When God created the universe, He created it to operate in an orderly way in accordance with unchangeable laws. There are three aspects, or realms, to the reality we experience: 1) the physical; 2) the spiritual; 3) the psychological.

We can all see the orderliness of the physical realm. The physical laws such as those of physics, chemistry, and mathematics are unchangeable. We may not fully understand them but they still operate. If I were to go onto the roof of my house, convinced that I can fly, and flap my arms really hard and step off the roof, I would then likely discover myself lying on the ground with broken bones. It wouldn't matter whether I knew about the law of gravity or not. It wouldn't matter if I understood it, or whether I agreed with it, or whether I believed that it applied to me. My broken bones wouldn't mean that God was angry with me. I didn't break God's law; I just demonstrated it. The law of gravity is constant, and there are no exceptions.

The spiritual realm is just as orderly as the physical realm, and it always operates according to God's unchangeable laws and principles as described in the Bible. His commandments are simply a description of how the spiritual realm operates. When He said not to lie, He was saying, "Don't lie, because if you do, something bad will happen to you." It is the same as God saying, "Don't step off the roof because something bad will happen if you do." No one ever outwitted the law of gravity, and the spiritual laws are just as sure, so there is always a consequence. The law of God always operates, and when we disobey God's warning, we will always reap harmful consequences. The consequences are not always as immediate and easily connected to our specific misdeed as when we are reaping from breaking physical laws, but they are just as sure.

Stay tuned for discussion of the psychological realm.