East to West

Lord, you came to break our culture. So please come, renew us with your Spirit and hit us with YOUR culture, so we may abandon our silly ways and follow the Truth.

I've been meditating on the differences of two cultures that I've been blessed to be very familiar with - the asian (eastern) culture and the american (western) culture. One thing in particular that stands out to me is the way the two cultures approach the idea of Respect. Growing up in an asian family, I understood at an early age that respect was something that was demanded and expected. You aren't really left with any choices - no ifs or buts. When you are asked to give respect, you reply, "how?". Then you are taught to perform all kinds of gestures and humbling acts to show what is due. This eastern idea of respect is extremely black or white - people do not need to perform anything to deserve your respect - you just give it. However, as I stand back and observe my current western surrounding, the idea of respect is exactly the opposite - respect must be earned. When western people are asked to give respect, their reply is "why?". Then, to earn their respect, you must present/act your reason to prove your worth. Because of the extreme capitalistic mindset, which is the heart our western culture, we are taught that we simply cannot give everyone respect before they perform some sort of a dance that is worthy of our clapping. This can come in many forms - school degrees, career positions, looks, or even a humble act that touch our hearts. Only then, when it is reasonable and "logical", can we gift them with the honor of having our respect. Now, I'm not here to point and weigh out the two cultures to see which one is superior. As a matter of fact, I believe that they are both very good, but they both also have fatal flaws that lead to their own ways of destruction. I believe God wants to tell us how important these two cultures are, but each one alone is not good enough. I believe God wants us to know that we need a super-culture that combines the eastern and western mentality, especially in regards to entering His Kingdom. And the chronologic matter - eastern (obedience) first, then western (understanding) after.

It's astonishing (and poetic) that God speaks to us in this manner when we open up His Word. Old testament is all about God saying, "I demand your obedience," and the new testament is when God comes down as Jesus, and explains, "This is why you should obey me." In another words, the old testament is extremely Hebraic (eastern) and the new testament is extremely Greek (western).

If we can think of ourselves as a parent for a moment, and having a child that we love, we would often tell the child, "Do as I say, because I am your parent" - we simply know better from experience, but cannot explain all the details of our reason because the child may not be at the age to even understand. So we put it simply for the child - "I know what is good for you. Trust me." And this is exactly what God does to us - He demands us to obey (have faith in Him and seek His Kingdom), and we will understand everything as we mature. If we look at it from a parental perspective, it'd be foolish not to obey first - for the child to demand answers to all his/her "whys?" before obeying. But isn't this what we often do? Don't we sit there, often demanding all the answers, and even fighting back as He is gracious enough to show us, obvious answers at that (because He knows how weak we are)? I think we've become too Greek...

Although the "obedience" performed by the eastern culture appears great, the problem rises because it lacks depth. Unlike the western mindset, the eastern mentality does not constantly ask "why?". I'm not understating the importance of obedience, but we also need to seek intimacy and depth by pushing to know more of God. Asian culture gives great respect, but often, it's extremely superficial, and this is because people perform "humble" gestures without having great substance to back their actions. Even when seeking God, everything becomes too religious and too much about sacraments. In regards to understanding His Kingdom, people with extreme eastern mindset (on average and from my experience) often lack biblical foundation because much of their faith is really blind and lacks depth. The western culture, however, has a tougher shell, and it makes leaping in to faith that much harder. Similar to needing a proper prerequisite to earn their respect (in the western mentality), when this is applied to the Gospel, the hearts of these people are colder, as they require deep reasoning for their faith. But as soon as they make the leap of faith, by risking their reasoning, they are able to see the warmth of God's embrace. We need to give our almighty God a benefit of the doubt, and trust Him, for He has created the entire universe, and put nature before our eyes as His witness. However, we cannot stop here! We need to solidify our foundation in the Lord, and understand his heart, his will, and develop our Kingdom mindset!

Can we break culture, please? Can we please break both, western and eastern, cultures? Jesus came down to break all cultures - societal and religious cultures! Let's make Jesus culture :)

Oneness

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." - Genesis 1:26-27

When God uses the word "our", I believe He is referring to the relationship of Trinity - God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ, His Son. And as He states that He has made man in His image and likeness, he purposely uses the word "our" to make a point that we are replicas of God, not only in our reasoning capacity, consciousness of the mind, and physicality of the body, but also in regards to the relationship of Trinity that God cherishes.

God's trinity relationship (God, Spirit, Jesus) = Man "trinity" relationship (Mind, Spirit, Body)

I believe it is very important to note that His reasoning, His conscience, His body, and the relationship of Trinity may be similar to ours, but is infinitely more powerful. That, although we are made in His image and likeness, we are infinitely a lesser version of God. I bet He has eyes like us, but it's probably in a way we can never understand, as we cannot launch ourselves to His dimension. We cannot possibly explain the Creator with the things He has created - we're only able to speak figuratively of His Greatness.

