Under The Dome

There are many statements or questions we Christians throw around and I wonder sometimes if we understand what we really mean.

 I was recently asked this question by someone who had been asked if he was "saved."

Saved from what exactly? Hell? Is that it? I have hell right here in my life. How can I be saved from that?

Have you also heard said or maybe you said it yourself, "I know what that statement means but I can’t explain it?" That reminds me of something one of my high school math teachers told me,

"If you can’t explain it to someone else then you don’t really understand it yourself."

Over the days and weeks since then I have given it some thought. A lot of thought actually. So consider this.

Are you saved?

I am saved from eternal separation from God. My eternity began at birth with the opportunity to decide to spend it with God or without Him. How many have seen the TV show Under the Dome? For those who haven’t, this town called Chester’s Mill somewhere in the Midwest, USA was suddenly cut off from the rest of the world by an impenetrable dome. It appeared without warning. You can see the other side but there is no way to go under it or break through it to get to the other side. Let’s say, if you reject God you are suddenly separated from where God is, cut off with no way to get to him. For argument sake, let’s say God is under the dome, and that place is like the Garden of Eden. Chester’s Mill is not like this so here is where the analogy ends. You decide you want to live eternally with God, you are suddenly placed under His dome. You have just been rescued or made safe from all of the madness that is going on outside the dome. 

Have Been You Born Again?

Now you and the others who made that decision brought with you your attitudes and habits. There’s a sign that says all those habits and behaviors can’t live under this dome. So you have to get rid of lying, cheating, stealing, murdering, gossiping, foolishness, disobedience, malice, envy, drunkardness, hatred toward each other, slaves to different lusts, greed.

You can’t live under the dome with them so God gives you a time to get cleansed or rescued or saved from yourself. I call that His grace period.

During this time you have the opportunity to be changed so that you will know how to live this eternal life under God’s dome.

Question: So how does that happen?

Answer: You must be born again or reborn.

Question: What does that mean?

When Jesus told Nicodemus this in John 3:3, Nicodemus asked Jesus the question “How?”and I bet many of us had the same question. Here is Jesus’ answer.

John 3:5-6 (ESV)
⁵ Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Got that? Yes, No? Here is how I understand this.

We were naturally born – the water broke and the delivery process began.  Our spirit, however, the essence of our being was tainted by Adam’s disobedience. We believe Adam, the first man and his wife disobeyed God's direct command to avoid eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This disobedience sentenced all of mankind to a separation from God and the essence of our being, our spirit was no longer pure. We believe we were born with a disobedient spirit because of this. What that means it is in our nature to think up impure or displeasing to God behaviors. I also believe there was a part of Adam that wanted to return to God’s dome. I believe that is why mankind is on a continuous search for something spiritual.

Our essence or spirit has to change or be re-born. The body can’t be but the spirit can. So how is my Spirit re-born? I believe the birth process begins when we say “Yes Lord, I want you to rule my life.” That is what we are really saying when we say “Yes, I want Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.” Or make the statement, “Jesus is my Lord and Savior. We have agreed to let Him run or rule our lives. 

That means we are agreeing to live by God's teachings that have been taught by His  Living Word, Jesus. 

We are immediately placed under His Dome.

Tomorrow's post will continue this rebirth discussion. I thought you might be tired of reading or have work to do. So until tomorrow, consider your spiritual birth.