THE EXISTENCE OF ABSOLUTES

Taking PCT and RTP into a New Area—the Christian Arena

I understand that those who do not believe in the existence of absolutes will have difficulty with this book. However, it’s all a matter of perception. One person perceives their existence, while another is in denial. Interesting, isn’t it? The very denial of absolutes establishes the existence of an absolute.

Since an author has the right to pen his own perception, this book is written with the belief that absolutes exist by divine design, and for our common understanding, an absolute is being defined as a decree from God. The nature of a divine decree is such that denial, rationalization, or ignorance will not destroy its existence.

I am setting forth some perceptions that I deem to be absolute: 1) God is, that is, God exists; 2) God exists in Three separate and distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; 3) the three Persons of the Godhead are co-equal and co-eternal, having exactly the same attributes: sovereignty, eternal life, love, justice, absolute righteousness, omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, and veracity; 4) although co-equal and co-eternal, the three Persons of the Godhead have different job descriptions: God the Father is the Author of a plan; God the Son is the Executor of that plan; and God the Holy Spirit is the Revealer and Restorer to that plan; 5) the Godhead (including all Three Persons) is Perfect, therefore, God the Father’s plan is Perfect; His Son’s execution of that plan is perfect, and the Holy Spirit’s revelation of and restoration to that plan is perfect; 6) according to His plan, God the Father created for the purpose of glorifying Himself through the manifestation of the unity of His attributes; 7) God created angels, one whose name was Lucifer, Son of the Morning; 8) during angelic time, Lucifer, Son of the Morning, also known as Satan, the most wise and beautiful creature to come from the hand of God, rebelled against his Creator; 9) Lucifer’s rebellion was expressed in “5 I will’s” that were contrary to God the Father’s plan; 10) Absolutely righteous God the Father judged Satan’s rebellion and sentenced him to the lake of fire; 11) Satan appealed his sentence; 12) God the Father created man lower than the angels for the purpose of resolving the spiritual battle between Himself and Satan; 13) human history, then, is about the resolution of the spiritual battle between God and Satan; 14) human history is divided into four time periods called dispensations: the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of Israel, the Church Age, and the Age of Christ (millennium); 15) each dispensation has a divinely revealed set of rules by which the people living during that dispensation are to abide; 16) the sets of rules are separate and distinct from one another, and are referred to as Inherent Law, Mosaic Law, Royal Family Honor Code, and Kingdom Law; 17) the objections raised by Satan at the time of his judgment in eternity past are to be resolved by Godly obedience of human beings to God’s plan for them during their particular dispensation; 18) the issue in this spiritual battle is simple: if man, created lower than the angels, demonstrates obedience to the plan of God for his life during his particular dispensation, the higher creature, namely Satan, could have been obedient, but chose disobedience; 19) at the end of the millennium, the last 1000 years of human history, every objection of Satan will have been satisfactorily answered, and human history will be concluded with the Great White Throne Judgment; 20) Satan and the fallen angels and every human being who died physically having rejected Jesus Christ as Savior throughout his entire lifetime will be banished eternally to the lake of fire; 21) the present heaven and earth will be destroyed by God and a new heaven and new earth will be created; 22) the children of God will reside with Him throughout all of eternity future.

Assuming the existence of absolutes, among those absolutes mentioned above are rules by which every born-again Christian is commanded to live. These rules are found in Holy Scripture between Romans 1 and the end of the Book of Philemon. They were delivered to Christians by divine revelation from God through the Apostle Paul.

A word of caution: My appeal to the writings of the Apostle Paul over the teachings of Jesus in the four Gospels is deliberate. Well meaning Christians fall into a theological quagmire by appealing solely to the teachings of Jesus—the “red letter” words in the red letter Bible. Without realizing, some Christians make no dispensational distinction between the words of Jesus that apply solely to the Age of Israel, or the Age of Christ (millennium), or the Church Age. The assumption is that if Jesus said it, it must apply to all people of all generations. This is a theological and interpretive misperception of gigantic proportion. Every word of Jesus does not apply to every human being throughout every generation of human history. His words must be rightly divided for application within the dispensation of time for which they are intended. The major portion of the four Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--have application to the Age of Israel and the Age of Christ (millennium). There are a couple of exceptions, one of which is John 13-17, referred to as the Upper Room Discourse. This is the only major portion of the four Gospels that has any application for the present Church Age, and even this passage is anticipatory of the Church Age. Not until we hear from the Apostle Paul do we begin to receive the revelation of the rules for living the Christian way of life. This is why the Apostle Paul told young Timothy to “rightly divide the Word of truth.”

A distinction should also be made between the rules for Christian living and other principles, promises, and doctrines contained in Holy Scripture. While there may be principles, promises, and doctrines common to each of the first three dispensations—the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of Israel, and the Church Age--the rules for living during the Church Age are unique to the Church Age and should not be drawn from previous or subsequent dispensational periods. If caution is not taken to distinguish “rules” from principles, promises, and doctrines, Old Testament appeals throughout this book will be viewed erroneously as contradictions.

The premise upon which this book is written is that two concepts, namely, the Perceptual Control Theory as set forth by William Powers and the Responsible Thinking Process® as set forth by Ed Ford are disclosures of that which was divinely decreed in eternity past. God has used two men outside the ranks of fundamental Christianity to challenge us to consider the following: 1) PCT is founded in the belief that human beings are organized to self-control, and it explains how man behaves in ways to change his perceptions so that they match his internal goals; it shows how little we can know what is going on in the mind of another human being, and 2) RTP teaches that discipline, not punishment or reward, is the means of dealing with disruptive behavior. (RTP, using PCT as a basis, is a method of teaching others how to look within themselves, decide the way they want to be, and how to restructure their own lives so they can get what they want while respecting the rights of others.)

Regretfully, fundamental Christianity tampers with and destroys the concept of self-control through the practice of legalism. Further, fundamental Christianity has failed to properly deal with disruptive behavior in the Church Age. It has relied upon the Old Testament Mosaic Law rod-principle (figurative for the concept of punishment) to justify the use of punishment to alter disruptive behavior. The problem is that the Mosaic Law was annulled by the coming of Christ. “For the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) The issue is clear. If the Mosaic Law was annulled with the coming of Christ, any justification for rod use during the Church Age can only be justified if the rod-principle is restated somewhere between the beginning of Acts 2 and end of Revelation 3—and it has not been so-restated.

The intent of this book, then, is to demonstrate a biblical basis and Church Age application for both the Perceptual Control Theory (PCT) and the Responsible Thinking Process (RTP).