Six Givens (I wish is was an even 10)

As a Christian adult in with Asperger Syndrome, I believe that I struggle against the “natural” man in a unique way.  I’ll try and explain what I mean over the next several posts.  My intent is to propose that Biblical Christianity is the best tool, if you will, for helping people with Asperger integrate successfully and happily into neurotypical society. 

I don’t want to cure Asperger Syndrome.  In fact, I think when I get to heaven and I receive a “glorified” body absent of sin, I will still be an Aspie (or Aspergerian if you prefer) to the extent that it is essential to who I am as a person and not essentially a feature of sin.  It’s tempting for some to conclude in heaven that we will all be wiped of everything that made us who we are and we will be perfect.  We will be perfect, but to think that every feature of me will be gone when I enter eternity doesn’t fit with a rational examination of the Bible.   It fits more with Buddhism.  We won’t be eliminated, rather, sin will be eliminated and we will be at peace with God.

So what is the problem now.  What is the natural man.  Well, first some suppositions.  There are some statements that I treat as real and true and won’t try to prove as part of this series of postings.  You just have to go with them as a given for sake of argument or the article won’t make any rational sense.

Here are my givens:

1. There is a literal God who has a personality and created all that exists.  This God is unique in that there is no other God in existence.  All other “gods” a human inventions or other spiritual beings (demons) pretending to be an actual god.
2. The Christian Bible is a message from this unique literal God, and the only source of information about Him.  By the way, God is neither male nor female, so the “him” pronoun doesn’t imply gender.
3. God created everything that exists: time, space, matter, energy and the laws that govern the universe.  Those laws or both physical (gravity, motion, etc) and moral (right and wrong).  God is morally perfect (also called holy) and demands the same of His creation.
4.  The first created humans (Adam & Eve) disobeyed God’s moral law and in doing so became enemies of God.  In kind we have all inherited, by birth, the sin condition.  We have enemy status as moral criminals and deserve God’s just punishment: hell.  God came to earth as a man (Jesus Christ) to declare the way for us to have peace with God and to take the punishment in our place by being crucified on a cross.
5. When Jesus died on the cross, he broke the power of sin.  When he rose from the dead, he broke the power of death.
6. When I renounce my status as a moral criminal and ask for God to make me his child based on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, I am morally cleansed of sin and begin a process of being transformed from a natural (sinful) man into a man (or woman as the case may be) like Christ.  There is nothing I can do to achieve this.  It is a gift from God.  This transformational process takes place over my lifetime and culminates when my physical body dies and I enter into eternal life.

O.K. that was a lot, and maybe you're wondering what this is dong in a blog on Asperger Syndrome.  I was asked to help explain God to an Aspie.  This is the explanation for the adult Aspies.

As this develops I hope I can parse out the logical supposition for God, sin, the need for salvation, and the joyful transformation of those who surrender to and follow Jesus Christ.

Adam