08/15/17 REALITY AND ALTERNATIVE REALITY

08/15/17 REALITY AND ALTERNATIVE REALITY
BACKGROUND, EXPLANATION, APPLICATION
(not everyone will find this interesting)

BACKGROUND
Alternative History, whether literary or theatrical, is a popular mythological medium. Without getting too heady or philosophical, and without endorsing either C. S. Lewis or the Myth/Fact concept, let me say that I believe myth sometimes does present truth. The problem with myth is not primarily that it addresses truth, but rather that it replaces or corrupts truth. Myth becomes an alternative reality to Divine reality.

EXPLANATION
Alternative History is popular, as seen in books, television and movies, such as,
It's A Wonderful Life,
Back To The Future (series),
Frequency,
The Time Machine,
The Terminator (series),
Groundhog Day,
Indiana Jones,
The Kid,
and a recent TV series, The Man In The High Castle along with many more.

Sometimes Alternative History serves as a myth. It teaches us something about truth and reality, whether it is positive or negative.

APPLICATION
God is truth.
God is reality.
God is life.
God is light.
This does not mean that deceit, falsehood, death and darkness do not exist. It means that the absence of God is the presence of that which is without God, it is an Alternative Reality.

That being said, in the creation, God had a will for this world. When anyone or any group of people choose to live outside of the plan of God, outside of the reality of God's will, then an "alternative reality" replaces Divine Reality, replaces the perfect will of God. This happens because God allows the exercise of human free will, within certain parameters. Man cannot devise or create a better reality and he cannot improve on the reality of God, but he can corrupt his own way,

The world as we know it is an alternative to the world God had planned. Still, God is active in the redemption of lost people and the restoration of a failed world. God has always been active in providing a way of escape for fallen men. God has always had a plan to eventually have the world He designed. He is still working that plan into existence.

We can never be a willing part of Divine reality, Divine redemption, Divine restoration until we recognize our own rebellion to God's plan to regenerate and restore us to His will.

All of life, when it is without God, is a failed alternative to Divine reality. All of the attempts of man to improve and save his own society has failed and will fail. Each new alternative takes man further away from Divine reality.

God's standard is Reality. Whenever a person lives by any standard other than God's standard, they are living in an alternative reality.
God's reality is love but selfishness is man's failed alternative reality.
God's reality is truth but deceit is man's failed alternative reality.
God's reality is peace but upheaval and torment are man's failed alternative realities.
God's reality is joy but misery is man's failed alternative reality.
God's reality is fulness but emptiness is man's failed alternative reality.
God's reality is unity but discord and division are man's failed alternative realities.

God's reality is salvation, holiness, faithfulness, brotherhood, Biblical submission, self sacrifice, family values, Divine revelation. To the degree that anyone resists or rejects these realities, they are seeking to establish another reality, an alternative reality to the will of God.

God not only sets the standard, He calls us to follow the standard and by His saving grace, He enables us to keep the standard of His Divine and redemptive reality.