I am not a Calvinist and I'm not sure I am Armenian either. In my theology though, I do recognize the spiritual and physical brokenness of humanity and, indeed, all creation. Since the days of the first humans, there has been a desire in us to be like our Creator. We want to be in control of our environments, our own lives and our own destinies. We want to create, unhindered by external rules and regulations. We want to know. We want to enrich ourselves. We want to satisfy ourselves, our desires. While those thoughts were not initially our own, this suggestion that came from a negative spiritual source, was taken up by our ancestors in rebellion against their Creator.
The question arises, why would God create us with the ability to make choices that were not in line with His desires for His creation?
It is a question for the ages. The answer to it does not matter. The fact is that He did do that and we did decide against His will. We took up the mantle of self interest and carried it into a human history that was not intended. We were intended to serve Him. We chose to serve ourselves. The blood soaked pages of our history proves that we take everything that we have and corrupt it. We corrupt what we received from God and we corrupt the things we make ourselves. It is why even the most holy among us have issues in our lives and the most depraved find new ways to continually to increase human misery, even if it's our own.
The original humans that took this step against their Creator passed on this tendency toward spiritual rebellion to all future generations. It was at once both a physical and spiritual inheritance. Both our bodies and souls are afflicted with it. Even creation itself has been afflicted with it. The entire universe is out of it's natural harmonious rhythm because we choose to act apart from the Creator's will.
Did He know what would happen?
Again, it does not matter. What matters is the path back to Him. He used the course of our history to make peace with Him possible again. It cost Him a part of Himself to make this happen, but He did create a road home for us. Yes, I'm talking about Jesus. You all know the story of Jesus. Non-believers know His story. Muslims know His story. Hindus know His story. So do the Buddhists, Shintoists, Confuscists, and animists. It is the greatest story ever told. It is the road back to God paid for and built by His own sweat and blood and tears. We can go home. We can all go home. We just have to believe in the reality of the Man with the Plan.
So who gets in under those conditions?
Anyone that meets them.
Simple eh?
No matter how bent, broken, corrupt of perfect you are, if you believe in the Man with the Plan, you are in brother.
"Well", you might say, "Ghog, how is that fair? I've been good all my life while others have been murderers, adulterers and thieves. Why should their terms be the same as mine?"
To which I say, is it fair that the Creator of the universe should have to come here and take up a human body to save our sorry backsides from our own self destruction?
Fair is as fair does. Human fairness and divine fairness are two different concepts. Because we lack understanding, because we cannot not know as God knows, our childish perception sees unfairness where there is none.
Beyond that, God is God. Our fate does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. We can sit around and debate why God made us one way or another, but it does not matter. What matters is God and His mercy. We can say, "well God made me this way". Did He? It was not the original plan. That propensity toward sin (oops, I said it) that we embrace is as old as the choices of our original ancestors, and even with them, God exercised mercy and restraint.
So instead of sitting around and arguing with God or ignoring Him because He doesn't see what ever it is in our way, why don't we try embracing Him in faith and see what happens. He might surprise you. It's bend the knee now or bend it later. Doing it now will produce far better results.
We can choose to go home, even with a bad gene pool. You might as well come with us. It's gonna be a good time and it will last forever. He's waiting again for our decision. I'm going.
Thank God for His Mercy and Grace. It trumps a bad gene pool every time.
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