The Garden of Eden

 

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Some people believe the Garden of Eden is or was a real place. They debate endlessly where it might be and sometimes go to great lengths to try to find it.

The modern interpretation is more symbolic. The Garden represents the world the way it is supposed to be, a place or a state of mind where people know who God is and what his purpose for us is. It also explains why it isn't that way at the moment.

The ancient writers imagined a perfect world where there was no evil, not even the concept of evil. They tell us how they imagined evil came to be. Obviously, they didn't have access to the science we have today, but somehow they knew that humans have two sometimes conflicting tendencies. First, we have an innate desire to be in community with other people. This state of compassion and cooperation can be easily upset by our other personality trait, the desire to protect ourselves. The slightest hint of an attack can cause us to go into defense mode and do things we would later regret.

Under perfect circumstances, in the Garden of Eden or the Kingdom of God, there would be no reason for any of our brains to ever go into defense mode. There should be no reason ever for anybody to attack us. Reality is that it happens anyway from time to time. Then we have failed God's purpose for us. Thank God we can ask for forgiveness and resolve to do better.

We can't change the world. What we can do is do our best for our own behavior to make it look more like the Garden in the eyes of other people. That is our purpose in life. There should be no reason for anyone to ever attack anyone else.

Does God Exist?

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 Does God Exist?

That depends on who or what God is. What does it even mean for something to exist?

The Bible writers didn't seem to have any doubt. They simply seem to have assumed that he does, always has and always will. We can't ask them what kind of proof they had or how they came up with that idea. They just did. That's a fact beyond question.

Does something have to have a physical presence that can be measured or observed for it to exist? Surely, trees, houses and people exist. What about feelings? Do they exist? Surely, hunger or joy both exist if you are hungry or happy. What about ideas? Does democracy or science exist? Of course they do. They just don't belong in the physical or natural world. They belong in the spiritual world, the thoughts, feelings and minds of people. Then why not God? 

God doesn't have a physical presence. You can't see God. The ancient writers knew that. That's because God belongs in the spiritual world. God represents the ancients' attempt to illustrate the power of the innate part of human nature that has to do with compassion and cooperation. Similarly, Satan represents our natural instinct to survive no matter what, no matter who gets run over in the process. 

Whether you agree with it or not, God's presence sure is durable, occupying the minds of billions of people for thousands of years. Of course he exists except he may not be who or what you have been told, but that’s a story for another day.

Priests, Kings and Scientists

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The world, especially the wealthier and younger part, has become increasingly secularized. While a few countries still mandate strict adherence to religious customs, another few are prohibiting public display of religious affiliation.

More than half of the earth's population identify as either Christian or Muslim. Only a small, but growing group claims no religious affiliation at all. Clearly religion has played a significant, but shrinking role in the lives of people throughout the world and throughout history.

Religion is often seen as a spiritual, supernatural or divine companion to the physical, material world. The typical role of priests is to connect the two. 

The earliest priests may simply have been people wondering how the world works. What causes natural disasters, rain to come or the sun to set and rise? Could you control these things? How about controlling how people live their lives? At times the lines between priests, scientists and kings may have become blurred.

It is not hard to imagine that the ability to control nature could lead to some kind of special status. It is no less hard to understand how great wealth would do the same. Uniting kings and priests makes a powerful alliance. Hundreds of kings and emperors have been crowned by bishops. Holy empires have come and gone. Harold Bluetooth and Constantine didn't make Christianity the official religion because they were such strong believers, but for purely political reasons. Augustine did not come up with the "just war" concept based on Scripture alone.

Today, many religious leaders depend on paychecks to arrive regularly. Preaching a gospel of sacrifice and forgiveness may not have the same appeal as prosperity or eternal life. It has to be hard to tune out what the people in the pews want to hear. It must be hard to preach about systemic change when they expect therapy for the soul.

We're blessed to know Jesus and what he teaches about the Kingdom of God.

Money and Property

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The vision for New Covenant House is the Kingdom of God here on Earth. It is a common purse community. Does that mean that there is also a common purse in the Kingdom of God?

No, in the Kingdom of God, there is neither purse, expenses nor income. In the Kingdom of God everything is held in common (Acts 2:44 and 4:32). No one claims anything for him or herself. We're not owners. We are stewards. Stewards manage or look after something on behalf of someone else, the whole community or God as the ancients would say.

Common purse communities only exist because none of us are large enough or have enough skills to care for everyone without interacting with the outside world. We still depend on them to obtain certain goods or services, but, certainly, the ultimate goal is to break free from the world and produce everything we need ourselves.

First, we can decide to need less. We can join with other communities and share what we have with them. We can learn to produce more things ourselves or use appropriate technologies to do it for us.

In the Kingdom of God, there is no money. The use of money tends to inspire greed and exploitation. It tends to cause division among us. Our goal is to live completely without the use of money or its equivalent, private property.

We believe it can be done. People of the world will have a difficult time with it. The shift in the way they would have to re-think their possessions is simply too radical. Our words may not convince them, but perhaps our actions will. That is why we have set a course for a different destination: The Kingdom of God.