The Magic Formula

Here it is everyone! The moment has arrived that many of you have been waiting for: the unveiling of the formula that can end world hunger and bring world peace. As promised, I am choosing not to be like the Grinch by telling everyone :-) This is the first draft so let me know if you have any ideas or corrections.

The Magic Formula is not a self-help stairway to success that teaches you what to do or what you need to know to achieve your goals. Neither is it a spell that can be cast for miracles of healing or material wealth. The formula is “magic” because it provides evidence of God’s supernatural presence and work in the experiences of existence on earth that many try to deny or presume they cannot explain. Given that it is magic, it is not a formula that teaches yet another strategy or methodology to do God’s work for him. Rather, the formula is a discipline that trains the heart, mind soul and strength of a believer to grow in the power of discernment to distinguish between good and evil, enabling Christ followers to rightly know and apply God’s Word for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. According to the Westminster confession, the purpose of man “…is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” Therefore, if practiced constantly, you will be able to distinguish the goodness of God from the world’s corruption, grow in right relationship with God, be transformed and empowered by the glory of God, thus becoming a suitable vessel to be used by God to boldly fulfill the purpose for which God made you, a purpose that is extremely difficult but extremely enjoyable given the exponential eternal rewards you begin enjoying now.

For the sake of brevity (best I could manage anyway), this introduction only includes the basics needed to understand the construction of the formula, serving as the foundation on which to build other articles and mediums according to God’s provision. I pray it will fulfill its purpose by growing you as a disciple of Christ, thus equipping you to make other disciples, thus propagating the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth, thus working to establish the Kingdom of Heaven in anticipation of the return of the King. When the King returns, hunger will be no more and peace will be restored! Therefore, come now and reason with me, then let’s go prove it!

The Magic Formula

Values
A = The Word
B = Temporal (Time and Matter)
C = Life
-C = Corruption

Standards (the source that determines value)
If…
The Word = God
Temporal = Creation
Life = God’s Glory
Corruption = Sin

Commerce
Then…
The Word + Temporal = Life
Temporal – The Word = Corruption
Temporal + Corruption = Corruption
Corruption + The Word = Temporal
Temporal + The Word = Life
The Word - temporal = The Word

Logic - The formula is based on the three laws of logic:

1. The law of identity: Christ is Christ
2. The law of noncontradiction: Christ is not Anti-Christ
3. The law of the excluded middle: Either he is Christ or Anti-Christ.

Apologist J. P. Moreland says “These fundamental laws are true principles governing reality and thought and are assumed by Scripture. …These laws govern all reality for 2 reasons: (1) They are intuitively obvious and self-evident. Once one understands the basic law they can see that it is true. (2) Those who deny them use these principles in their denial, demonstrating that those laws are unavoidable and that it is self-refutable to deny them.” He goes on to say God can violate the laws of nature but cannot violate the laws of logic since they are rooted in God’s nature. Therefore, God and all that is true about him is not subject to the changes so often imposed by the middle ground of personal perception, interpretation, understanding, or opinion, thus excluding all of these neutral sources as valid standards of credibility, to include our own. “…often God does not act in ways that people understand or judge to be what they would do in circumstances. But God never behaves illogically in the proper sense. He does not violate in His being or thought the fundamental law of logic.” (“What are the Laws of Logic,” The Apologetics Study Bible, pg. 1854)

There are four areas in which the laws of logic must be applied in order to rightly discern them : prayer (knowing God), the Church (confirming witnesses), the Bible (confirmed and recorded objective truth), and all of temporal reality. These sources must be in complete agreement to confirm objective truth (the Word) so as to eliminate the middle ground of opinion.

The Formula

A + B = C – This is the basic mathematical formula used for logical reasoning, postulating IF A and B are objective logical values defined by logical objective standards, THEN their addition or subtraction will have an objective logical outcome. For example, If A =2 and B = 3, then 2 + 3 = 5. Logically, 5 is 5, not 6. Therefore, 5 is the right answer. Since it is right it is not wrong because 5 must be either right or wrong.

The Word + Temporal = Life

The Word – Some scholars translate Word in John 1 as Logic (a divine, rational mind). Since all creation was made through the Word, the translation makes sense given all natural law and human thought is governed by logic. Of course, “sense” only makes sense if one is thinking logically.

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Temporal (time and matter) - Creation was made perfect because God is perfect and rightly recognized his creation as good. Therefore, the standard for the value of good in the temporal is perfect creation. Since good is good, good cannot be non-good (evil), and it is either good or evil.

John 1:3 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

Isaiah 5:19-20 20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Life – God made life for his glory so his glory is the only purpose for which to live. Synonyms of glory are: magnificence, splendor, beauty, wonder, grandeur, brilliance, credit, fame. God’s glory is light because God is the source of light and it is by his light that we are able to see everything else.

John 1:4 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Temporal – the Word = Corruption

Corruption – God made man with the will to choose. A choice requires options so God gave man the options of choosing to obey him by living for his glory or choosing to not glorify God by disobeying him. As disobedience is non-glory and dark is non-light, death is non-life. Therefore, when man chose disobedience, he chose death.

Genesis 2:16-17 6 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Temporal + Corruption = Corruption
Corruption is the progression of death and destruction, a disease that also infected the earth as a result of man’s choice.

Genesis 3:17 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life

Corruption + The Word = Temporal
Since God is perfect in love, he desired man be restored to being able to love him in return. Since God is perfect in justice, wrong had to be made right. Since no one was perfect but God and because he loved his creation, God sent the Word to become the God/man named Jesus. As darkness is the absence of light rather than a force that can oppose light, Jesus remained untouched by evil and overcame evil wherever he went. As reason cannot be overcome by madness, Jesus restored sanity to madmen and shut the mouths of the unreasonable by maintaining perfect logical integrity. Jesus took death on himself by willingly allowing himself to be killed on a Roman cross. Since he was God, death was destroyed when Jesus rose from the tomb alive. Evil cannot overcome God any more than darkness can overcome light.

John 1:5 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:9 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

1 Timothy 2:3-6 3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Temporal + The Word = Life
In fulfillment of the promise made by Jesus to send a counselor after his purpose was fulfilled, God’s Holy Spirit was made available to anyone who chooses to believe the Word and love God . Having had the corruption of their dark hearts exposed by the light of the Word, they must leave their old identity to die in the darkness and run to the light where they will receive and live their new life in the light. The Holy Spirit enters the soul of the new believer, changing them over the course of their life into the perfect image of the God/man Jesus, enlightening their hearts to feel as he did and enlightening their minds to think as he did, thus freeing them from the bondage of death and the insanity of deception. As a result, they shine with the light of God’s glory in dark places, restoring life to the dying, liberating the captive, enlightening the confused, feeding the hungry, caring for the lonely, healing the suffering, defending the helpless, and bringing peace to the chaos. When the Word returns in royal splendor, he will finish the work he started in the world and in those being raised from death to eternal life.

John 14:26 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Colossians 1:19-20 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

John 15:4-5 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Galatians 5:22-25 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

The Word – Temporal = The Word

For those who know the Word but are not changed by it or fail to apply it, the Word maintains its integrity but does not produce life.

Hebrews 5:12-14 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

James 2:13-20 13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. 14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe- and shudder! 20 Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Galatians 6:7-8 7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. 8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Matthew 25:41-46 41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' 44 Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' 45 Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."