Thankfully, fewer and fewer people see God as an angry tyrant as the Old Testament portrayed him. From the cavemen days to now, civilization has moved from a “there is no god” approach to today, wherein God is seen as a “non-material Spirit being” (due to our increased consciousness, spiritual understanding). Using SCHOOL as a metaphor, civilization has been slowly moving from caveman kindergarten to today’s college, with a lot of post graduate work yet to be encountered.
Caveman kindergartners were only interested in self survival. God? What God?
Cavemen had little or no abstract thinking. They existed by being able to avoid bigger cavemen or to kill smaller cavemen. The world was a violent place and ljust living through the day was a dangerous adventure that kept one focused solely on the physical-material world. Did I mention there were no priests nor Bibles? 
Slowly, as communities began to develop, and as a true family unit became more standard, thinking about “others” and the longevity of life together began to grow. With the development of homo sapiens and his brain moving from reptillian, to limbic, and to a neo-cortex, art was discovered, developed, and enhanced. Farming became the life-sustainer more so than hunting. Man started questioning how all of this “stuff” came into being and a God OUT THERE seemed to be the answer. Elementary school is thus in full bloom.
Some 3-4,000 years ago the gods (plural) were still seen as OUT THERE but the many gods gave way to ONE GOD (monotheism) as there simply had to be a hierarchy (I can smell the church not too far behind). The view of the world became a three-layered concept. There was the fire below and the heaven above with us in between. The stars, sun, and moon were holes in the ceiling that let the light of heaven shine through. Middle School was now in session.
Some 2,000 years ago, Jesus entered a world about to embark upon high school. It was time that the people understood more about God, whom he called father. Strange new view! The message could now be received that God is LOVE. God does not get angry! God doesn’t do, not did he do the things that those in Middle School kids thought he did. It was just their perception. What we’ve forgotten is that the message that Jesus delivered was to a specific audience in a specific time, but with deeper universal concepts for those wanting to go to college. Thus our Bible is a beautiful SACRED high school primer. That’s not a downer- just the facts mam!
Ah, but this is NOW! We’re 2,000 years removed from high school. We’re ready for MORE! That which Jesus said we couldn’t handle back then, we CAN now- should we choose to do so.
Jesus gave us many clues by telling us that there was so much more to know, but that we weren’t yet matured enough to understand. Later when we got to college, it would unfold and our college professor (called by various names but I like the “Comforter” one) would instruct us on deeper matters. Hey guys, that’s US! I’ll go deeper with this concept at tonights Community Gathering.
Furthermore, one of the many lessons is that God doesn’t get MAD! God doesn’t PUNISH. God is LOVE!
Now, let’s get on with some post-graduate living. Let’s start asking some serious questions!!! Or as David Dark said, “When religion won’t tolerate questions, objections, or differences of opinion, and when it only brings to the table threats of excommunication, violence, and hellfire, it obstructs our ability to think, empathize, and live lives of authenticity and genuine engagement.” Right on David!
Thanks for tolerating our questions, Ernie! =)
I’d love to be there to hear more….
Don- You can on the Podcast which is posted every Saturday.
Serious Questions-
If we are more enlightened than they of 4000 years ago then how did the Mayans know about the calender, or the Egyptians astrology and mathematics, and other cultures including the former building structures seemingly far beyond their years?
Did we know or were aware but as we evolved we became more unconscious?
The wars of previous generations are they signs of unconsciousness? Is the dark ages ‘the great slumber era’ man’s choice to NOT acknowledge a higher power since it(dark ages) seems to indicate that there was light (enlightenment)before?
Serious potential answers: The Mayans, like those with autism, had depth in one area, but were very backward in general. While there have always been “pockets” of civilized “advancement”, on the whole mankind has been unaware of their relationship to a God WITHIN (that I AM IS), which is the heart of true consciousness- not an expertise in math, calendars, or pyramid building.
There are many scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments that show God as holy, set apart, totally spotless (Exodus 29:29,30; Revelation 3:7). A holy God cannot tolerate sin, which does provoke Him to anger (Deuteronomy 4:25; John 3:36). Jesus verified God’s righteous judgments against the people in Noah’s day (Luke 17:26,27) and Sodom and Gomorrah (Luke 17:29).
God’s anger against sin was satisfied with Jesus’ atonement on the cross. The word “katallasso”, (SC 2644) to reconcile, establishes that relationship of peace with mankind, implying God has withdrawn His wrath. This word is used in Romans 5:10, “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
Thanks for reminding me…..still not the same as BEING there!
