the-fall

The Fall is where the nation is. The Fall is the locus of America.

God said to him [Eblis], 'You have become proud.' He replied, 'If I had been with you but a moment my pride would have been justified; I have been with you for centuries.

You have seen what Eblis the accursed has seen, when he said "I am of fire, while Adam is of clay."Cover up the Eblis-like eye for just a moment; how long will you see just the form? How long, indeed, how long?Alas for that eye that's blind and bruised! Within it the sun seemed like an atomOf an Adam who had no like. He saw nothing but a lump of

We are not only contingent beings, dependent on the love and will of a Creator whom we cannot know experientially except in so far as he reveals to us our personal relationship with him as his sons - we are also sinners who have FREELY REPUDIATED this relationship. We have rebelled against him. The spirit of rebellious refusal persists in our heart even when we try to return to him. Much could be said, at this point, about all the subtlety and ingenuity of religious egoism which is one of the worst and most ineradicable forms of self-deception. Sometimes one feels that a well-intentioned and inculpable atheist is in many ways better off - and gives more glory to God - than some people whose bigoted complacency and inhumanity to others are signs of the most obvious selfishness! Hence we not only need to recover an awareness of our creaturehood; we also must repair the injury done to truth and to love by this repudiation, this infidelity. But how? Humanly speaking, there is no way in which we can do this.

Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world_ (Acts 15:18). From the beginning God purposed to glorify Himself __n the Church by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end_ (Eph. 3:21). To this end, He created the world, and formed man. His all-wise plan was not defeated when man fell, for in the Lamb __lain from the foundation of the world_ (Rev. 13:8) we behold the Fall anticipated. Now will God__ purpose be thwarted by the wickedness of men since the Fall, as is clear from the words of the psalmist, __urely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain_ (Ps. 76:10).

With every morn my life afresh must breakThe crust of self, gathered about me fresh;That thy wind-spirit may rush in and shakeThe darkness out of me, and rend the meshThe spider-devils spin out of the flesh-Eager to net the soul before it wake,That it may slumberous lie, and listen to the snake.George MacDonald

Love hadn__ existed in this world. Only hate, deceit and lies, but by letting him in I__ let all of that crumble.By letting me in he__ done the same, and now we were engaged in an even deadlier game than before.

Don't lies in the end put us on the path to truth? And don't my stories, true or false, point to the same conclusion? Don't they have the same meaning? So, what does it matter whether they are true or false if, in either case, they signify what I have been and what I am? One can sometimes see more clearly in a person who is lying than in one who is telling the truth. Like light, truth dazzles. Untruth, on the other hand, is a beautiful dusk that enhances everything.