The Truth... What is it?





Righteousness means "living in right relationships"

The GOOD NEWS is the Gospel (good news) of Jesus the Christ (the Messiah...savior, deliverer, in at least three amazing ways). [See below about your/our impact on relationships as well as our originally formed/intended government.] There is a wide-open, universal invitation to us all to "join the club" (the "club" of sinners for whom Christ died). Yes!...Christ died for ALL! So, come on and join the club! Jesus clarified to mankind that God is filled (1) with a perfect love & (2) an unfathomable grace toward His creation (ALL of us). Jesus also (3) clarified that God, His Father, is not a hanging judge. And Jesus (4) summed up religious rules toward the way to get & live the fulfilled & love-filled life with TWO commands (the new Covenant of Grace):

  • Between Human and God relationships: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your  mind." (Matthew 22:37) This aspect comes with belief in Jesus.
  • Between Human and Human relationships: "And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself'." (Matthew 22:39) This aspect can be practiced by both Jesus believer and Jesus nonbeliever.

Yet, His words 2000 years ago fell on ears steeped in "suzerain" covenantal (and relational) thinking...a suzerain mindset (the potentially-punishing-powerful have power over the less-powerful, who are always subject to punishment) which has even lasted into modern times. Life is not all about you. Even for those who do not believe in God, the Christian philosophy (useful to a non-believing follower of the philosophy) is entirely good, unifying, and uplifting of persons and society. For those wanting to move toward the greatest life of "believing", life turns out to be all about you "in Christ". So, whether philosophically or as a true believer, life is all about right RELATIONSHIPS! Through faith-filled belief in Jesus, God made a way to live The Way to an abundant life of lack of boredom and fullness of love, grace-filled-ness, & fulfillment. Toward ALL, this God, most amazingly, does not wish to be a distant God. No, He wants a shocking degree of intimacy with all of His creation. And, by His trinitarian (the Holy Trinity) personae, this absolutely perfect God is willing to even indwell a lowly human! Upon actual belief in Jesus and the salvation God delivered to mankind through the death of Jesus, there is the spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit entering & indwelling that new believer forever. This is a divine power source of Whom, in the earthly life, the beleiver can ask for help in the (1) good vs. evil battle for your mind & heart and (2) in doing YOUR part in the abundant life of right relationships: becoming gracious & loving, selfless, and other-directed (the opposite of self-absorbed). The result can be the "abundant life" (John 10:10) of true self-esteem (rather than the modern "self esteem" promotion of what really ends up being self-absorption & self-centeredness). In the afterlife, this "indwelling forever" adds divine perfection to one's giving & receiving the joy & complete fulfillment of existing in the presence of God. The Way provides the hope & mechanism to gradually abandon our self-centeredness and be transformed throughout life by the love & grace of God!

When the judgment comes, we do not face a hanging judge; we face our loving Father & His perfect love. BUT, human relationships ARE ALWAYS a two-way street (greatest success when the effort is directed from both persons to each other) !

SOCIETY: Jesus even says that He came to seek & save the lost (Luke 19:10). The "lost" are those who have become "down" (Jesus did NOT, however, say that others were of no interest to Him). The lost are ripe for change when they come to a point that they know, first hand, that they don't have it all totally together & admit it. At The Fall (Adam & Eve), mankind was given "free will"...freedom (seen as a gift for non-fallen mankind but felt as a downfall for fallen mankind, which tends...sooner or later...to cause each fallen individual to reassess life). (1) It is that very freedom to chose & make mistakes that finally forces a person to consider taking personal ownership of his/her negative consequences of decisions, thereby setting that person up to be receptive to the Gospel. So, group, church, town, county, state, regional or national societal organizational models & rules/customs/laws that inadvertently become (or are held up as) the target for "blame". That being so, apart from each individual taking personal blame, outward blame targets interfere with the spread of the Gospel.

The intended covenantal USA model is best (HERE) for righteous living. But it is being constantly chipped & morphed away toward a national & worldly mindset that DOES NOT emphasize individual responsibility leavened by the above emphasis on right relationships. (2) Additionally, as societal systems morph toward centrally meeting peoples' needs, individuals begin to undervalue relationships and do what they please, unmindful & uncaring about any negative effect on relationships. This distant "caring" may seem "right" and "kind" and "just" and of theoretical help, but it seriously interferes with the spread of The Way of Jesus through individuals working & living toward right relationships because of the love of God as modeled by Jesus!

***Jesus modeled personal attention to our neighbor and did not recommend (1) defaulting to the forced extraction of the means to better relationships and (2) the delegation of that effort toward right relationships to others or to entities. The example of Jesus was & is an inter-personal example!***

For more context of this HUGE OPPORTUNITY, check HERE for "THIS IS THE DEAL" in greater detail.

We relate positively with GOD (as the Father, the Son [Jesus], and the Holy Spirit):  

  • through prayer,   
  • through consciously working toward having spiritual awareness,   
  • through fellowship with other positive believers,   
  • through study of The Word (Bible study and faith study),   
  • through regular attendance at worship services (inspiring worship, Bible study together and fellowshipping with believers),   
  • through church, community, and even broader "helping" &  stewardship,   
  • through glorifying God by actually relating in our world as Jesus would want us to,
  • and through wrestling out one's own personal investigation toward understanding of The Faith.



We relate positively with other HUMANS:

  • by understanding individualness: that all of us are different and HOW we can be different. Smalley's personality types HERE.   
  • by being realistic of what we can bring to the relationship [realistic expectations of ourselves],   
  • by being realistic of what others can bring to the relationship [realistic expectations of others],   
  • by truly understanding that each person is DIFFERENT [HERE ]!   
  • by having some understanding of at least the four basic human personalities [HERE],   
  • by learning about the details of evaluating evidence & opinions [HERE ].   
  • by (through the above gaining of spiritual awareness) learning that you are divinely enabled to relate better to others & that it takes self-will, patience, tolerance, and commitment (you must WANT to) to make them work.   
  • by learning to have GRACE toward errors & failings of those you are relating to.   
  • by staying away from SIN because sin damages relationships.
    and by avoiding signaling to the bad elements that we might be receptive to them [HERE].
  • The Golden Rule of living is the goal! 

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(posted 3 September 2011; latest addition 23 March 2013)