The Enigma of Man
Consider the enigma of Man. To say that Man is an enigma means
that he is a creature of puzzling, contradictory character. He
is a walking mystery — beyond explanation. The famous psychologist,
Carl Jung once said, "Man is an enigma to himself."
Jung realized this truth about Man without understanding the deep
spiritual battle that rages within every person.
Man has an enemy whose ambition is to compete with God for the
rulership of this world. God wants to rule the earth through Man.
Satan's strategy is to lead Man astray from doing what is good
and right. He is intent on deceiving the whole world by whatever
means he can. Satan leads the world astray through an educational
system that denies that God created the universe. He seduces Man
through the mass media and its sensual stimulation and subtle
persuasion. One of his most effective tools is the religious system
of Christianity, which misrepresents the true character of God
through a mystical faith that doesn't produce a love. Satan's
deception has spread throughout every area of modern society,
yet Man does not have to listen to Satan's lies. He is still free
to choose to listen to his conscience.
Man is born with an instinctive knowledge of God in his conscience.
He knows what is good, and he knows what is evil, and he knows
that he is accountable for the choices he makes. Man is also born
with a tendency to do what isn't right. Because of his sin, it
has been appointed for him to die once and then face judgment.
This judgment will be based on the detailed record of his life
that is in his conscience.
The Everlasting Covenant
God made an everlasting covenant with Man after his fall in the
garden, which is imprinted on every man's conscience. Within the
boundaries of this covenant, Man is protected from the schemes
of Satan, who wants to lead him to commit sins worthy of a second
eternal death. Man's part of the everlasting covenant is that
he would work hard to support and protect his family, even at
the cost of his own life. He would not have sexual relations outside
of the covenant of marriage (and he would certainly never have
sexual relations with another man). He would lead his wife to
do what is right and good.
The woman, for her part, would bear the pain of childbirth and
her desire would be for her husband alone, and she would allow
him to be the final authority over her life. If they would stay
within these boundaries they would be able to hear and obey the
voice of God in their conscience. This would keep them from doing
deeds that would make them worthy of eternal destruction —
sins that pervert the image of God in man and ruin other people's
lives.
But Man has lost his way. He has been led more and more astray
until, as the prophet Isaiah said:
"The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they
transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.
Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it
are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned
and few men are left." (Isaiah 24:5,6)
"Few men are left" who are standing for the truth
in their conscience. Most have broken the everlasting covenant
of conscience. Many have thrown off conscience for 'higher
learning'. They devote all their energy and resources trying
to create life or discover its origin. Meanwhile they are
strangely unconcerned about the moral quality of their own
life and its ultimate purpose and destiny. This is part
of the enigma of Man — that he would try to overcome
the deep frustration within him by seeking higher degrees
of learning. Instead of leading him to obey his conscience,
'higher education' teaches him to trust his own fallen reasoning.
This actually takes him further away from the instinctive
knowledge that he was born with and leaves him with greater
and greater degrees of degradation.
True, there are deep moral and spiritual questions (which
The Three Eternal Destinies of Man answers), but the conclusions
that men have come to in their reasoning can be boiled down
to these: either man began nowhere and is evolving to somewhere,
or else he began somewhere and lost his way. In either case,
man is searching for some indefinable something to fill
his emptiness. This is called, "being lost". These
are the ones Yahshua came to find, those who would admit
to being lost.
The Enigma
If you are a normal human being who has not been thoroughly degraded,
there is a deep frustration in you because of two conflicting
longings in your heart: one, to keep the knowledge of God in your
conscience, the other to satisfy the selfish desires that are
leading you outside of the boundaries of the everlasting covenant.
The voice of conscience echoes from the inner chambers of your
soul, saying, "I ought not to be the way I am, I ought not
to be doing what I am doing. I was made for something better!
There must be a God who cares; life was not meant to be so empty!"
This voice conflicts with your selfish nature and causes the frustration
within you, the inner struggle between good and evil.
No matter how hard you try to reason it away or rebel against
it, you can't escape the objective truth. If only you had listened
to your conscience as it tried to hold you back from doing wrong…
You end up lonely and bitter, full of regret for all of the selfish
and hurtful things that you have done in your life, with an almost
unbearable weight of guilt.
At the end of Buddha's life he said, "I am still searching
for truth." His statement could have been made by countless
thousands of scientists and philosophers, as well as theologians
(who were actually the furthest from the truth). At the end of
their lives they cried and admitted a guilt that they could never
quench. For those who are blind but claim to see, leading others
astray, their guilt will remain — forever.
Our Master Yahshua
said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
He came for those who have lost their way, the ones who
strayed from the truth, those who desire life. We're so
thankful that He found us! Maybe He's looking for you…
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