The Violation of Universal Principles

I was conducting a training course recently, and in giving the group a little background about myself I informed them that for the past 25-plus years I had stood for the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel.  In addition, I mentioned that although my experiences in life had been quite varied, I discovered that my life did not even begin to work for me until I took that stand because, I had violated too many of life’s universal principles.  Then I went on to share some background on the organization they were about to do training with, saying that it too was once falling as a result of a violation of universal principles, but now it was upright and stable because of the correct application of them.

In the module that follows the introduction of the course, I always experience the presence and power of God when giving specific details about the history of our wrong and right application of His universal principles.  It’s interesting to observe the faces of the people too, because it’s discernible that most of them, (young and old) have never heard this kind of language before.  The advantage being here in this day and age when attention spans can be as little as 10 minutes per person, they sit giving attention for 40-plus minutes … provided there’s room for them in the session to ask any questions and/or freely challenge any statements made to them without getting us side-tracked.

In this most recent course one young man came to me during the lunch break telling me he had enjoyed what he’d heard so far.  He then asked me on what basis did I stand for Jesus Christ….. “Where’s the evidence?” I replied by saying that I get all my evidence from the Bible.  He asked some more things about the reality of God and when I gave him the answers, once again he asked for the evidence.  Again my response was, “It’s in the Bible.”  Then he said, “That sounds like you’re using a circular argument to me.” I said, “Of course I am, where else do you think I could go for my authority on what we’re talking about?”  I then mentioned that he too was using a circular argument in disputing me.

Bowing to the “circular argument” label (or similar), does not make the Christian’s argument invalid at all.  All who argue for an absolute authority will ultimately appeal to that authority for their proof.  All non-Christian religions do it – cults, atheists, communists, heathens, pagans, philosophers – they all do so.  If they didn’t, their authority would not be (as they think it), the absolute or highest authority.  For many people, reason is their authority, “because it seems reasonable for me to make it so.” This young man’s highest authority was science, so in his argument with me, he was doing the same as me, except his beliefs were not written down so as to be open for criticism as mine are.

On the basis of what he had heard earlier however, about violation of, or right applications of universal principles, I continued to use them when further explaining certain aspects of Jesus’ ministry and authority and how they applied personally to my life in the area of spiritual, mental and physical healing.  Then I said to him, “That could only come about as a result of my relationship with a Personal God.  Impersonal science does not have such power or authority to bring that about.”  He nodded and said, “I hear you.”  Would he have heard me if I had simply Scripture-bashed him?  I doubt it.  But when what is proclaimed is Scriptural, then, God will back every word just the same.

Although I have given lots of thought and study to the application/violation of universal principles, I have never heard a sermon on it in any of the churches I’ve been associated with.  One preacher once mentioned, “People love to talk about principles, but truth is more than that.”  That’s all he said about it, appearing to look down on or turn his nose against them. Sadly, his kind of truth was more in league with doctrinal bias and over-emphasis, itself a violation of universal principles.  Besides, I’m not so sure people do like to talk about principles.  I’ve worked with lots of adults in this area and most of what they heard was foreign to them and, annoyingly challenging because it has always meant they must take ownership, rather than hand-ball it to someone else.

As a driving consultant, working with executives in crash-avoidance, the most common statement I heard from them is how bad other drivers are.  What are they saying?  They’re saying, “I’m better than them, I would never do that.”  And if they did do it, they’ll justify why they did it.  In every major/minor city of Australia, the most common complaint I heard was, “other drivers are forever pushing in front of me, causing me to brake, cutting me off.”  My suggestion is always, “back off, leave some space for another driver to get into it if he needs it.”  Then they’ll say, “But I’d never get there if everybody did that.”  Reality is, he does “get there” and, “everybody” doesn’t do that.  But they love their story better than the challenge of taking ownership.

