State Of The World

No one seeks God. They have all turned astray. There is no one good. Not one.

An Exxageration of Sins of Fallen Man
Narcissism.
A current perjorative favorite of pop-culture.
But what is the clinical basis behind the term?

[The Dark Tetrad: analysis of profiles and relationship with the Big Five personality factors - PMC](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10891063/)

Do We Serve God, Or God Serve Us?

For the narcissist, the "appearance" of being good is paramount. Appearance is weighted far more heavily than reality. Their entire world is a stage: every word, gesture, and relationship is meticulously crafted to reflect the desired image. They perform a script of selflessness, empathy, and integrity not from genuine feeling, but from a calculated desire for praise and control.
This performance is a masterclass in manipulation. Their kindness is transactional, offered only to protect their reputation or gain leverage. When held accountable, they evade with excuses and blame, never offering true responsibility.
Interacting with a narcissist is emotionally draining, creating a fog of confusion as you grapple with the chasm between their polished persona and their hollow core. True character is quiet and consistent; it needs no audience. The narcissist, however, is forever performing, forever more invested in the spotlight than in the substance of their soul.

Do We Really Have God Captured and Stored In a Little Box?

Is God so weakminded that we have found a way to get what we want from Him without giving Him what He demands?

Can It Be True That You Love God But Do Not Know Him, Seek Him Out, Submit To Him or Honor Him?

Sin Is Either Concealed Or Heralded

Is Forgiveness An Obligation?

Wouldn't that be non sequitur?

If the whole world has gone rebel, is God obligated to put up with them? To forgive them? To fix them?

IS He obligated to punish the wicked? Everyone believes that there are, in fact, some "evil" people who "deserve" to be eliminated.

Popularly Held Views of How a Man Should Provide For a Woman, Belie The Error of How People Believe God Should Provide For Them

Many women think of themselves so highly that

Entitlement: One Who BELIEVES He Is Entitled To Something Cannot Also Be Grateful For Receiving It

Entitlement and Gratitude are inversely proportional to one another.

What does gratitude look like in real life?
* A drowning man rescued
* A choking child saved by a bystander
* A thug breaking into a house to rob and kill but cornered by an armed homeowner but spared? The homeowner turns the gun and shoots the round into a wooden cross, then pulls the spent casing out of the chamber and writes ixthus on it. Hands it to the robber, and says "keep this in your pocket. It was intended for You, but someone else took it so you could live."

The absence of gratitude is indicative of a belief system which is predicated on entitlement.

IF the gospel being preached carries with it the implication that MAN is the responsible party in the exchange between God and himself, then he will believe himself to be entitled in some portion to the benefits of the familial relationship with God.

Examples of behavioral differences stemming from lack of gratitude/entitlement:

Workers using company-owned tools vs their own tools.

Children inheriting a house from deceased grandparents.

The monumental shift in healthcare brought on by the "insurance card." In the 1970s, virtually all healthcare was self-pay. Costs to patients were relatively low and largely within the means of the average middle class citizen.

But once larger companies began to offer "healthcare" (insurance) as a standard benefit, costs soared. This is NOT because of the cost of insurance companies' percentages (around 7%).

The difference was in "usage." Immediately, people had at their disposal a "ticket" (insurance card) for a free ride on the ferris wheel any time they wanted.

Insurance companies are well aware of this dynamic. Lower or zero deductibles (costs to consumers) absolutely result in higher usage (more visits to doctors, more surgeries, etc). And conversely, higher deductibles result in less and fewer.

Rental cars provided by businesses for employees on out of town trips are driven much harder than personal cars.

Government-paid housing resulted in ghetto conditions.

Disability benefits created an entire industry of lawyers, regulatory agencies, medical evals and the like which incentivized people to take advantage of loopholes and unclear language in the law in order to gain entitlement benefits.

The policies of the Biden administration incentivized multiple millions of people from South America to immigrate to the US in order to gain entitlements. They were led to believe that they WERE "entitled" to:
Entry
Phones
Housing
Travel expenses
Spending money
Food
Education

Entitlement eliminates gratitude. One pushes the other out. They cannot exist in the same space.

Executive Clemency:

A US president has the right to extend a pardon to someone even when they are guilty and justly imprisoned.
But he is not ++required++ to do so.
Now, we ++expect++ a president to pardon someone when the conviction or the sentence is in question. But no one would accuse a president of being unfair if he chooses NOT to pardon someone whose guilt is proven beyond any reasonable doubt.

Why God Does Not Answer All Prayers

What would happen IF every time we asked for something, God immediately made it happen? Kinda like a genie in a bottle.