What I like is the balance between what the Bible says and what is being said today. We should move forward to experience what God has for us. What happened or might not have happened in the past is not in the present, but a foundation which many of our beliefs are founded. We have had the basics a long time and now we have the Holy Spirit to speak, lead, and guide and it will take prayer, meditation and reading to know what He wants for us now. I am basking in His presence so if this sounds like I am in La La Land, I am not. I am being comforted at this time.
When you have a baby you expect for it to have bodily functions that indicates, that it is a human, you co created this ever learning being.
So through much love and training we teach the child how to adapt. We are learning now that it does not require all of the physical reprimands to correct a child as I was taught in the past.
I realized that there is an intelligent person who can understand reason. Even though he gets it wrong a lot I find getting angry at this person for doing human functions is not rational. Poop happens
Poop your pants more training no anger it’s NORMAL.
Loving Parent even sing and laugh and some show off the poop diapers because it is a human function. Waste is a byproduct of being human. You don’t even notice the poop only the cute little baby who is doing what is natural.
Sin is a natural byproduct of being human God just say how much he loves us because ‘we are not poop’.
He doesn’t go off on us when we do make mistakes. when we touch the hot stove he warns(spirit) us but the blisters(karma) teaches us. Did God do it …no.
Now we are listening to Spirit after all these years of training
Ancient civilizations judged God’s attitude towards them based on some primitive and yet understandable variables. If the sun was shining and the crops were growing God was happy. If there was no rain or it stormed, the earth quaked etc. God must be angry. These things have nothing to do with God’s disposition. Yet they would offer animal and or human sacrifices based on the peramiters to apease the angry God.
We have been having a lot of rain and some would say, “We are having bad weather”. It is all about perception, because the earth needs this rain. Nature has it’s own requirements and we should just be more aware of the other species on this planet, non human which are equally important.
Besides there is nothing like an afternnon knap with the pitter-patter of rain drops on the window. It is all God loving God. God is all, creation, humans, the sun, moon, and stars wrapped up in one big amazing expanse of beauty.
Cynthia, I agree with you that God knows we make mistakes all the time and doesn’t count them against us. On the other hand, there are people who having known truth will deliberately continue to sin. Hebrews 10:26 reads, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.”
Several points need to be noted about this scripture. First, this is a person who repeatedly and willfully decides to go their own way, having been warned many times to change their course. Also, since God is long-suffering, we know this is not an action He takes over a short period of time. Next, this has nothing to do with eternal destiny. Charles Swindoll makes this point in his booklet, Eternal Security. “Unpleasant though it may be, carnality is an option. It bears grave and grim consequences, but we are not to confuse it with a loss of salvation.”
We need to realize that any judgment upon a person’s life is ultimately aimed at spiritual powers, since we’re not fighting against flesh and blood. (Eph. 6:12) Unfortunately, when they get tangled up in blinding our minds to God’s truth and we persist in unrighteousness, our Father’s love says, “It’s time to stop this! What you’re doing is not who you are in Me.” Hebrews 12:5-10 speaks about the Lord’s chastening. Verse 11 says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
I had an interesting experience this morning as I was reading, The God That We’ve Created, page 43.
“We will still see life according to our understanding… but
as that is changed, then so will our life change in accord-
ance … We are right now riding the crest of a whole new per-
spective of life. Let us explore this shift in thought
without fear, but instead with certainty that we are being led
step by step toward that which we all desire.”
I put my book down as I finished reading that chapter. My mind is extremely active each time I read from this book and all kinds of wonderful thoughts leap at me. My imagination was literally alive. (God can be found in our imagination…. remember that? I didn’t even believe that.)
I walked to the kitchen right after I set the book down and noticed I was smiling as I got to the hallway. I felt something physical inside me moving around in my gut. It literally felt like a joy bomb in my “inward parts” and it thumped several times as I kept thinking about what I had read. I felt it across my waistline on both sides — I can cover the area with my open palms on either side and fingertips touching at midline. All that space under my fingers and palms and downward a few inches would be where most of the vibration centered. It wasn’t gas. Wasn’t indegstion. This felt wonderful. I can still sense it 3 1/2 hours later.
Because I have begun the practise lately of reading outloud to myself, I can literally equate this to receiving the word of God. The eternal, present, alive, living, deeply satisfying word of God was literally heard in my inward parts and they jumped with excitement. I experienced the word of God.
