​What is Real?

WHAT REALLY MATTERS?

     In the search for real reality (TRUE belief) the question that has helped me is: “What really matters?” There exist two undeniable truths that guide me in this quest: (1) that all of us WILL die; and (2) that earth and all that we see WILL pass away. In other words, our life in the first camp, the camp of mankind, will end.
     The first undeniable truth is that we will, in fact, all die. Does anyone not believe this? I find, when I get in touch with this truth, what really matters begins to reveal itself. The older I get the more in touch I get with what really matters. When I was young I simply did not grasp the reality of death. My life leaked out this belief through all of my careless actions. In this delusional state many times I came close to death’s reality. Through these near death experiences I began to wake up, as most of us do. The more I get in touch with my own eventual death the wiser I become in life. Interesting how this works! In time all of us will come to the realization of our death. In time we will all agree to this undeniable, inexorable truth!
     The Bible clearly addresses this truth: Genesis 3:3 “but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. . . .” We are all condemned to death.
     All of us born from this one man, Adam, will die. This is the first camp.
     If we look closer still at this sobering truth, we will see that we also agree to its necessity: “ALL born of Adam SHOULD die.” This is evidenced in our love of judging/condemning one-another. Our fingers love to point at each other’s faults, judging these faults, indeed, hating these faults. We all do this! Some of us point at the fault of other’s being over-weight and we condemn them. Some point at other’s use of money and condemn them. Some of us point at pride with condemnation. When it comes to each other’s habits all of the fingers come out to condemn—point, point, point! The list goes on and on. Eventually, through all of our collective pointing, every trait, every habit, every aspect of humanity is judged and condemned by US! Remember the “Collective Wisdom?” When all our judgments are added up and averaged together we together arrive at the truth. Our collective wisdom seems to be: “All born of Adam, indeed, SHOULD be condemned.” Jesus addressed this human habit of judging/condemning one another through this revealing parable,
     Luke 6:41-42 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
     Notice that the plank of wood is condemning the sawdust, the smallest fleck of wood. Add up all of the collective flecks of condemned sawdust and it will add up to one condemned plank! Indeed, what we are all pointing out to one-another is that we are all planks of condemned wood! We are inadvertently agreeing with scripture: (Psalm 51.5) “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. . . .”     Therefore, it would appear that collectively we all agree with the Bible regarding the certainty and the necessity of the reality of our rightful condemnation and death.
     Sometimes, one-by-one, we more fully realize this truth. Yehiel Dinur was such a one. In a gripping interview on 60 Minutes, 6 February 1983, Dinur retold the incident of his fainting at the trial of Adolph Eichmann during the Nuremberg trials of 1961 to host Mike Wallace. As Dinur walked into the courtroom, he stopping short, and upon seeing Eichmann, the one responsible for sending him to Auschwitz eighteen years earlier, Dinur began to sob uncontrollably, fainted, then collapsed on the floor before the watching world. For years Mike Wallace had wanted to ask Mr. Dinur why this sudden collapse. This was to be Dinur’s day of triumph over the evil Nazi Adolf Eichmann, a principal architect of the Holocaust and the one responsible for so much of his own personal suffering. Instead of victory and the expression of glee, the world witnessed horror on his face.
     Was Dinur overcome by hatred? Was he reliving horrid memories? No; it was none of these. Rather, as Dinur explained to Wallace, all at once he realized Eichmann was not the god-like army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. "I was afraid about myself," said Dinur. "... I saw that I am capable to do this. I am ... exactly like he."[1]
     Yehiel Dinur came to the truthful realization that not only was Adolph Eichmann on trial, but so was Yehiel Dinur and all of humanity.
     The question remains: What then really matters?
     The second undeniable truth is: earth and all that we see WILL pass away. There seems to be a preoccupation with this belief today. Hollywood is pumping out movie after movie preaching that the world is spinning out of control and that the end is near. There are movies about earth shattering earthquakes, meteors targeting our small blue planet, plagues wiping out every living creature and wars in which man annihilates himself.
     Even scientists warn that our sun will certainly one day become a red giant, enlarging its boundaries beyond Earth and Mars, engulfing everything in its path, then burn out. Science also states that the great Andromeda galaxy is on a collision course with our own—the Milky Way—once again destroying earth and all life. Is there any escape?
     The Bible addresses this truth: Jesus said to his apostles, Matthew 24:5 “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”     The earth and the heavens will, indeed, all pass away!
     It appears that we once again agree with what the Bible declares to be our eventual reality. We believe this to be true in our heart of hearts.
     The question remains: What really matters?
     I see three answers to this question on display in the world today. Each of these answers is revealed through the actions of the lives of those who believe in them.
     Answer ONE: “Eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” The A-theist believes in this tenet. It makes sense, that is, if truly we are here today and only mulch tomorrow, then let’s make the most of the time we have left. The only thing that matters now is to go for all the gusto you can in life—today. Much of the world believes this!
     Answer TWO: “Let us all get to work and SAVE ourselves.” The reality of this view is that, “if we have enough knowledge we can solve the problem and save ourselves.” In the face of plague to control the plague through knowledge to either eradicate it or weaponize it. In the face of a meteor we seek knowledge to blow it up, laser it, or steer it to a different course. In the face of “weather change” we believe that we can change the weather to save ourselves. In the face of the sun burning out we believe that we can colonize another planet and live there. We believe that our technology will save us. We believe that our work and our efforts will save us.
     Many Christians believe this as well. This subtle belief remains: “If we can only be good enough God will spare us.” The emphasis is still on “what we can do.”
     What really matters with this belief is “WHAT WE CAN DO?”
     Answer THREE: “Only God can save us!”
      WHEREAS in answer “One” the response is that nothing really matters. WHEREAS in answer “Two” the response is that mans’ efforts are all that really matters. IN answer “Three” the response is that only God matters. The third answer believes that God is in control; that the very God Who created all things controls all things; we are to rest in God.
     In this out-of-control world is there a refuge to be found? Is there a place of safety to run to? Which of these three answers are we to take hold of as our personal reality?
     This is the question that I have been asking most of my life. I found God because of this very question. As a Christian, I have been asking this question ever since. Where can I find rest? How real is God? As I have read the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation every year now since 1983 I have been asking these questions. Through these years of reading what was at first foggy has become clearer and clearer. I believe this is the process of revelation. We will never see all truth perfectly—our goal is to see clearer and clearer until God reveals all.[2]
     I have found that much clarity in scripture comes by way of separating truth from error and by separating intertwined truths that became marbled together creating confusion. Therefore, I will endeavor to clarify several oft confusing biblical truths by separating these confusing dualities. In section one the method of teaching was through the “domino” method, whereby one truth connects to the next truth and so on down the line to their inevitable conclusion. The truths in section one was set forth in the form of principles. Section two will also unfold in this “domino” fashion; however, not by using principles, but rather by using these addressing these dualities found in scripture.
     We will look at two types of dualities: one, the opposing dualities of truth/error; and two, the intertwined dualities of truth/truth (paradox) that so often cause confusion. The goal is clarity! The scriptures become clearer when confusion lifts and truths become sharpened and well defined.




[1] Getz, Gene (2004). The Measure of a Man: Twenty Attributes of a Godly Man. Gospel Light Publications. p. 141. ISBN 0830734953.
[2] “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, ESV)