Evolving Toward God
But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Jude 1:10 NASB
Like unreasoning animals– Jude’s little letter is unusual. It references material outside the canon. It contains hints of late additions to historical matters. But most of all, it provides a shocking warning. I’ve been thinking about his use of aloga zoa. You can see the negative in the Greek—a logos. But:
I want to be human. That means I need to be in conversation with You.
I want to be fulfilled. That means I need to be obedient to You.
I want to be joyful. That means I need to be used by You.
Does this seem too selfish? After all, it’s all about what I want, isn’t it?
No, it’s not selfish because it is also exactly what You want.
You chose me. You want me to be human, to be fulfilled and to be joyful. In order for that to occur, You know that I must converse with You always, I must be obedient to You and I must be used by You. My desires and Your desires converge.
What drives you? What is the passionate core of who you are? Discovering our driving force is the key to understanding how we are designed to become who we are. God made us with the stamp of His image built into our very existence. If we are to become all that He intended us to be, we must grow along the line of the image He designed. To do anything else is to move away from our true humanity.
But I’m part of the animal kingdom, right? I have instincts like animals, right? So, do animals sin?
Animals have instincts. They behave according to the automatic inner voice hard-wired into them. They do not act on the basis of free choice. They are not capable of turning away from that inner voice and doing what is contrary to instinct. They live in direct response to the divine will within. If sin is knowing what is right and not doing it, then it seems impossible for an animal to sin. In the world of instinct, there is no right and wrong. There is only desire and fulfillment.
David Fohrman points out that it is possible for human beings to mimic this animal intelligence. Human being also have an inner voice. That inner voice connects us to animal behavior because it also operates on the basis of desire and fulfillment. We recognize this reality when we talk about the instinct to survive or the “herd” effect of conformity without conscience. Men can be animals. They can live exclusively on the basis of desire, but when they do, we are repulsed and ashamed. We recognize the difference between “human” behavior and animal instinct even when we see creatures like us acting like animals.
In order to be human, desire must be domesticated. When it is not domesticated, animal instinct reigns. While instinct is perfectly appropriate for animals, it is not adequate for human beings. In the sense that humanity is linked with the rest of the animal kingdom, human beings share this common inner voice of instinct. But we are not merely a higher form of animals (as Darwinians would have us believe). The Scriptures teach that we humans are also linked with the divine. We carry the breath of God in us. That breaks the chain of desire and fulfillment in a very special way. We could listen to the inner voice that connects us to the animal kingdom, but we are asked to listen to something else – the voice of God. We are uniquely equipped to decide to act according to a voice that is outside of our being. To become human is not to cultivate and refine the inner voice of passion and procurement. To become human is to enter into an active, decision-making conversation with the other link in our existence; the link that depends on the breath of God. To become human is to listen to the external designer and be obedient to Him in spite of our connection to animal instinct.
We need to evolve toward God.
Topical Index: unreasoning animals, aloga zoa, Jude 1:10
So to become human is to simply Shema….hear and obey.
Skip,
Please elaborate, external designer? Does He not live in us as well? Do I not find His will by becoming more intune with Him through knowing the Word and obeying as Michael just said? But have an inner knowing?
Thanks,
Cheryl
Cheryl, There are two basic principles of Judaism. The first is the principle of na’aseh, DOING, follow me, do as I do, do what I tell you to do, and the second is v’nishma, UNDERSTANDING this. This makes it mandatory upon a Jew and a Gentile to fulfill God’s commandments regardless of the degree of understanding and it is not conditioned upon human approval. Judaism is not about THINKING, knowing, it is about DOING.
Thanks George
Evolving, yes.
Better yet, “we are being transformed into His likeness.” 2 Cor 3:18
When any man steps out beyond his instincts and finds and follows
that Devine voice uniquely built into him, a new world opens up.
Darkened eyes get startled by the light and new journeys willfully commence.
Something new takes over. A new will. And a fervent desire to DO that will.
“Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control,
will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” Phil 3:2
To God be the glory.
