The sky was a faint lilac color now, overcast and reflecting the city glow. The motionless grandeur came about the Earth; the fiery vigor burst from Heaven. For centuries, people have been fascinated by the essential and powerful fall of man. Earthly states are merely coercive institutions which would not exist had man not fallen, and serve simply to issue punishments and remedies for the corruption of human nature. Civil subordination is natural to humans and would exist even if the Fall had not taken place, and cannot be written off as an extraneous penal imposition. Perfection and fulfillment of human nature is in the intellect rather than the will. Law is essentially a rule of right reason, rather than a species of will-based commands. Moral evaluation consists of rational assessments based upon the intrinsic nature of the cases in question and is also susceptible of being interpreted as constituting a restriction on divine omnipotence. It is my ultimate goal to transmute this experience into a level of life participation which is worthy of the immense powers that God has bequeathed to us, a level of life experience which knows no moral shrinking from the most obvious yet painful theological questions which in our transfigured state has made utterly inescapable, the first of which is, obviously, how does God view our essential beings? Perhaps damnation is not a literal Hell with flames, but a state which is defined by the absence of God. #RandolphHarris 1 of 8

Humans have a real measure of responsibility for their spiritual condition. The free will of human beings, therefore, can cooperate with God’s grace, and does so. The human will, of course, is never the primary cause of human’s regeneration—the Spirit of God and the preaching of the Word always maintain the initiative—but human’s will is specifically granted a place, and unless there is consent on the human’s part there can be no effective regeneration. The mind is darkened by what it learns when regeneration is absent and cannot understand; the lips are folded, and cannot speak. Regeneration is the impartation of life, spiritual life, to those who are dead, spiritually dead, through their trespasses and sins. It is the Holy Spirit who impart this life. It is truth that the written Word is the instrument which the Holy Spirit uses in regeneration. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which lives and abides forever,” reports 1 Perter 1.23. Regeneration is the spiritual change wrought in the heart of human beings by the Holy Spirit in which one’s inherently sinful nature is changed so that one can respond to God in Faith, and live in accordance with the Will of God. It extends to the whole nature of a being, altering one’s governing disposition, illuminating one’s mind, freeing one’s will, and renewing one’s nature. #RandolphHarris 2 of 8

Regeneration, or new birth, is an inner re-creating of fallen human nature by the gracious sovereign action of the Holy Spirit. And the work intended by their regeneration, or in being born again, which is the spiritual conversation and quickening of the souls of humanity, is everywhere ascribed unto them that shall be saved. And this regeneration is the head, fountain, or beginning of our sanctification, virtually comprising the whole in itself, as will afterward appear. Regeneration renews our minds. Being renewed in the spirit of our minds means that our minds now have a new, saving supernatural light, to enable them to think and act spiritually. In the same, the Holy Spirit, implants in our heart a new prevailing love for God, causing the soul to cling to him, and his ways with delight and satisfaction. Our Heavenly Father is all-powerful and all-knowing. He knows our physical struggles. God is also aware of our physical pains due to infirmary, aging, accidents, or birth disorders. God is aware of our emotional struggles, and everything else. God knows each person who has suffered injustice or who has been abused. He knows our weaknesses and the propensities and temptations we struggle with. #RandolphHarris 3 of 8

During mortality we are tested to see if we will choose good over evil. For those who keep God’s commandments, they will live with him in a state of never-ending happiness. Of all the paradoxes that help us detach from the ordinary plane of existence and connect with the spiritual plane, suffering that breeds a greater engagement in life is perhaps the most intriguing. Our mortal life is designed by God to be a test and source of growth for each of us. Since the beginning, the tests have not been easy. We face trials that come from having mortal bodies.  Sometimes the World and our lives can seem to be in increasing disharmony. However, the loving God who allowed these tests for us also designed a way to make sure we pass through them. God is our father and we are created in his image, entitled through our worthiness to receive revelation to help with our righteous endeavors. We are promised that we may have God’s Spirit with us always. The trunk of the tree does not become superfluous because of a new branch; it makes the branch possible. It takes a prayer of faith, a fervent prayer of faith to our Heavenly Father to be raised unto life eternal. We must encourage ourselves from a central, deep, integrated sense of what we are; what we feel, value, believe, and cherish. #RandolphHarris 4 of 8

