The Authentic Life: A Guidebook for Millennials: Preparing the Next Generation to Lead

By Victor Shane

Millennial Revolution

:

As Baby Boomers retire and Generation X begins to fade, the baton will pass on to Millennials. Who are these Millennials? The truth be known they are among the most well-informed, gifted, and talented segment of the population.

Indications are that by the year 2020 about one third of the global population will be composed of Millennials. Meaning soon they will be the captains of industry, commerce, economy, government, law, education, etc.

Will they be able to get the planet earth unplugged from the matrix of futility? Will they be able to change the world and usher in sustainable elements of peace, freedom, and prosperity? The author believes the answer to these questions to be YES!

Victor Shane, in The Authentic Life, demonstrates that faith in Gods universal Providence is strengthened, not challenged, by knowing the science that underlies the workings of Gods created universe. Biblical faith and the discoveries in science are co-paths to discovering Gods active role in our lives, as stated in Psalm 19, The heavens proclaim the glory of God. This book should be read by every thinking Christian whether faithful, agnostic, or atheist.

Gerald L. Schroeder, PhD. Jerusalem, Israel

The Authentic Life by Victor Shane presents a clear message for millennials and for everyone about living life unplugged from the matrix of distractions and deceptions. Written in a clever and conversational style, Shane gives insight into both lifes big picture and practical take-aways for day-to-day living. Its a great book to read and to give to others.

David Guzik

www.enduringword.com

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512778397

Victor Shane

Victor Shane is a California sailor, author, entrepreneur and business owner. He has written several books for millennials, including Millennial Economics and The Authentic Life. In 1979, he sailed a twenty-four-foot trimaran from California to Hawaii and back singlehandedly, spending sixty days alone at sea.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 Victor Shane.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible

Scripture quotations are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7838-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7840-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7839-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017903975

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/22/2017

This book is dedicated to truth seekers around the world, millennials in particular.

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

(Matthew 9:35–38)

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Author’s Introduction

Chapter 1      Are We Authentic?

Collapse of the Berlin Wall

Vukovar

Chapter 2      The Matrix

Matrix as an Analogy for Cosmos

Cosmos, the Gigantic Matrix

Chapter 3      Coloring the Matrix

Coloring the Matrix Yellow

Coloring the Matrix Green

Coloring the Matrix Blue

Coloring the Matrix Chocolate

Coloring the Matrix Vanilla

Coloring the Matrix Strawberry

Coloring the Matrix Connected

Coloring the Matrix Homogeneous

Coloring the Matrix Complex

Coloring the Matrix Constructive

Prisoners of the Matrix

Chapter 4      Coloring the Matrix Stable

The Instability of Life

The Stability of Dust

Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

Chapter 5      Coloring the Consciousness

Anthropomorphism

Wired

Destructive Blindness

A Question for Millennials

Chapter 6      Coloring Adam and Eve

Garden of Eden

A Sanctuary within Cosmos

Kosmos

Lessons in Obedience

Confirmed by a Psalm of David:

Chapter 7      Coloring the Fall

Tolerance

Back to Adam and Eve

Coloring the Fall

Chapter 8      Coloring Free Will

A Question of Orientation

A Question of Motivation

Jesus Christ’s Orientation

Adam’s Natural-Born Orientation

Sin Transmission: the Thorny Question

Sum it Up for Millennials

Chapter 9      What Does God’s Book Have to Do with Science?

The Church in Eclipse

Does God’s Book Deal with Science?

A Rational Universe, Created by a Rational God

Language of Accommodation

Chapter 10    Does Biblical Morality Have Scientific Referents?

Does God’s Book Have Scientific Referents?

Science of Probabilities

Scientific Paradigms

Quantum Physics

The River of Time, the River of Change

A Word of Caution to Millennials

Chapter 11    What Does King Solomon Have to Do with Science?

Cosmological Principle

A Rational Universe

Homogeneity in Space

Isotropism in Time

Nothing New Under the Sun

Something New Under Heaven

Chapter 12    What Does St. Augustine Have to Do with Science?

Manichaean Construct of Evil

Augustinian Construct of Evil

How Does God’s Book Model the World?

The Problem of Evil

Manichaean vs. Augustinian Worldviews

Demolishing the Atheist’s Argument

Chapter 13    Is the Cosmos a Friendly Place?

Can Gravity Be Said to Be Evil?

Can the Sun Be Said to Be Evil?

Can a House Be Said to Be Evil?

Pitfalls of the Universe

Koinonia: The Desire of God

Utopian Universe

Nikōn

Sum it Up So Far

Getting Unplugged from the Matrix

Sum it Up for Millennials

Chapter 14    What Does Abraham Have to Do with Science?

On the Road to Authenticity

Mystery, Babylon the Great

Chapter 15    What Does Jesus Christ Have to Do with Science?

