CHECK YOUR REFORMATION LENSES

All leaders create a culture that should, ideally, maintain the group’s vision or purpose and promote integrity within all participants.  Is the culture you are creating accomplishing these two biblically-based goals?

After viewing the video, answer these few questions to evaluate your reformation lens:​
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1. Genesis 3 introduces the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Good is the Hebrew word tob, which means a state of wellness, wholeness, or integrity that is sustainable. Evil is the Hebrew word ra, which means calamity, injury, distress, or that which produces harm. Knowing what produces wholeness or integrity and being aware of what yields calamity and harm would seem to be knowledge that would be desirable when making decisions and living successfully. Think of several areas in life where you did not either have knowledge of a process that yielded a “good” outcome or when you chose to ignore and live contrary to the knowledge of the “good”. Upon contemplation of those past events and if you could go back in time to make different choices, would you choose the outcome of tob or ra? Do you consider knowledge a necessary ingredient for choices? Based upon those memories and experiences, do you think that a place where you could go to get knowledge of good and evil – like the tree in the garden – would be a desirable, if not a necessary, resource for you and a valuable resource for the first couple in the garden?
2. In the Genesis 3 narrative, God had put a “No Trespassing” sign around the specific tree that was a resource for attaining knowledge. If knowledge is necessary before good choices and good outcomes can be attained, the question arises as to whether or not God was forbidding the first couple to gain knowledge. Hadn’t God already given them knowledge of good (wise or prudent actions) when He told them not to eat? If they had listened, learned, and acted upon that knowledge, would they not have had a good outcome? God had already initiated them into the process of gaining the knowledge of good and evil when He told them not to eat. God had presented Himself as the claimant owner of all knowledge. Do you believe that true knowledge is important and that it is considered pertinent within the wisdom proverbs? List two or three proverbs that apply. If God required knowledge and understanding throughout other portions of scriptures (like Proverbs), does it seem possible that God was forbidding the first couple from obtaining these virtues at the Tree of Knowledge in Genesis 3? Give a defense for your reasoning.  
3. All the other trees in the Garden were there for man to willingly partake, but the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge belonged to God. God placed a “No Trespassing” sign around that tree.  In the natural world and in God’s kingdom, people are forbidden to trespasses a boundary and steal property that belongs to another. The owner of the boundaried area can share, give, trade, or sell his property. The owner can make decisions concerning the use of his assets. Non-owners can partake of that which belongs to another only through volitional choices of the owner, but a non-owner can partake only when done “legally.” The “No Trespassing” sign around the Tree of Knowledge was, in essence, the Lord stating that true knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of actions and outcomes are God-possessions.  Man could not autonomously take God’s property. Man could not autonomously decide what was good or evil. God alone had sovereign rights to that tree and to that resource. Man would only be allowed to eat the fruit or learn the truth from the hand of Him who owned that tree. Was God willing to give His knowledge to Adam and Eve? Is God willing to give His knowledge to us? Were they allowed to claim knowledge of good and evil as their own personal property and deny that truth was God’s portion or property? Are we? 

NEED HELP ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS?
​CONSIDER MENTORSHIP!

Did the above questions help you see yourself with more clarity or was your view a little blurry?  If you are unsure and unclear, perhaps I could help you apply reformation lenses in order that you can more deliberately reform your world according to biblical patterns. 

 I am hosting a monthly mentorship call in which I will go into more details about each question.  I will response to your questions and help you discover how and where to apply reformation truths. 
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 Are you interested in mentorship?  
Join me for this month’s video call by registering here:
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Mentorship