As personal integrity becomes a more permanent frame of reference from which we operate, we are far less likely to violate one set of needs by satisfying another set. Just as the riverbed guides the river, our best self will guide the way we live our lives. We must pray unto the Father in Heaven with all the energy of our hearts that we may be filled with his love, and that we may be purified. The Savior, Jesus Christ, is putting his name in our hearts. For many of us, our faith in God and Christ is increasing. We are feeling more hope and optimism. And we are feeling the pure love of Christ for others and ourselves. However, sometimes it seems that our hope and faith are being overcome by our troubles. And we may yearn to feel love. Therefore, we have to keep in mind that the  human mind is too smart to accept being lied to. The Lord has opportunities near us to feel and share in his love. We can pray with confidence for the Lord to lead us to love someone for him. Because we are principled, we are honest. Because we are loving, we are lovable. Because we are interested in the welfare of others, we are respected. Because our ideas work, we are worth listening to. Because we are determined, we are able to get things done. As we help children of God in their troubles, our own troubles will seem lighter. Our faith and hope will be strengthened. Part of God is inside of us and that voice has the answers. #RandolphHarris 5 of 8

God’s voice will give us so much peace. We will find it easier to go from role to role. And will have very little inner conflict over how to act or how to spend our times. It is like we have a kind of cosmic glue holding us together now. In the past, we may have been all fragments, pieces of us darting about in different orbits. To persevere firm and steadfast in faith of Christ, it requires that the gospel of Jesus Christ penetrate one’s heart and soul. That way we will be on one planet in one great orbit, sure of our destiny and our goals. God will give us a new heart, and a new spirit. And God will put his spirit within us and cause us to talk in his statutes. It is challenging but vital to remain firm and steadfast when we find ourselves being refined in the furnace of affliction, something that comes sooner or later to all of us in mortality. Without God, these dark experiences tend to despondency, despair, and even bitterness. With God, comfort replaces pain, peace replaced turmoil, and hope replaces sorrow. Remaining firm in the faith of Christ will bring his sustaining grace and support. He will convert trial into blessings. #RandolphHarris 6 of 8

Once we receive God, it may feel that every part of us is blossoming. Suddenly we will be able to stand up to our enemies, feel compassion for them, even. We will not be riddled by worry nor doubt. We will come through these experiences more internally focused, autonomous, and self-directed as we build our integrated sense of self-identity. Instead of basing our identities in career or family roles, our hardier, more self-sufficient, and more inner-directed survivor soul will base our identity on who we truly are. When we learn to trust enough in the wisdom of our own soul to accept how all the various aspects of our personality come together, we will discover the miraculous truth that the whole that is us transcends our individual personality traits. Viewed as a composite, our life has an almost magical coherence and continuity. If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that the Spirit has touched us more than once and the testimony of the Spirit is real. The temptations and tribulations we experience, with any testing the Lord sees fit to impose, can lead to our full conversion and healing. However, this happens if, and only if, we do not harden our hearts or stiffen our minds against God. The promised healing is the cleansing and sanctification of our sin-wounded souls, making us holy. #RandolphHarris 7 of 8

Always remember the good things to come, both now and hereafter, for those who are firm and steadfast in the faith of God. Whenever we can, we must look for opportunities to display our best self. In the Lord’s due time, the additional answers, comfort, and understand about the spirit will come to us through marvelous visions. Our best self is the aspect of us that brings out the best in others and the World, that graces ordinary experience with extraordinary clarity, and that, is the believers are correct, goes with us into the next World. When we face a personal challenge, we also have to understand that each day gives us the opportunity to make life richer, more rewarding. When we have ready (if not constant) access to our best self, amazing things can happen. We are eligible for a kind of genius and will become open to new ideas, more able to weigh touch options, more creative in the way we approach the problems in our lives. We may also begin to get a dose of the cosmic truths whose promise makes every moment an adventure. When we are operating at full throttle, challenged simultaneously at work, at home, and in civic life, as we do everything we can to operate out of our best self—by letting go, staying integrated, listening to our inner voice—we will find that, as a reward, we will rise to every one of the many strenuous occasions of the day. Every day is another day to be happy. #RandolphHarris 8 of 8