Then others  jumped into the story by saying something like, “the drivers are really bad here, they’ll never let you in.” So I asked them, “Do you let others in?”  Silence or justifications always follow.  These are the times when I hear universal principles being violated.  These same people will always agree that sharing the road with others is important.  But when they don’t cooperate with other drivers, they violate cooperative/sharing principles.  No wonder others don’t let them in!  What you give is what you get.  For every 5 ks over a 60kpm speed limit a driver doubles his chances of crashing.  Most executive drivers know that but when they have a hit, out rolls the story.  What’s the real story?  Keep that practice up for long enough and sooner or later the universal principles of gravity and physics must get violated.

Nevertheless, having stated the above, some of the most effective ministry I have had the pleasure of being involved in with other people, has been in discussing the violation of universal principles rather that discussing the word “sin.”  Yes, as Christians you and I know we are talking much about the same thing, but whilst unbelievers can willingly deny the latter, not so easy is it for them to deny the former.  Example:  If I ask a person what happens to him if he should step off a high building, he’s only got one answer.  If I ask a driver what happens if he hits a tree doing 120 kph, again – he’s only got one answer.  If I ask a drug addict or an alcoholic a similar question regarding their continued practice, he or she too can only give one right answer.

So if I should then ask, “Who’s at fault here?” or, “With whom does the culpability lie?”… only the truly pathetic will try to deny or justify.  Those who understand what’s going on are then in a much better position to hear what God has to say to them about sin and the part they’re playing in it as a sinner.  In my experience it then becomes much easier to discuss the sowing and reaping principle of Galatians 6:7, and, for them to see this truth as much more than simply karma.  Besides, whatever truth found in karma is a partial truth – a stolen, perverted, partial truth – stolen from the Biblical tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It is not a truth taken from the tree of life Genesis 2:9,17; 3:22.

Getting back to my training group; I shared with them the universal principles of finance management that helped the community organisation get their business affairs sorted out. I explained that the management was not dishonest, but rather, ignorant about manipulative tactics.  Whenever the monthly bills came in, they were paid according to whom was deemed more important and could help the group.  The money inflow dried up but not its inflow of bills.  The whole deal put them onto a never-ending treadmill.  The advice given was to stop playing favorites with debtors, and to treat them all equally with respect and pay the bills in the order of priority that they came in. 

The group was also advised that if they honored that principle they would eventually get out of the red and into the black.  What that meant in practice was, to pay each debtor a small percentage of their bill with a covering letter promising that if they accepted a “drip-feed” proposal, then they could expect to receive all outstanding monies in due course.  No debtor protested that deal and within a few months the group were debt free.  Advice was also given that if they continued to apply correct financial principles they would never have a financial shortage again.  In the last eighteen years those correct principles have continued to be applied monthly.  They have remained in the black with always plenty of money on hand to purchase whatever is needed.

Biblical Scripture has rarely been mentioned within this particular community group, but for eighteen years biblical principles have … and those in the group that were there at the beginning know it.  Today they wouldn’t dare violate a financial principle – or any other for that matter.  In community groups the same as this one across the nation, there is lots of political infighting, back-stabbing and hidden agendas going on.  Once upon a time the same thing was happening with this group.  This too stopped around eighteen years ago.  It stopped because once they learned that it was the violation of universal principles of relationship that was the cause, they dumped those just as quickly as the money violations.

As a Christian, I have sat in a few churches over the years and have listened to lots of sermons on sin, love, relationships, giving, sharing and the need for cooperation with one another.  In each case too there had been plenty of Scriptures used to support those sermons.  I’m no longer associated with those churches, but from time to time I run into someone who is associated with them.  They talk about the (new) pastor and how good of a preacher he is, how they love the music in the worship service, plus all the church programs.  But then they’ll often go on to talk about certain people who have certain problems and others who cause problems. 

What amazes me though, the same people spoken about are those that were doing that stuff back when I was associated … years ago.  The institutional church always seems to have plenty of such people in their midst.  Tares in the wheat field?  Could be.  But I wonder if change could be brought about within each of them by someone personally revealing and addressing violations of the universal principles of love, relationships, giving, sharing, cooperation, etc.  If God can honor any attempts made in a secular body, what could He do with His own? “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4.