Choice. Free will. No animal has it. Which is not to say that animals do not express (channel) the love of God; they clearly do! All creation does! But what does choice exist for? Love wants to be chosen: this is our deepest desire. I believe it is a desire no animal or other life in creation (that is non-sentient, anyway) shares with sentient (free will) creation. Choice exists so that I can choose you. Desire exists – via the ego – to alert me as to whether or not I am being chosen by you. Our egos are insatiable: they desire everything and everyone to desire (and choose!) us. Well, so does God. This desire is supposed to give us the motivation to connect with all other so that it can choose us! Love needs to be loved.
The devil is in the details. We all want to have the benefits of love: we all want connections: we all want all our choices to result in approval, too, in that we want to be ‘right’ (the yetzer hara version of righteousness). The question is not what we want, but how we go about getting it. We all want the long-stemmed rose and the box of chocolates – to be someone else’s one and only – but deception tells us that we can entice love by enthroning ourselves, while obedience tells us that love can only pass through our part of the domain if we enthrone Someone Else. Details.
Laurita,
Wonderful observations. ‘Nuff said.
Thanks
Welcome back Laurita. 7 days without your insightful comments makes my understanding of Skip weak!
I think I shared this quote from Rabbi Shmuley Boteach here before but it is worth repeating as it supports your claim. “Because while a parent can love their child, they can never choose their child. And what we all seek in life is not to loved but to be chosen. Love makes us feel protected. But chosenness make us feel special. To be loved is to be cherished. To be chosen is to be rendered irreplaceable. Love is warm. But chosenness is electrifying.
When it comes to love there can be many. But when it comes to being chosen there can only be one”.
Perhaps this was the same idea that Yeshua was sharing in Matthew 22:14 when he said “many are called, but few are chosen”. As a free agent I occasionally like to free verse a Biblical verse in order to try to glean a better understanding. For example:
Many are called in love, but few are chosen as beloved.
Many are called to be loved, but few choose to be loved.
Many are called to love, but few choose to love .
Many are called beloved, but few are chosen to be fully loved. You get the idea… and sometimes it gets you.
Hi Michael, thanks for the wonderful quote of Rabbi Boteach. From which book is it?
Migdalah. Don’t know. Sorry. Not sure where I read it, but I liked it enough to copy it to my Favorite Quotes file. Got thousands of them. Maybe someday I will write something someone will consider worth saving… I mean besides a promissory note or a confession to a crime!
Hi, y’all. Internet complications in my neck of the woods.
I love that quote! It is now part of my spiritual DNA – as are you and your better half. But, who needs quotes if you can have the real folks? I love all that you say; it’s too hard to choose!. Just keep saying it and I think we will all be happy. Just sayin’.
Check out Dr. Fallon’s talk ‘Thr Psychopath Inside’. Look at the scan of his brain and the scan of a normal brain. He doesn’t know what caused the brain damage. Brain damage is becoming normal these days. How many people are NOT the people they were created to be but were affected after birth? So many problems these days….so many on spectrums.
Good observation. We have been used to a world where good health is the norm. This is no longer the case. In Christ’s day, disease was the norm, too (as well as probable brain damage and outright demon possession). We can argue as to what exactly constitutes that ‘possession’, but the point is that we need to be delivered of ALL the problems of the nephesh. Sin affects everything!
I think we are back to the kind of ministry that recognizes that 1. people have to want to be well: 2. they have to exercise faith that they can be: 3. they must submit to that healing: 4. they have to agree to continue in the responsibility of that freedom (“go and sin no more”).
We can choose our way, through toxic habits and mindsets, into disease. It is not optional that we must likewise understand that only by deliberate choices can we return to and keep our freedom by making a different set of choices: choices that respect what it takes to keep the body temple unpolluted (and therefore in optimal condition) as the dwelling for the Holy Spirit. We can all do better.
It’s much more complicated than that when there is actual brain damage. What does ‘no conscience’ look like? The number of people on the psychopathy spectrum is more than anyone can imagine. I am against mass poisoning. Today’s normal is not normal.
Appreciated the sentiments.