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What's wrong with the world

09 June 2011 by David Regier

Q. 21. Did man continue in that estate wherein God at first created him?
A. Our first parents being left to the freedom of their own will, through the temptation of Satan, transgressed the commandment of God in eating the forbidden fruit; and thereby fell from the estate of innocency wherein they were created.

Q. 22. Did all mankind fall in that first transgression?
A. The covenant being made with Adam as a public person, not for himself only, but for his posterity, all mankind descending from him by ordinary generation, sinned in him, and fell with him in that first transgression.

Q. 23. Into what estate did the fall bring mankind?
A. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery.

Okay, I'm speaking off the record here, deep background. We're friends, right? I've got an image to uphold, you see. Being a small "g" god carries responsibilities, and if word got out that the internet doesn't hold up his end of the deal, well, I've got other friends, too, and they may not play so nice. Just so you understand.

The things you look for when you come calling to me, what are they? You want a vicarious life, and you want connection with people. What's that you say? No, no, I didn't promise those things. You need to learn the difference between my promises and your expectations.

You spend your whole life sitting there, watching videos of bike stunts you were too afraid to try in junior high, all the FAILs, all the jokes you can’t wait to re-tweet. You fight in a war-game, then turn around and debate high theology like some mediaeval council. You “friend” a thousand people and fake your highs and lows. And I won’t even talk about the lurid stuff – today. But you live a life in front of a screen, and none of those people really know who you are.

For you, that's living vicariously. For you, that's connection. Fellowship, if you will. And you control it all; all the profiles, the playlists, the interactions, the comments and the posts. But you must remember, there's a big "G" God that all us little "g's" report to. Maybe "report" isn't the right word. It's more like "tremble and obey." And His ideas about vicariousness and fellowship go far deeper than your pea-brain has ever imagined.

The way He made things, there's a connection that you can't control, and it connects you with everybody who ever lived, because it's through a single man, from the beginning. His action was your action, and your action is found in his action. That's vicariousness. And it's locked up with everything that's wrong with the world.

So when you're looking for a way out of it that you can control, you're not going to find it with me. I'm just a tool. If you think I made you a promise, well, buddy, that's just projection. If you want fellowship and a life you have not lived, there's a different place to look, and it's not with me. Because a day will come when I give up my secrets, and you'll see that what you had wasn't really control.