More and more I think about the trinity of God, and how He places such an importance on this community of His, I understand why we need relationships, and why we are created with our spirit, mind, and body. Holiness of God, I believe, is the oneness of this relationship (Trinity). I believe in the Garden of Eden, before the fall of man, we were pure and holy like God. We were "real" human beings, as our spirit, mind, and body were in oneness. I mean this because, before the fall, I believe our spirit led us to be in God's presence and our mind and body followed our spirit's lead. However, ever since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, sin entered, and a curse was put on mankind (more like we cursed ourselves). The entering of the sin did not only make us 100% insecure - which is shown by the realization of nakedness - but also broke down the oneness of mankind. Due to the fall of man, I believe our spirit, mind, and body separated.

Our spirit still longed to be in God's presence - to feel the 100% security in God - as we find our purpose here. However, our flesh started to long for the world - to desire the created instead of the creator - and to take pleasure in imitation of the true happiness, which we find when we are directly in the presence of God. And our mind is stuck right in the middle - battling to pick a side and to wave the flag of allegiance to either God or Satan. And this, I believe, is why discipline starts with the mind. True discipline is making a habit of the good and ridding of the bad. Our flesh desires the bad and it is with our minds (which should be led by the Holy Spirit that lives in us) that we need to force the good into a habit.

We may at times temporarily, with our flesh, desire the good out of emotional high - either it be to love our spouse, love our neighbors, or to obey God - but soon our bodies will go it's natural route and desire the bad. However, when Jesus comes and restores all things - when his will is done, as it is on heaven, on earth - I believe we (spirit, mind, and body) will no longer be separate with our spirit, mind, and body, but be "one" again.

Forbidden Fruit

"Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of he knowledge of good and evil... The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, " You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." - Genesis 1:8-9, 15-17

When I read this passage and connect the relationship to our current state of "reality", the "fall of man" we see in this passage hasn't stopped with Adam and Eve. It happens now - it's a continuous cycle of man being granted free will, but choosing to taste the forbidden fruit and allowing sin to enter in to our lives.

I believe free will is an important ingredient for the creation of man, which further confirms the just characteristic of God, so that we are able to worship Him by choice - out of love, not out of force. Without this ingredient, the purpose of creation would be meaningless to God, but with it, it means everything to God. And although the gift of free will to man has caused terrible heart aches for Him, apparently, He saw it worthwhile and perfect. Similar to a romantic relationship, God wants us to choose to Love Him for who he is, and what he represents.

Free will has great rewards for God when it is carried out the way it was designed to be, but because of its nature, it is inevitable that the contrary would be a part of this package. When we are given the choice to exercise our free will, and it's performed against God's will, we are basically choosing to taste the forbidden fruit. As I meditate on this concept, I can't imagine how much God's heart has been broken over and over again, as we constantly step over our boundaries and slap God in the face - "No I will not respect the line you have drawn for me! I will choose to disobey. I will choose to live my life with my subjective ways." Similar to Adam and Eve, even though we are well aware of the wrong, we often choose to disgrace God. When we disobey and taste the forbidden fruit, we allow Satan to enter in to our lives, and cast a curse on to ourselves - to be tempted by the temporary pleasure of the sin as long as we live. This temptation, however, would never be possible if we were to refrain ourselves from eating the "forbidden fruit," as we would not know of the temporary pleasure it may bring. For example, a person that's never had sex would never truly know the pleasures of it - only the stories heard from the others. However, once we allow sin to enter in to our lives, the temporary pleasure of the sin dominates our lives.

Not only does sin allow the world to invade our spirit, but it also makes us insecure.

“She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” Genesis 3:6-7

As we see from this passage, we were created to be holy and totally secure in God’s glory. However, as soon as we allow sin into our lives, like Adam and Eve, we are immediately separated from God, and become instantly insecure. This curse is our own doing. We keep cursing ourselves to be distanced from God, as He is totally pure in Holiness, and we begin to die – like a plant that dies without sunlight. Death in this matter is caused by the absence of God, Who is the source of security, and we become instantly confused of our purpose, become crushed with insecurity, and begin to seek value (redemption) from the wrong sources.

If we can possible sum up all the ways we have slaughtered God's heart and separated ourselves from His Holiness, it really seems impossible for us to ever be reunited with God. But, that’s where Jesus comes in, and God proves there’s no economy in His kingdom – it is not by merit, but by Grace. Jesus pulls back the gap we created with sin and creates the one and only bridge back to God. Without Christ, all true happiness is destroyed, life is pointless, and we would be eternally doomed. And this eternal damnation for all His creation would have crushed God's heart in to millions of pieces.

Thank you Jesus for the cross. I am sorry for breaking your heart. Help me to live according to your will - Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.