Kent asks: Why is it that human nature seems not only to resist this but more often than not can’t see it or at least doesn’t understand it?
I am sure, if we sat and had a long conversation about this, we would find many reasons why, but let me mention three; fear, conditioning and paradigms.
The latter two are very closely related: we are all trained to see the world a certain way and information that comes to us that is contrary, is often invisible to us. "The ‘natural’ person CANNOT see the things of the Spirit" – it is not even that they don’t want to, they just can’t. This is not a statement of condemnation but of fact.
Here is one of the chapter quotes in The Shack ; a quote by Marilynne Robinson from her book, The Death of Adam.
"We routinely disqualify testimony that would plead for extenuation. That is, we are so persuaded of the rightness of our judgment as to invalidate evidence that does not fonfirm us in it. Nothing that deserves to be called truth could ever be arrived at by such means."
Paradigms and conditioning are powerful; and it the work of the Spirit and the transformation and renewing of the mind that opens up the inside eyes to see – and it is a process in which there is no guilt or shame at any point.
Fear has a terrible grip on us all. When we are not aware of the Love that we are the center of, we resort to control or give away our freedoms in exchange for just the promise or potential of security, peace etc. We don’t even want to know that the promises are empty, that the potential is impotent; we would rather embrace an illusion of certainty and the fear that is wrapped up in it than take the risk of faith that believes in the certainty of God’s character and love. Self centered independence is the birthplace of fear, control and the will to power.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it… ‘Willie’
