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The Bible is a book about broken people, causing broken relationships, and hence breaking the environment being redeemed to their creational purpose. Once our connection with God is restored, we learn to begin to love ourselves in an appropriate way, spilling over in love towards others, bring healing and restoration to the world we live in. So essentially the Bible and it’s message is about CHANGE. Constant change to mature and grow in our love towards God, others and changing the world. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.” Rev 22:11 Since the beginning we were called to subdue the Earth. (Gen 1:28) but also importantly rule over sin. (Gen 4:7) We sinned when we abandoned our divine purpose, giving in to carnal fleshly, animal instincts. Hence satan appearing in the figure of a snake… an animal. Our lower, state. The greatest gift the Bible, and Christianity ever gave the world is the concept, and belief that we are made in God’s Image. We are more than mere animals. (Gen 1:26; Gen 1:27; Gen 9:6; James 3:9) Voorbeelde: Gewoontes, werk, studie, reg eet, oefening, produksie, kliente sien, op tyd wees, humeur, emosies, depressie, rehabilitasie. So Gideon had to select only 300 men, making a distinction “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself” Judg 7:5-7 God was looking for distinct, distinguished, high morale type of people, to win the battle. Temptation always wants to lead us lower, downward, towards our animal nature. Judah went down from his brethren Gen 38:1 And Samson went down to Timnath Judges 14:1 Whereas God wants to lead us upward. Taking the high moral road. Doing what is right. (Rom 8:5-9; Col 3:1-2; Phil 4:8) We are different than animals: the are not lazy, disloyal, overweight, get addicted no instinctively they merely survive the life-cycle. We have the ability to make choices. Society has adopted the mistaken belief that knowledge can solve all problems. The reality of our modern world is that knowledge and information are now more readily accessible than ever before. Just look at the Internet—knowledge has never been so cheap and readily available. And yet, have we seen improvements in our moral behavior? Do we make better choices for ourselves? No. On the whole, we do not. The problem is that knowledge alone does not alter our behavior. The only thing that will change our behavior is making the right decisions, and the only way to ensure we do that consistently is to build up the strength of our characters. We all hope for the Magic ferry, who will change our poor existence into that of a queen in a moment. This is not going to happen!! It takes a daily effort to continue to make the right choices, and do what is right! The hard part is not knowing what to do but actually doing it, day in and day out for the rest of your life. The dangers of smoking, overeating, and lack of exercise are well documented and understood by most. These are not failures of knowledge; they are failures of behavior. They are moral failures. You cannot pit real pain against imagined gain. Real pain wins every time. You are setting yourself up for failure by ignoring the way the human mind works. We have to find other motivators—imagined gain isn’t going to deter us when we face immediate pain. A summery of all the steps one needs to take to overcome temptation, and indulgences is found in 2 P et 1:3-8 1. FAITH πίστις pístis; gen. písteōs, fem. noun from peíthō (G3982), to win over, persuade. Faith. Subjectively meaning firm persuasion, conviction, belief in the truth, veracity, reality or faithfulness (though rare). Objectively meaning that which is believed, doctrine, the received articles of faith. 2. VIRTUE (Deug) ἀρετή aretḗ̄; gen. aretḗs, fem. noun. Superiority or being pleasin