Three separate but related recalls of
automobiles by Toyota Motor Corporation occurred at the end of 2009 and start
of 2010. Toyota initiated the first two recalls after reports that the vehicles experienced
unintended acceleration. As of January 28, 2010 Toyota had announced recalls of
approximately 52 million vehicles for pedal entrapment/floor mat problems and additional
2.3million vehicles with accelerator pedal problems. A lot more millions of
vehicles were recalled globally. Its remarkable how with state of the art
technologies and the best man-power the world can offer yet perfection eludes
the mighty. There is in fact a common saying that no one is perfect. But we
certainly cannot say the same about God. There is no impossibility with God,
therefore no room for faults with Him or in Him. Alright. In genesis verse one,
we see God begin the process of creating the universe we know and live today.
We equally see in verse 31 where '...God
looked over all He had made, and He saw it was very good!' the exclamation
mark at the end of the statement is from scriptures and it denotes excitement.
We could envision God stepping back and examining His handiwork then nod in
satisfactory approval. He had made a great product. He had created an invention
worthy of an entity like Him- God! And He thought it was very good-perfect.
Alright. In genesis 6:5-6 we read, 'The
Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth and He saw that
everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the
Lord was sorry He had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke His
heart.' king James version reads, 'and
it repented the Lord that He had made man...'. This is mind blowing. What
do we see here? The perfect God with whom there is no shadow regretting His own
product? Is He sorry that He had made what He made? Is He thinking 'I shouldn't
have done this'? Or 'I should have done it the other way instead of this way'?
Or 'I regret ever doing this. It’s not what I thought'? Not so fast to a hasty
conclusion. There is yet another contradiction. In 2timothy 1:9 we read, 'for God saved us and called us to live a
holy life. And He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was
His plan from before the beginning of time- to show us His grace through Christ
Jesus'. Before the beginning of time means before the clock even began
ticking. It simply means before creation or before the world came to existence.
Now, if God's plan had been from that long ago that humanity would have
salvation through Jesus, does that not mean He already knew salvation from sin
and death will be needed even before He set out to create a seemingly perfect
world? Does that not also imply that He deliberately created a flawed world or
sowed the seeds of failure in His creation in anticipation of future salvation
through the Christ? If that were the case then how could He pretend to be taken
by surprise at the subsequent decay that permeated the world? Now lets go back
to the beginning. Genesis 6:6 says that God regretted, not for making the
world, but for making man and putting him there. Man was His regret. Man was
the problem. The scripture says it broke His heart. It grieved His heart. So
does this mean that a perfect God made an imperfect human species which He put
in a perfect world? That can't be further from the truth. In genesis 1:26 we
read, "Then God said 'let us make human beings in our image, to be like
us'. God made species that were His replica. That's what it means to be made in
His image. ‘To be like us' means to behave, function and operate like Him. If
God is perfect, then humans were made perfect for we were made in the image of
God. There was and is no room for any kind of defect in the creation of God.
Adam and Eve were perfect beings in spirit, soul and body. Now that leaves us
with the big question; where did things go wrong? The first time God installed
a king for Israel He chose the best looking man-Saul. The bible records that Saul
was, in fact, a head taller than the tallest men in all Israel. When God sought
a wife for Isaac He selected the prettiest girl for him. That's the kind of
persona God is! He is the best; He gives the best and naturally expects the
best. Therefore when He decided to make man in the earth He made them to be the
best, hence, in His image. It’s only in our being the best can He expects the
best from us. Pointedly, being in the image of God means that we are free moral
agents. Take note that God could have made man robotic if He wanted. He could
have put only one mind in us which would leave man without a choice but to do
as God wishes. But He didn't! In His love which transcends understanding He
made us completely like Him-free to choose. With great and exemplary faith, He
trusted us to choose the best just like Him (although we could choose
differently). God was aware that just one choice of man could ruin His entire
creation yet He took the chance. In faith, in love, in hope, He took the
chance. Now that's not all! In His infinity He realized that as free beings
just like Him we could make the wrong move and ruin ourselves together with the
world He had made so He hatched a plan B even before He set out to create the
universe. With such knowledge His plan B could be anything like a weapon that
would probably zap humanity off the earth at the first sign of side-stepping.
That way the earth remains intact and a fresh humanity can always be formed.
Instead God settled for a plan B that involved rescuing man from His own mess
and ultimately the earth. That plan B is Jesus, the Christ. Throughout
scriptures we can now see that Jesus had been God's plan B from before the
beginning of time. This is why 2timothy 1:9 says, 'that was His plan... To show us His grace through Jesus Christ'.
Yes God is perfect. He didn't fail at His attempt of creating the world. He
neither failed in His attempt at creating man. He didn't fail in His attempt at
enforcing His plan B when man failed. Jesus Christ offers salvation to the
hurting and lost soul. RIGHT NOW, you hold the candle to the fate of your life
and the world around you. "Today I
have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses.
Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you
would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!(Deuteronomy
30:19)"
All scripture quotations taken from the New Living
Translation of the bible
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