much that He sent His only Son to pay the price for our screw-ups and that whoever believes on Him will not suffer the consequences of the Human Condition. Eternal life can be a reality for anyone through surrender to the King of the universe and acceptance of what Jesus did for us.

ASK GOD FOR THAT SPECIAL, PESONAL CONFRONTATION WITH HIM THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER, ASK HIM TO RESCUE YOU FROM THE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE HUMAN CONDITION.