Reality vs. Unreality.

Sin.

Moving from unreality to reality.

This week I read an article that said the most important discussion that needs to happen today concerns what is real.

With the rise of AI and Deep fake reality, and virtual reality, 
the question many are asking is 
what makes something real.

This is not a new question.
Just because something is on a screen does not make it real.
If the power goes out
all your online world vanishes.

The process of healing and being transformed
is a constant movement from unreality to the True.
We are called out of the realm of illusions
and into the solid world, the world that God intended for us.
This movement is a healing 
of our memories,
our emotions and soul,
and our bodies.
I have seen so many physical healings take place
when we get our souls healed,
that I think this is central to the process of healing.
This week I want to talk about moving from 
illusion
to reality.

Deuteronomy 30:19 says this:
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days.

It is life and death.

Of course, 
the history of Israel shows us they did not choose life.
In fact, 
it is almost impossible to go against the flow of death in this world.
We fail.
We make mistakes.
We miss the mark.
We turn to the darkness
and willfully rebel.
And so after we remove the obstacles to healing,
the next thing we need to do is begin the healing process.
We have to deal with sin.

Sin is unreality.
It is not a creative thing.
It is always a destructive thing,
and it always costs us.
Sin holds us back,
and keeps us from moving forward,
or moving in a straight line.
Sin is an outward manifestation 
of an internal problem.
This problem could bean unhealed hurt.
It could be the result of trauma.
But most of the time
Sin the is the by-product of being disconnected with God.
The original sin
in Eden
was the violating and breaking of a relationship.
And it did not take long for someone to commit murder.
This is why the most important part of dealing with sin
and getting healed
is learning how to stay in contact with God.

Unlike the things we mentioned before,
Sin is not an obstacle to healing.
Sin is a barrier between you and God.
Religious thinking says that God is the one who put up the barrier,
but in reality,
the barrier is on our side.
And in order to deal with this we are given three tools.
Unfortunately,
two of these tools are mis translated in our Bibles,
so we are not experiencing the fullness of what we are promised
in the New Testament.
Two of these words are translated "repentance."