I have done a lot of what we call "Redneck Tech", rigging things up because you aren't able to do them the right way. When I had my mustang it was held together by tie straps and screws I found in my toolbox. I can make almost anything work "good enough". If something comes out crooked you can knock it straight, you can always rig something up. Somewhere in the core of my soul is the belief that if you do things the right way something won't come out right.
I think that is how we got started in this mess. Eve was worried that if she followed the rules that her and Adam would miss out on the "knowledge of good and evil", and so she fixed it. When Adam looked at her imagine what he must have thought. "If I follow the rules my poor Eve will be left alone. If she has eaten and I do not then we will be separated." There was probably a lot of justifying that went on in his mind before he decided to fix the problem. The world and his family just weren't right, so he rigged them up. He took a shortcut. He ducktaped the world.
When you read through the book of Genesis, you will quickly run into a character named Abraham. He is a pretty good guy, generous to friends, lot of moral and emotional courage, loves his family. His wife was evidently a ten on the hot babe scale.(Genesis 12:10,14) Even at around 90 guys were still willing to fight for her. In fact, they wanted her so much that Abraham figured they wouldn't mind killing him to get her, so he made a habit of lying and saying he was her brother. This was Abraham's fix, his ducktape. Like Abraham, my first response when I run into a problem is to lie. It just seems so easy. When I am trying to be honest, I would say that it is a habit and the lie just pops out before I know what I am doing. But, at the bottom of the habit is that belief, the belief that the world is broke and I need to pull it back together with a tie strap.
If we make it as far as Genesis 20, we find Abraham still up to his same old tricks. They get to some foreign country and he is claiming his wife is his sister. He lets the king tote off his wife to marry her(GRRReat fix, btw) and guess what happens? God curses the whole country because they have messed with Sarah. Well it turns out that the king hasn't actually touched her, the only real harm that happened to her is the humiliation that Abraham caused her. And the king is like, "Why have you put us all through this? What were you thinking?" The whole kingdom had suffered, Sarah had suffered, Abraham and all of his family suffered but God had prevented the king from touching Sarah. There was a plan in place all along. The world wasn't broken, it didn't need a patch.
With the really important things in life it seems like no one who is willing to help is able to help, and the people who are able aren't willing. Throughout history everyone has been looking for a way to make those who are able to help willing. Back in the day, folks realized that no other human could deal with the problems that really bothered them so they looked for some kind of spirit to help. God wouldn't do the kinds of things that they thought needed to be done, so they tried to get spirits they thought were closer to them to help them out. They gave those spirits all the kinds of things that they thought they might like, they praised them, they helped out the spirit's friends, gave them gifts, killed stuff for them, eventually killed people for them. Once we decide that the situation is desperate and it is ok to start doing whatever it takes it isn't long before we are doing things we would never have dreamed of. False religion starts with us deciding that something is good that God doesn't have planned for us. We judge good and evil for ourselves, but out of the whole world the only thing He has forbidden us to do, is decide what is good instead of leaving the decision to Him. Whether we use Law or Common Sense or logic or anything, our faith must be that nothing is good except what He has chosen for us.
Our ducktape is the only thing that is really wrong with the world. Our shortcuts and patches, our deciding what is good and using any means necessary to get it are the whole problem. I am determined to believe and behave as if I believe that the world is not broke, that no situation is desperate, that there is always good reason to hope. If Christ really holds all power and rules the world exclusively for your good, then the only thing hurting you is the way you thrash around and kick up a fuss trying to get what is already promised to you by the One who can never lie.
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32
