Life Begins by Jack Gunthridge Page A

the
loneliness that Adam felt. Women were created because Yahweh knew
what it felt like to not be loved.
    It seems that you can never have love without
jealousy. This is where the fall of man comes in. Satan, or
Lucifer, or any other name that you wish to call him, was the most
beautiful of the angels. He was also probably the closest to
Yahweh. Satan then saw how Yahweh loved this new creation. Jealousy
came into the picture. He then deceived Eve. Eve then got Adam to
fall with her.
    I have always found this story one of the most
interesting and important ones of the scriptures. It shows how
Satan wants to keep us away from Yahweh because of the jealousy he
felt over us. It also shows something inherently flawed with man.
We have a desire to be like God.
    This is one of the greatest paradoxes of my
faith. While I am supposed to be like God in character, I am not
supposed to desire to be God. How do you become like somebody and
not want to take their place?
    After the fall, Yahweh still desired to be
loved. He looked for people who loved Him honestly. I would put the
story of Cain and Abel in that category, too. I find it an odd
story. While Abel's offering was pleasing to God, Cain was jealous.
Mankind was now killing each other to be loved by Yahweh. God
always looks at the heart of the matter. By all accounts, Cain
should have received the first punishment. Instead, he pleaded with
God and told Him that it was too severe of a punishment to be cast
from His presence. He couldn’t live like that. He was allowed to
live with a mark that nobody could touch him. Hell is being
separated from God.
    What I came away from in reading the
scriptures is a basic love story. Yahweh created us to love Him of
our own free will. The rest of the scriptures have to do with our
human nature and trying to get that in balance. All of the Law can
be put into three categories based on these principles. Man's
relationship with God. Man's relationship with man. What is best
for mankind to live a long life.
    The first two categories are the most
important. They deal with the relationships. The third category is
important to individual's wellbeing. I have a hard time with modern
Christianity because they want to use freedom in Christ to justify
breaking commands that fit into the first two categories. The third
category should only be the one where we have freedom in Christ.
The third category is the one that deals with what to eat and what
to do to become pure. Freedom in Christ means that I can eat
certain foods and not have to sacrifice animals.
    I also find modern Christianity very
legalistic on some things. They never look at the heart of the
matter or the reason for God having said something. They are too
busy wanting to judge people on how they think the world should
be.
    My biggest annoyance has to do with sex. Sex
was always meant to be enjoyed by people. Look at how mankind is
different from the rest of creation. We are the only creatures that
are always in heat. God created us to have sex so that we can
become one with the person that we are having sex with. It is like
the union that should be taking place between God and
man.
    The male and female relationship should be a
mirror of what our relationship should be like with God. That is
another thing that makes me mad about modern Christianity. A lot of
places teach the superiority of men over women and that women
should submit to men.
    They will cite examples of Adam listening to
Eve or Abraham listening to Sarah. If these men didn't listen to
their women, these other problems wouldn't have existed. I'm sorry,
but the men made a conscious decision. They knew what God had said
to them. They disobeyed. You can't blame the women. Being a man is
accepting responsibility for yourself. You don't blame the woman
because of your stupidity.
    Women should be treated how God thinks about
mankind. God protects us and takes care of us. He puts our
wellbeing first. Women should have influence over their