The Lord is my Shepard I shall not want. Dysfunctional families have the pathologies of abuse and false expectations. The reason we make the statement that nobody is perfect, is because we acknowledge that dysfunction is inherent within all families. Jesus however came to reveal a family that includes all humans and this family has no dysfunction. Looking out across the earth realm, it would seem impossible for such a family to exist, nevertheless it is does.
Jesus is an acceptable sacrifice for any person to become part of the God – human relationship going forward. There has always been a God – child relationship with all humans, but for most of human history, we humans have been blind to the nature of our true relationship with God. The many religions of the world including Christianity, is the evidence that humans lack understanding of God’s universal love for all of His children. On the other hand, the various religions of the world provide hints to this truth. Deep within every person in every culture, there is a sense that we each are interconnected and we are all part of something bigger and something hidden.
The greatest dysfunction we humans suffer is the sense that “I am not loved”. If every person had an internal confidence, they are loved the world would be dramatically different. Within every culture of the world, there are stories of its members seeking love and successfully finding it. Also included in those stories is the obtaining of love at the expense of other cultures. The Judeo-Christian culture is founded on one son tricking his brother out of his birthright or blessing. That is because we humans view love as an object that is finite. Even before the story of Jacob and Esau there is the story of Abraham son’s Isaac and Ishmael, one is considered the son of promise the other is written out of his culture. However if we change our point of view to God’s perspective we can begin to see His love shining on all humans equally, because God’s love is infinite just like God’s nature.
John 8:58 (NKJV) Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”
God being infinite which is the understanding of Jesus the “Last Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45), do humans begin to see the potential of God’s love. It is very short lived and Rabbi Paul all but resets human understanding of love and family back on the path from Jesus to the understanding of Rabbi Moses. Western human thought does not deal with the infinite paradigm. Today’s western thought is lastly derived from the Greek philosophy and tied closely with scientific materialism. There is a strong mythology and ideology from a human perspective and that point of view guides scriptural interpretation to justify a social order based on inequalities.
There is a truth from God’s point of view and it is that God loves every human equally. Even the greatest nation on earth acknowledged this truth and declared as much in its documents of independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights”. However, the National Constitution created laws to justify a social order based on inequalities. We also need to upgrade our terms to recognize all humans and not just “men”.
Luke 15:31 (NKJV) “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
Quantum science is beginning to shift the materialistic, and finite human mindset to a quantum state that includes all possibilities. Today however the default mindset is very dualistic. As evidence of our dualistic biased interpretation of scripture, let us look at a family described in one of Jesus’ parables culturally titled “The Lost Son”. A simple family but only three member are depicted a father, and two sons. My question is simple. Based on all of the interpretations you have heard which son is lost? The first thing to notice is that the common title of the parable implies that only one son is lost. When I make the statement, that the scriptural interpretation is used to justify inequality in our social order, this is a great example.
From God’s point of view or from the point of view of the father in the story his loved for both of his sons is equal. The majority of orthodox ministers need us to stay members of their flock so the lost son is always the one that leaves his father home. So what is the point of the story? Both sons needed their father to prove that they were loved. The giving of material wealth and sustenance is what every human uses to measure the depth for which they are loved. Yet this does not end there. Humans also require that wealth and sustenance be taken from or no longer given to the other. In other words God cannot love both, only me.
Galatians 3:28 (NKJV) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
If human social order is ever to evolve into a human family, we must begin to perceive and experience a unity of love. A single child in a family is the center of attention and is seldom accustom to sharing the love of their parents. These same dynamics happen on a cultural level. As the nations of the world grow, we all are noticing that we are living in communities with multiple sub-cultures.
Like children, the sub-cultures are expecting to receive expressions of love from their parents. Also true is that the dominate sub-culture may for the first time have to share the love and attention. This is where justifying inequality in our social order leads to more and more dysfunction. Nevertheless, this is also the point for a paradigm shift in or human mindset. I hope that as children we all mature and begin to realize the nature of family and love.
Is it possible for each child to know and experience loved? Even if for a moment in time while love is flowing towards another it does not mean that they are loved less. My encouragement is for us to see as individuals and as members of sub-cultures the interconnections that make us all family. If we are family then we are equally loved by our Father in heaven.
Even if one of our family members is declared lost, written off or cast off, our prayer is for them to return from the dead. We live in a dysfunctional family and a world that justifies inequalities in the fabric of our social order. Only the revelation brought on by love can shift the mindset of our family members. Love alone defines the style of our human family.
John 3:16 (NKJV) For God so loved the world…
EVidence LOCKER 