That experience took my focus off even my OWN beliefs and of course someone elses beliefs. It didn’t matter one single bit because what I thought or believed was right or wrong DOESNT MAKE ANYTHING RIGHT OR WRONG. There was nothing I did to get the manifestation I did this morning. I didn’t change my mind or my thinking about anything although my mind was certainly present and definitely a witness. The spirit leaped inside me and jumped up in delight at what it heard. I made no decision. I didn’t pray over it first or after write it down and examine it and I certainly made no decision to accept it or not. It bypassed all my usual check points and made contact. Go figure!
Jane- Bingo! As you quoted, Michele, “We will still see life according to our understanding… but as that is changed, then so will our life change..” Many never graduate, don’t think there’s anything beyond where they are. Unfortunately elementary or middle school is as far as they want to go- and that is OK…as long as those who choose to stay in the 6th grade don’t try and tell others that if they go to high school and beyond they’ll be deceived or miss God.
Linda- you said, ““For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries.†Hebrews 10:26.
So you believe the cross wasn’t a “once and for all thing”. Jesus will need to be sacrificed again for the sin of the WHOLE world. The cross then was of no avail. He didn’t have the power to do what he said he did. Hell rears its ugly, imaginary head again. Fear reigns. If as Hebrews says, the sacrifice can be taken away from some, we all live in fear for our own “salvation”. Nothing is sure anymore. There is no way we can sure that we’ve done enough, believed completely, lived righteously to placate God.
Don, what Jesus did on the cross was enough. In every area of our lives, we have to receive and walk in His victory. That’s why Paul admonished the church in Ephesians 4:27 not to give place to the devil. James also encouraged his readers to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee (James 4:7). In fact, many of the New Testament books give warnings to the Christian about living properly, because we have a real enemy who wants us to stay carnal. Peter, who belonged to Jesus’ inner circle said, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” If you know your Heavenly Father is exhorting you because He loves you and desires you to be mature, you’ll listen to His advice (Prov. 2, 3, and 4)
So who doesn’t still “keep missing the mark?” Sin is an archery term. It means to miss the mark. Who among us is perfect? Judgment WAS made at the cross. The sacrifice, the blood, covered all of humanity, before and after, even our little pet sins. Fire is a catalyst. It is to purify. The process of purification is not terrible and awful. God is our consuming fire. When we run into him we are literally consumed in His love. Imagine a million souls on fire with that kind of love. Would look alot like a lake of fire wouldnt it?
I’ll do backstrokes in that lake any day!
Jane when you were discribing that missing the mark. I saw the point in the movie Matrix where Neo knew who he was and he was being fired upon but the bullets cound no longer do the damage they had in the past. This strange look came across his face, that look that said “Oh You are in TROUBLE now”. I feel like that is where we are. The darts keep coming but they just can’t take away the joy that is in my heart. Because I know that I know that I know.
I am really happy about your experience this morning. Off the chain. Sounds like you recieved your daily bread.
The scriptures about God’s disciple don’t negate what Jesus did on the cross. They do let us know that we have a choice, even as children of God, to walk with our Father or listen to the enemy. Once again, I’d like to quote Chuck Swindoll. “Carnality has to do with the believer who willfully walks in the flesh and chooses a lifestyle that lacks the power and control of the Holy Spirit. If you will pause long enough to read three New Testament passages (I Corinthians 3:1-3; Galatians 5:16-23; Hebrews 12:5-13), you’ll see that a carnal Christian is a child of God who lives under the discipline of the Lord…As is true of children in our own family, they are still our children even if they willfuly disobey us. We discipline them, but we cannot ever say they are not our children.”
Jesus Christ give us a true picture of God’s love and grace.I thank God for opening our eyes to this picture of love and grace that never ends. I believe we are just begining to see this truth .Paul was always praying for others to have their eyes open to His never ending love. God’s love never fails anyone if we just focus on this what a different world this would be.
Love Dan
True Dan. Since we draw into our lives that which we focus on. If a person is in sincerity about changing their life for the better, changing the focus to one of basting in the love of God will draw love. Being conscious of giving love to others will cause that to come back.
Don, my turning point was, Why isn’t the cross enough? and God loves me and did ‘me’ on purpose! I am glad i don’t have to finish the cross’ work because Jesus said it is finished.
This was a good post today I think I am ready for graduation to the next level. Are you ready to celebrate! Come on my dawgs!!! shake it down the aisle!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB6fQ4B4PJo
That is too cute Cynthia.