Jesus Christ of Nazareth

Jesus Christ: Equally God and Equally Man

The Hypostatic Union

The Triune God

The Prophet Mohammed

Christianity and Islam

Eternity

Eternal Being

Uncreated

Separation Boundaries

A Word of Encouragement for Millennials

Chapter 16    What Do Miracles Have to Do with Science?

Information Age

Miracles

Chapter 17    What Does the Gospel Have to Do with Science?

Anthropological Implications of Cosmos

Romans 7:15–25

A Question for Millennials

Chapter 18    Graduation From Law to Faith

Justification Through the Law

Law: a Limited Institution

Cause vs. Effect

Doing vs. Being

Justification Through Faith in the Son of God

Old Covenant vs. New Covenant

Saul of Tarsus: Apostle Paul

Sum it Up for Millennials

Chapter 19    The Sufficiency of the Cross

How to Change the World

Galatians Controversy

Decision Time for Millennials

Choosing to Receive Christ

Sum it Up for Millennials

Chapter 20    What Does the Kingdom of God Have to Do with Science?

Gradients of the Universe

Anthropological Implications of Cosmos

The Narrow Gate

Two Paths to Choose from

Understanding the Kingdom of God

Governing Principles of the Kingdom of God

Texting a Message to Millennials:

Chapter 21    Proofs of Authenticity: The Centrality of Love

Overcoming Hate

Exodus from the Matrix

Infallible Proofs of Authenticity

Joseph in Egypt

A Story for Millennials

A Question for Millennials

Reconciliation in the Kingdom of God

Eleven Fifty-Nine and Counting

Summing it Up Coram Deo

Acknowledgments

I will not attempt to list all those whose contributions helped to launch this publication. I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention some of them.

David Guzik, renowned scholar, Bible expositor, teacher and my own dear pastor at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara (www.enduringword.com). Larry Lars Linton, head of evangelism at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara for invaluable feedback and advice, not to mention writing the Foreword. Robert Bobby Wageneck, physicist and dear friend for his gentle critique and suggestions. Paul Conant my editor for his meticulous attention to detail, not to mention invaluable advice.

I would especially like to extend my gratitude to my fellow entrepreneurs and brethren at Mike Holliday’s Marketplace Ministry Group (MMG), Mike, Jerry, Sam, Brad, Rich, Ryan, Jeff, John, Rob, Jessie and others for their continual prayers and supplications asking God to provide me with divine downloads, critical insights and clarity of expression without which the final version of The Authentic Life would not have materialized. Thank you all!

Foreword

Are you authentic or derivative? Victor Shane argues that the derivative life is a life wasted in the quagmire of worldly ideologies, economic systems, politics and intellectualism. Rather the authentic life offers vistas of love, reconciliation, and hope for humankind. As you read this book, your mind will be unplugged from the matrix of futility and plugged into the authentic life that will make an indelible impact on the world.

The audience of The Authentic Life is millennials. Our 18-34 year olds have had the baton passed to them for leading the next generation, but how will they lead? This book is a veritable roadmap that helps them unplug from the matrix and get plugged into a life of purpose, direction, and love that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Along the way Victor demolishes arguments of gigantic proportions. Taking on world systems, religious ideologies, philosophies, science, and more, Victor shows that there is nothing new under the sun and the only way out is through a system that is not of this world. Victor writes, You can’t change a messed up world using the messed up ideas that messed it up in the first place—you’ll bounce off the same walls and end up right back where you started!

This is a book not of new ideas, but of one idea put forth in a well-argued systematic way. The research from science and particularly the laws of physics, all support the worldview put forth from the Bible.

The Authentic Life is also timely for many reasons. As I write this on election eve in the United States, we are watching the course of history change by the moment. We need vigilant men and women to understand where the course of the world is taking us. If you’re like me, you’ll begin to read this book with a partial blindness, dimly, but end with an illumination that is very rewarding.

Take the color chapters (chapters 3-8), for example. The point is clear, and the prose is artful. There is a subtle but powerful coloring that deeply influences our bad choices and behavior. Victor speaks of it as the sin orientation that is operating behind the scenes, subtly but powerfully moving us toward more and more probable states. Victor makes the case that this is completely in line with what we understand about the physical laws that govern our universe. The melding of science and the human soul is persuasive in a way that grips the reader to read on.

An accomplished sailor and entrepreneur, Victor has tackled a wide spectrum of concepts, ideas and beliefs and has written books on millennial economics, American culture, and a philosophy of human nature. The Authentic Life has not been written from the ivory tower of academia, but roughhewn hands of a man experienced with hard work and the forces of nature. The payoff is that the writing achieves a greater depth than most and relates to the audience in a greater way.

