FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART OP-ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
After the insurrection on Capitol Buildings on January 6, 2021, I have heard many people saying, “This is not who they are.” I have heard the same from families whose loved ones have become perpetrators of some of the most egregious crimes, “The is not who s/he is.”
I have heard the same from individuals seeking to absolve themselves from destructive acts that they have done, “This is not who I am,” they say. I have even heard the same from embarrassed church members who have slipped at the mouth, “cussing” and “fuming” that would shock the most hedonistic person, “This is not who I am.”
While I have wondered, at times, about the comments concerning the way that the many seek to make excuses for their attitude and actions, I argue that there might be a speck of truth in what they are saying, but it is not so much to say, this is not who they are or who I am, but the greater truth is that this is not who they/we were or meant to be.
Let me set forth what I have said above in another way in a list of declarations.
1. We were created in the image of God. I said created; I did not say evolved. I am speaking as a person of faith who believes that there is a divine designer of the universe and that the good earth and perfect humanity that came from his holy hand is not what we have today or who I am right now. I am in a state of becoming but is of seeking to get restored to my created image.
2. The human being I am reflects all the weaknesses of a fallen world. The human being God created in the first place is not as perfectly reflected in the world today. When we say, as a boast or in any apologetic way, “This is who we are,” we have to admit that we are good individuals mixed with a lot of bad, as is said, “In the best of us there is so much evil, in the worst of us there is so much good.” We should not be frightened if we are being declared “split personalities.” If at all we would be honest, that is who we are, except we are reconstructed by the Spirit of God.
3. If the above is accepted without the modifier of the reconstruction of the Spirit of God, we can say that this is not how we were meant to be or would desire to be. Instead, we would desire to be restored to the full humanity that we were created to be with the full image of God.
4. Our present attitudes and behaviors are not what they are supposed to be. Therefore, what we are now doing is abnormal. Yes, we have normalized the worst of our behaviors under the guise of our free-speech movement, which uses obscenities in public political speeches and media productions. But, I argue, that what we are doing is not normal; it is abnormal.
I have stated the above to point out that something in our world is wrong. It is not a significant discovery of mine. It is a simple fact that is accepted by all honest persons. Something went wrong. From the Biblical description, what went wrong, I have called The Curse of The Fall. If you have not read Genesis 1- 3 lately, I beg you to take a moment to read it. Take note of the pronouncements of God upon the earth that all he had made was “good” and “very good.” Then notice the words in Genesis 3:14-19 in which God speaks of the curse upon the earth as a result of The Fall.
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
16 To the woman He said:
“I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
In pain you shall bring forth children;
Your desire shall be for your husband,
And he shall rule over you.”
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:
“Cursed is the ground for your sake;
In toil, you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19 In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust, you shall return.” (NKJV, emphasis mine).
I do not know whether you are one of those who have trivialized the story of creation and the curse of The Fall. I do not know whether you have called it “an ancient myth,” “an illusion,” as so many have done. I do not know if you follow humanistic religions, naturalistic philosophies and sciences, to claim that the cursed conditions we are seeing today have always been and will always be.
But I can declare to you, that based on my reading and acceptance of the Bible, what we are seeing in the current order of the world is not what had been and will always be. Therefore, whether we like to say it or not, we must admit that we are under a curse. This is how the apostle Paul declares it, at least three times in Romans 5. He calls it sin, offense and disobedience.
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned (verse 12)
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. (verse 18)
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. (verse 19)
My observation concerning the curse is not intended to make you depressed. Instead, it is to help you understand that the life we are living and the normalcy that we are declaring are not how it was intended to be. It is God’s intent that we are to live a blessed life in a blessed state, as it had been before the Fall. But we cannot have “the blessed life” if we fail to acknowledge the curse. I have stated in a prior reflection that, “The curse will not come without a reason.” (Proverbs 26:2). Please pray that one day the curse will be removed.
