The Bible is about God.

Yet people read it for political proofs, religious ideology, for use as a weapon against those with whom they disagree or find unacceptable and as a verification for their own heresies or adrenaline to feed their “I’m-right” ego.

The Bible is about being on God’s Team (with God as the highest honcho) and non-debatable love for each and every one of God’s creations.

If your reading gives you permission to judge and condemn anyone of any time or place, prideful assurance that your doctrine or culture is superior to others, or seems useful as an excuse to abuse or hold power over others, you are not reading The Bible God commissioned, but a social distortion for human justification for wrongdoing.

“The tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise [“like a god” Genesis 3:5]” Genesis 3:6.

From the beginning people chose whatever satisfied their personal consumption, titillated them in their vision and set them up to play god.

The Divine Plan was for people to serve in creation, walk with God and nurture each other.

I plan, God being my helper, to follow the Plan and benefit the Community, not my little self-centred, self-created universe. Yes, the price is high, but it is better than the religious vandalism that allows people to mutilate creation and destroy other people.

In the last while I have had so many punches to the soul that I am weary. What do I mean by that?

This is all rooted in what I have termed “The Eden Syndrome” which is when people play God.

I have people respond with, “God doesn’t do that!” when I share what God wants me to do. Or someone discounts the Bible because its words do not suit their personal doctrine or theology.

Or facts of reality are roundly rejected simply because the reactor had a differing opinion.

Anyone who lives their faith openly faces this. What God wants is rarely what human society wants. Humans do not want to be humbled by God’s high ways because humility goes contrary to the obsession with “being like God” (Genesis 3:5-6) instead of serving God. The famous line from Paradise Lost rings true across the ages: Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven (Book I line 263).

Now, I have not yet been murdered or kidnapped or imprisoned as the prophets of old were. So I shouldn’t complain, I guess. Yet, I understand why Jeremiah concluded that resignation from the job as prophet was a preferred option. I also understand that, when he handed in his resignation he realized it couldn’t happen, because the words of God which were given to him had to be uttered.

What a dilemma – do what is right and get hit right in the head from those God wants rightly to save! Right?