The Effects of Separation

The separation spoken of in the topic titled The Problem has a real effect on people. It's kind of like—if we were all exposed to radiation, we would feel nauseous and our kids would be born with five eyes (I'm kidding–sort of).

So, what are these "effects"?

Your World

Ever feel like you woke up from a bad dream? If you hadn't noticed, the world you live in is an odd continuum of the wonderful to the horrible, and everything in-between. For example, have you ever been hiking in a beautiful setting, and turned a corner, and had to stop and view a breathtaking scene? Maybe it was a forest, a mountain, a waterfall, a river. The feeling, the smells, the sounds, were overwhelming beauty.

Or, have you had the pleasure of being around an innocent, playful four year-old child? Their questions and answers had you in stitches. And their innocence was astounding.

On the other hand, have you watched the news and been horrified by the story of a serial killer? You wondered out loud: "How is is possible for this person to do such things to another human being?"

How do we reconcile such a dichotomy? Is there an explanation?

Yes, see What Happened? below.

Your Life

Ever feel like your life sucks?

Yep, join the club. And I don't want to make light of that. Because saying "my life sucks" could be the words coming from a wealthy, entitled person who dropped by Starbucks, was served a latte without the requested cinnamon on top, and is whining and upset about it.

No, I'm not talking about that. Really sucks means that you have perhaps experienced abuse in any or all of the following areas:

• Physical, mental, or sexual abuse
• Emotional or psychological abuse
• Spiritual abuse

If you're alive, you most likely have experienced some type of abuse or hardship. It's almost inevitable.

What Happened?

The Separation (from God) happened. And we heavily feel the effects. Like a noxious gas leak.

Specifically what happened was that the first man and woman were kicked to the corner. Wait. Am I talking about Adam and Eve? Yes. Wait, isn't that another fairy tale? I'll let you decide based on the evidence. But the Old Testament talks about the story of the first man and woman. If you are not familiar with it, you can read about it in the first chapters of the first book in the Bible—Genesis.

To save time, you can read the story. The crux is that because they disobeyed God, they ruined their relationship with God and their place of residence for themselves and everyone else after them.

Yes, because of them, you and I are screwed. Not fair? I agree, but the chances are high that every single person, given the same choice, would do the same thing.

So, we inherited a broken, fallen world, separated from God. This means that without something changing, everyone remains on a path of separation from God. This is The Problem.

But the good news is that Someone fixed it and we can all benefit - live with God forever. Read on.