On Chickens and Eggs

Which came first? The chicken or the egg?

How about In the beginning?

God or man?

Salvation or belief?

The Sacrifice or the Sin?

I think how we answer these questions says a lot about how we view the relationship between God and man. Who initiates? Who responds? And why does it matter?

FYI: God came first. Salvation came first. Ditto the Sacrifice. God initiated; we respond. And it matters because unless we see God's intent toward man, His love for man, we live with the misconception that God wants something from men other than belief. We buy into the deception that religious snake-oil salesman have peddled for 2000 years- "You! Yes, you! Can earn eternal life if THE BEHAVIOR IS RIGHT!!!"

That's where religion gets the most important fact wrong. It's not our behavior that mattered to God. It was the behavior of His Son.

That's where the world totally misses the whole "For God so loved the WORLD" deal. God doesn't love or forgive because we love or believe. Uh, no. God loved, forgave, reconciled, and saved, and then pursues us like a crazy, lovesick nut in the hope that we will simply believe in that love.

Which came first?

Love.

Duh.