Gonna Do it Anyway,

I just had a discussion with my daughter about a really stupid movie she wanted to go see - it's called, "The Boy".  It's a silly horror movie and teenagers love this stuff.  It only got ONE star by RottonTomatoes.  To humor her, I went and watched the trailer on youtube.  It is, indeed, a ridiculous premise, a ridiculous plot, and a ridiculous movie.  However, it really isn't supernatural - real people are doing the evil stuff when the babysitter is not looking.

Regardless, I took the discussion in the direction of the supernatural and the idea of seeing the devil face to face.  If you saw any kind of supernatural being that you could validate beyond the shadow of a doubt - I mean, in absolute certainty, you have experienced an encounter with the unseen, supernatural realm... if you saw or experience such an entity even from Satan's domain, what would it mean?  In short, it would mean that this realm actually does exists, albeit, inappreciable with tools and instruments from our 3-dimensional world. Sorry Ghosbusters - there is no way to invent and use a P.K.E. Meter i.e. Psychokinetic Energy Meter, or Proton Packs, or any other psychic or metaphysical detection device .

By the very definition of supernatural spiritual, no such tool can be created that can reach into this realm to detect anything there.  However, also by definition, things from that realm can enter into our world.  From a Christian point-of-view, this would include angels, demons, heavenly beings, satanic beings, and of course God himself (itself?) as well as Satan.

So, the discussion went something like this - if we saw the devil, what would that mean?  It would mean that he is real, thus God is real, thus there really is a supernatural realm. However, I went on to explain that unfortunately, even the solid, proven belief with evidence of the existence of such a realm would NOT cause many people - if not most people - to actually change and strive to live for God.  Why?  BECAUSE WE DON'T REALLY CARE!  You see, many non-believers say that if they saw real miracle, a certifiable, authentic, real-life miracle, they would then believe in God. However, this is simply not true.

You see, we have free will, and thus, we will ultimately do whatever we really want to do.  Most of us, if speeding, will slow down when we see the police car just ahead - unless it is an emergency and the priority, for example, of saving a child's life who is dying in the back-seat, become higher than getting a speeding ticket.  However, there are a few people who simply just don't care!  Aside from psychological or emotional dysfunction or damage, some people - and we can all probably think of someone in our past if we have lived long enough - will simply do whatever they want, regardless of the expected undesirable outcome OR the anticipated joyful and wonderful outcome.

You see, we have the uncanny ability to hold in our heads ideas that are logically mutually exclusive, and function as if both ideas are absolutely true.  Young people do this more.  Old people tend to become cynical as they discover that certain realities exists and what we want or wish for cannot change such things.

We see this in the Bible with real people - they will witness the miracle and do something stupid anyway.  David sins with Bathsheba (2 Samuel chapters 11-12), Peter is prejudice against the gentile Christians (Galatians 2:11-14), Elijah runs for his life (1 Kings 19:1-18), and the list goes on and on and on.  The obvious is during the exodus from Egypt, these people saw the power of God and yet, they still rejected God, especially the Golden Calf incident as recorded in Exodus 32.  However, mankind isn't the only beings susceptible to such idiocy.  As James so clearly points out, even the demons believe in God but it does them no good! (James 2:18-19).

I'm not sure how to overcome this tendency.  I succumb to this in my thinking more so than in my actions.  Logic and wisdom says one thing, but my passions and desires say something different.  As Woody Allen is purported to have said about marrying Soon-Yi Previn (Soon-Yi was 21, Woody was 56 and she was his girlfriends adopted daughter), "the heart want's what the heart want's".  Yet, it seems that, outside of mental illness or major hormonal imbalances, we DO have some control over our emotions, including all forms of love - family, friendship, and romantic based love.  The sad part is that most people don't know this or don't believe it so they don't try.  As a result, regardless of the consequences, we are going to do what we want to do!  Our brains are driven by our unbridled emotions and say to our bodies, "I'm gonna do it anyway".

The Bible does teach that we have some control over this tendency and change what we want emotionally.  We are told to "train ourselves to be godly" (1 Timothy 4:7).  The following ideas are ways we can do this:

1. Col 3:1-4, “set your minds (and hearts) on things above…”, - a volitional command.
2. Phil 4:8, “…whatever is true, right, noble… think about such things.” – a volitional command
3. 2 Cor 4:18, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen…”, - what to think about/focus on.
4. 2 Peter 1:5-8, “add to your faith goodness… knowledge… self-control… theses qualities…will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ”. - character values to develop on purpose.
5. Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” - modifying the mind so that it is "renewed", i.e. naturally godly

With that said, we really don't have to "do it anyway".  I fact, I think we can even change what we think about and dream about based on what we read, watch, listen to, people we hang out with, etc, etc, etc.  As Christians - if you are a Christian, then if you and I devote ourselves to changing in this way, we will minimize our hypocritical tendencies and literally change from the inside out to become the saints and sages this world needs as a moral compass AND to authentically reflect the God of the universe to a loss world.