We would all be buried in self-indulgence.

Pearls to Swine

Swine do not treasure pearls. Might as well be stones.
Entitlement vs Gratitude. Mutually exclusive.

A.
To the carnal man,

There is no "God"
-->> I have nothing to fear.

IF there is a "God", He is disinterested, distant and less than omnipotent
-->> He has no right to judge me.
-->>

B.
There IS a "God."

Not By Works
OT references?
Isaiah and Jeremiah on sacrifices doing nothing
Romans 4

Distraction
The right-edge of the world seems obsessed with exposing the evils of the transgender movement. All the while ignoring other sin.

Their zeal for protecting children from the grooming efforts of the sexual mafia is sincere, but not zeal for God. It is a form of idolatry. Worshipping a god of their own making. One who is intensely opposed to efforts to corrupt children with sexual deviancy, yet who is only slightly bothered by adultery, infidelity, bearing false witness, hatred (particularly of the people of Israel), and dissension.

The intense focus on the one sin serves as an idolatrous distraction from the others.

Discernment of what is sin is an essential skill in knowing the character of God. Sin is anything which God opposes. It is antithetical to what God desires, who He is, and what requires a punishment of death to satisfy.

The left edge seems obsessed with protecting the interests of the foreigner. A good cause, sure. But, despite the obligatory nods to scripture references on the topic, it is all an exercise devoid of zeal for God Himself. God's name is merely used as a damper for criticism from the "christian" right.

Accountability
Accountability for our own sin and judgment of debt thereof, with a commensurate admission of our utter inability to satisfy it.

Accountability is the voluntary and public assumption of the consequences of failure.

Responsibility is similar to Accountability in that the consequences of failure are applied, but it does not necessarily involve voluntary or public assumption of these.

Gratitude is an internal dynamic borne of a belief that the self has been the recipient of ++undeserved++ ++favor++.

Expressions vs Manifestations
Apologies are expressions.
Repentance is manifestation.

An apology is intended to express outwardly what should be true inwardly.

The World's View Of God & Man

Man: "I am basically good. Maybe not perfect. But I'm not an axe murderer or a chi-mo either. And I do charitable things for people. At least as much as anyone else who claims to be Christian."

* There is a presupposition involved in that mindset (actually several).
* Namely: "SINCE I am good (righteous), God (if there is one) is therefore ++obligated++ to recognize my righteousness, and IF He doesn't - if He REJECTS my righteousness, then God is UNJUST. And I don't like unjust people. But if God goes another step and punishes me just because I wasn't as righteous as He wanted, then He is not merely unjust, but evil."
*
### Entitlement & Gratitude
* Romans 4:4 - Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt."
* Entitlement and Gratitude are inversely proportional.
### Not A New Lie
* There is nothing new under the sun.
* In the garden, the serpent floated this same lie to Eve.
* "God cannot be trusted. He is merely preventing you from being like Him. It's a trick. He is a liar. You're not going to die. Its not going to kill you to eat some fruit. Think about your SELF for a change. Who is God to limit who you can be?!"
*

* Other Presuppositions:
* "I am righteous."
* "There is none good, not one" - Isaiah
* "I know my own heart."
* "The heart is desperately wicked, who can know it" - Jeremiah.
* "MY righteousness is none of God's business. Who is GOD to judge me?!"
*

The Offense Of The Gospel

Exclusivity
* I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
* You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (++[John 8:23–24](https://ref.ly/Jn8.23-24;nkjv)++)

Original Sin
* The first bite
* What happened immediately when Adam and Eve sinned (disobeyed, rebelled) was "their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked."
* Their natural response to this? Attempt to conceal. Hide.
* Hide from whom??
* Ultimately and originally God. But this inclination carries over.
* Hide, why??
* Because guilt begets shame. Shame reaches its climax when guilt is publicized.
* If Adam and Eve were capable of feeling shame from guilt, what does that say about God's created order?
* Perhaps shame is like pain. A gift, of sorts, intended to teach us to avoid the things which bring it about.
* shame is uncomfortable. Something to be avoided.
* So avoiding sin and rebellion would eliminate guilt, and eradicate shame.
* But the desire for sin and rebellion is so strong in a fallen man that he looks for other options.
* If Sin begets guilt. And guilt begets shame. And shame is the "feeling" to be avoided, then what if one simply justifies his sin. So that rather than feel the shame of guilt, he can proclaim his sin to be something other than evil. Proclaim it to be good and praiseworthy, even. And, thus, shame avoided.