OK, if you know me at all, you know that the pattern of the life and spiritual growth of Jesus is central to my belief in God and the spiritual journey from need to Love. But I do not see babies as born evil, but just naturally dependent and needy, because they are unfinished.                                                                                       I see humanity as vulnerable beings whose fears send them after the illusion of safety power gives us or the escape from fear that pleasure gives us.. We are not evil and fallen at birth because Eve and Adam wanted to be equal to God for power and safety, instead of learning goodness, wisdom, and the freedom of being able to love others more than themselves. We are born unfinished in every way, and our lives are a spiritual journey aimed at the freedom to become loving as Jesus did And the Spirit of God is in us just as it was in Jesus. The potential is there within, but this is not heaven. And we are not all dealt the same hand at birth, and our lives vary drastically in how they can cripple us. Even the rich can be crippled from birth from lack of love and being taught that power is the answer to life. But so can the poor. We are born with the innate potential to grow loving, but life can cripple us early on. And even our heroes can give in to human neediness. Think of Martin Luther King, Jr. who had affairs, JFK who had affairs, Ghandi who was a lousy husband. A lot of the most charismatic pastors and preachers and teachers fail the same way. Think about it. They are idolized by the crowds but known by their spouses as the fallible unfinished humans they are. Their vulnerability and neediness often overwhelm them. I’m not excusing this, I’m understanding this. Each of us is unfinished and vulnerable in different ways.
Humans seek the illusion of safety in different ways and as Christians we may manage to play by the minimum of the ten commandments but fail to see the beatitudes as the WAY of Jesus who was a turning point for humanity. The key to Jesus is seeing His WAY of spiritual growth as our way. And seeing Jesus as the flesh and blood expression of both God’s Love and the pattern for our own spiritual journey to forgiving and loving. Recognizing the Love of God expressed for every single human and accepting it with mind, heart, and soul is life changing. And a relationship with the person fleshing out that love is at some point in our lives is grace to live that out ourselves. It can come earlier for those of us whose inborn personalities focus us on relationship.