Citizens of Heaven

therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:23-24

God's supreme act of mercy with Adam and Eve often gets missed in the sad reality of man getting the boot from Eden. It sometimes proves difficult to realize that getting cast out of the abode of the Blessed was really the kindest thing. Imagine living with the knowledge of good and evil, not for just a lifetime of say eighty to a hundred years, but instead, forever. Ponder a life lived, eternally, in an existence where the works of the flesh are the alpha and the omega.

Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

A gander at the morning paper finds plenty of stories where any of the above has led to news fit to print. Is it any wonder that suicide rates in America are on the increase, especially in middle-aged people? Yes, the Baby Boom generation that shed God in exchange for a fuller communion with the fallen world has discovered that it turned out to be a bad deal, and sadly many having lost all hope are offing themselves.

Consider this excerpt from a study co-authored by Susan P Baker MPH; released in October of 2008; and conducted by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy.

The reasons for the increase in the suicide rate are not fully understood. "While it would be straightforward to attribute the results to a rise in so-called mid-life crises, recent studies find that middle age is mostly a time of relative security and emotional well being," said Baker. "Further research is warranted to explore societal changes that may be disproportionably affecting the middle-aged in this country."

Not sure disproportionably is a word, but setting the grammar aside, perhaps the scientific community should take a serious look at the simple loss of faith in America as a root cause to this loss of hope which leads to the ultimate fatal solution. For many, perhaps most, a higher dose of Cymbalta could be replaced with a lower dose of faith. Science spends its days trying to make living in the fallen world more pallatable and peaceful. It will never succeed.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Galatians 5:22-24

Despite man's exile on Earth, he is a citizen of Heaven. And while he soujourns here he can take the attitude of "when in Rome do as the Romans do." God gave him free will to do so. Yet, he can also choose to act as an expatriot of the his state of origin, Paradise. He can set aside his knowledge of evil and instead choose to share his knowledge of good with those seeking home, even if they don't realize they are lost. For all are invited to be members of a Trinitarian communion of love offered freely by a loving Father.

While the Seraphim guards the East entrance to Paradise with flaming sword, are there not three other directions one can approach Heaven? Not North, South and West...but rather Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? God so loved the world that he planted a new tree of life upon the fallen Earth, and He adorned it with His only son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, arms stretched out to welcome all who want to partake of its fruit.