The final chapter is on the centrality of love. This chapter is the culmination of the book and worth every word of its exhortation. The special laws of God call us to a love that will overcome the matrix. God’s Book proclaims the Kingdom of God will be victorious over the matrix, and Victor paints a wonderful picture of what the world will become in the fullness of time. We are called to love in the radical way that Jesus did, and overcome the world and its matrix along with Him.

The last sentence of The Authentic Life sums up the intent of the book nicely: It’s time for Spiritual Revolution. As we are equipped by the truths in this guidebook, we will bring revolution and change to a dying world. Read this book to change the world!

—Larry D. Linton, PhD

Santa Barbara, California November, 8th 2016

Author’s Introduction

The science fiction movie that premiered in 1999 called The Matrix depicted a dreadful future in which intelligent machines had plugged the comatose bodies of billions of human beings into ghastly biological installations so that the machines could use the heat and electrical properties of the humans’ bodies as sources of energy.

To keep their victims pacified (to keep the humans from knowing what was going on) the intelligent machines had uploaded a virtual-reality program (a computer-generated dream world) into their brains via neural implants.

The virtual-reality program, dubbed the Matrix, made the unsuspecting humans believe that they were living ordinary lives, getting up in the morning, getting dressed, having breakfast, coming and going, buying and selling, etc., not realizing that their entire existence was digitally contrived.

By no small miracle, however, a few courageous humans had managed to get themselves unplugged from the matrix and formed a rebel alliance committed to the lofty goal of getting all humans unplugged.

At times the movie takes on a biblical complexion. It doesn’t take much imagination to compare life in the matrix with slavery in Egypt, for example, or to liken the lead character Morpheus with the patriarch Abraham, or the young hero Neo (the deliverer to come) with Jesus Christ, or the beautiful heroine Trinity with the Holy Spirit. That the underground stronghold of the rebel alliance is called Zion, and the name of their ship Nebuchadnezzar, adds to the apocalyptic complexion of the movie.

Neo’s first meeting with Morpheus could not be more prophetic! The wise old Morpheus asks the young Neo to choose one of two pills: a red pill that will enable him to get unplugged from the matrix, or a blue pill that will allow him to continue living in the matrix in blissful ignorance of what was going on. Neo, preferring the authentic life to the phony one, chooses the red pill and steps into the real world that lies behind the veil of the counterfeit one created by the matrix.

No less prophetic is the character Cypher who turns out to be the Judas who prefers the virtual-reality world of the matrix to the hardships of the real world. Cypher betrays his brethren and sells Morpheus to the evil agents of the matrix for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver, but is in the end defeated by Neo and the forces of good.

Is there a metaphor here? Billions of people, among them millennials, believe they are living authentic lives. Could it be that they are not? Could it be that they too are plugged into a spiritual matrix that only the rebel alliance called Christians knows about? And could it be that among those billions, and even in Christian churches, there are Cyphers who would prefer to take the blue pill and enjoy the pleasures of the fake world rather than to take the red pill and get themselves unplugged from it?

It is the author’s intention presently to persuade the multitudes in the valley of decision, millennials in particular, to take the red pill instead of the blue.

Chapter 1

Are We Authentic?

authentic, adj. 1. authoritative; reliable.

2. genuine; real.

derivative, adj. derived; not original.

—Webster’s New World Dictionary, Compact School & Office Edition

N o one wants to be derivative. To be derivative is to be fake and phony, a puppet on a string, or a mindless automaton. We would all prefer to be authentic. But what would make us authentic? And what would make us derivative? And how would we know the difference? How would we know if we were living authentic lives? Is it possible that our entire existence may be derivative, but some sort of blindness conceals that fact from us?

If an individual is born with eyesight but then loses it, he or she is able to grasp the idea of blindness. People who are born blind, however, are not capable of grasping the idea of blindness. You could say they’re up against a catch-22. To understand the idea of blindness they would need a pre-knowledge of sight, in which case they wouldn’t have been born blind, would they?

Many people are born physically blind in this world. If they realize that they are blind, it is only because they’ve been informed by family members who can see. And it’s no small wonder that they are actually able to grasp the idea of blindness having never known such a thing as eyesight in the first place!

But what if the whole human race were in some sense born blind? This is a troubling question. For who would inform us of our blindness? No doubt we would stumble about in darkness unaware of our handicap. We would eventually learn to find our way about with the use of canes. We would develop our own systems of sightless communication. Our tools would be the tools of the blind. Our institutions would be institutions of the blind. Our literature, writings, documents, and records would be in braille. Some of us would periodically fall into this and that pit! But we’d eventually get used to that. The dilemma of falling into a pit would provoke great philosophical discussions among our wise and learned, but in the end we’d blame the whole thing on fate, or human nature or some such thing.

Perhaps we should stop at this eleventh hour and ask ourselves if we are suffering from some sort of spiritual blindness. Some profound intuition would seem to be warning us that this may in fact be the case! Certainly God’s Book has been warning of something similar all along:

Then Jesus