Humanity

Being human means our whole existence takes place in the presence of two important truths.

1). You were made by God.

2). You rebel against God.

These two things are true of you. They’re true of me. And everyone else who has ever come out of their mother’s womb (except One . . . we’ll get to that).

Whether or not a person believes in God has no effect on the truths. They are always there. They are always real. The two truths don’t move, change nor waiver. Whether you accept the truths yourself does not impact their reality. Not accepting them, however, is an example of the second truth – rebellion against God. This is because God not only determines what truth is and is not, He is Truth.

Now, not believing in God is actually not the only way humans rebel against God. Many of us who proclaim to both believe and follow God are equally guilty of rebelling against God as is the most devout atheist.

So, what can humans do? We were made by a God who we can’t see and Who both knew and expected us to rebel against to His direction. It’s a classic catch-22. There’s no way out. And this is just the logical conversation. When we get into the depth of theological discussion on “what did God know and when did He know it?” . . . well, then we get into the Law and observances. We’re damned no matter what.

Until . . .

A catch-22, by definition, doesn’t allow for a successful resolution. But God, knowing the two fundamental truths that we live under, also designed a safety net to the condemnation, a backdoor to the matrix. And HE was the resolution.

Jesus Christ saw all the rebellion from His position in eternity. Everyone of our sins were visible to Him before He accepted the mission to suffer death, brutality and humiliation in exchange for every . . . single . . . one of us. He knew some of us would accept His suffering and sacrifice. He knew some of us would figuratively (and, in some cases, literally) mock His actions and spit upon Him.

He also knew that even some of those who accepted Him and His actions on their behalf would continue to rebel even within their rescue from condemnation.

But He did it anyway.

So, the two truths of humanity, two truths that combine to create free will, are both fulfilled and circumvented by God Himself. They are no more or less true because of His salvation of us, just as the condemnation is no more or less real because of our denial.

Both in music and in theology, two different things can be true at the same time.