The Egyptian slaves were told to make brick without straw. Today many are told to make sense of the totally illogical and downright insane literal translations of the Bible rather than to see the life-giving metaphorical story telling culture from which they arose. We no longer live in a “Leave It To Beaver” world and neither do we live in a geocentric paradigm.
Newtonian physics no longer has answers nor does Euclidian geometry.
So why would we think that 2,000 year old interpretations of the Bible works? Most of the fundamental church thinking is in fact stuck in the mud, trying to make sense (without straw) of what no longer works. I am in no way a Country & Western fan and maybe one of the reasons comes from two hit songs.
In Rascal Flatt’s “Mayberry” some of the lyrics are, “I miss Mayberry….where everything is black and white”. Religion is struggling with diversity. Baptists don’t want Catholics to be right, Methodists don’t want Muslims to have any credibility, and duality is vowing not to die within the religious ranks. It’s black or white, in or out, heaven or hell.
In Tim McGraw’s “Back When” some of the lyrics are, “I like the old fashioned and outdated way of life”. Many of the religious crowd more than LIKE the outdated way, they will burn you to a stake if you don’t agree. History is full of examples of the church burning heretics (people who disagreed on doctrine) at the stake. I need not review the sordid tales.
Things are getting more complicated and diverse for religion and science; however, science has accepted the complexities of fractal geometry and mathematics. Fundamental-literalists can’t seem to get their feet out of the mud (more like concrete) of the past. If Jesus were to come back today he wouldn’t be wearing sandals, speaking in King James language, nor advancing concepts that fit a 2,000 year old consciousness.
Jesus would speak in NOW language and he would address issues of the 21st century. Don’t you think the people and institutions that say they are his followers should be doing likewise?
We have to take the timeless truths of the Bible and incorporate them into our lives. Solomon told us to acquire wisdom. It helps to guard our way (Proverbs 4:5,6) Obviously, many things have changed in the last 2000 years. We don’t literally light a lamp and put it under basket. But if we’re prudent, we will live by God’s word. Jesus told us in so doing, we are building our spiritual foundations upon a rock that will stand the impact of life’s storms, which inevitably come to all (Matthew 7:24-27).
I agree that the bible is the timeless truth. I also believe in Solomon’s words to aquire wisdom. But from where? From our ego or the literal words of the bible or from the Spirit? I believe that only the Spirit gives insite to God who is LOVE, Wisdom, Character etc. The bible stories are just men’s experiences with God as they have perceived them at that time. We now live in a totally different time and environment and have therefore different experiences. And we also could write them down and declare that collection a follow-up to the bible. It would be outdated in the near future as well. That does not mean that our experiences have not been true! To me the most important message that I received from the Bible is that God wants to have an intimate reationship with us to experience His love for ourselves and others.
Only that will weather us through the ups and downs in life; not just the ink in a book.
We all have our own story to tell which may or may not be written down! But it will effect other people now or later.
Ernie, I still tend to see mostly black and white. But I am starting to like the color grey.
The Spirit does gives life to God’s words. The men who wrote the Bible were inspired by God, as He knew they were writing for future generations. (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21). Jesus quoted the OT many times and validated that the scriptures couldn’t be broken. Although our experiences are different from the biblical heroes, God’s truth never changes. I do agree that is it vitally important that we have an intimate relationship with God. Being one with Jesus is directly related to receiving God’s words. John 14:24 is where Jesus said, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”
You are right on Gela! In “this life” we have CHOICES. A few still choose to believe the Bible is inerrant though it is intellectually impossible to defend which is probably why less than 5% of the world still believe the Bible to be infallible. Bibliolatry is a dying breed! Christianity and all other religions are the better for it. Let’s keep the Bible SACRED while sane, MYSTICAL while manageable, and TRUTHFUL while also teachable.
And if I could transition off of the phrase that Jesus made about the Sabbath being made for man, not man being made for the Sabbath as the Pharisees saw it, let us also agree that the Bible is MADE FOR MAN, not man being made for the Bible. Let us “use” the Bible to be transformed into the true spirit beings we are, instead of some a rigid “sin management manual” of what one must do to keep from the wrath of God and the fear of an eternal hell.
The interesting thing is GOD is STILL speaking. God’s words to us are evolving as we are evolving. We are being changed and God is guiding these changes. As we are able to receive more and deeper revelation, book, teachers, leaders, are rising up who are conveying to us light (information) that we are able to process and progress. No God is not changing, but we were not able at the past level of consciousness to comprehend what is coming forth now. I say that in all humility for some of the writers I have come to enjoy are 30 and 40 years in this way. I am only now ready to hear. I read something from Barbara Marciniak written in 1992 that read like a love letter directly to me today.
Jesus quoted the OT and made numerous comparisons that said “I show you a more excellent way”. There was also much that he would have said at that time but knew he could not. He was murdered because of what he said, which the church was not ready to hear at that time.
Jesus brought into our consciousness the concepts of unconditional love and ascension. But it was even more than a concept. It became a part of our DNA and catapulted us forward. The evolution of man sped up and we moved in 2000 years quicker than the previous 200,000 years. Amazing! If there is any such thing as rapture, it is happening now. Can we rap your brain around that? Transformation is not a thing to grasp in a futuristic tense, but is at our fingertips and the ascension has begun. It is gradual and we are not all that we shall become, but much more than we ever were.
Our physical DNA is being altered-changed by the third strand (light-photons) that we can now measure (triple helix- not double). The consciousness of the last 2,000 years could easily be exceeded in the next two and in fact I believe that’s what’s happening as we move from being lead by the MAP (Bible) to being lead primarily by the COMPASS (Spirit).
We don’t throw the ancient map away. It guides us in principle- for places known and seen (mapped); however, when we venture into places “unknown” (and we are there now), only the compass can direct us.
The Spirit is indeed still speaking. Whenever someone tells you something that alters God’s word, however, it didn’t come from God. (Psalm 89:34) Jesus told His disciples to live by every word that comes out of God’s mouth, confirming what God said through Moses centuries before. (Matthew 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3)
I go with Ernie’s analogy any day because that gives me the freedom to communicate with God directly in terms of NOW.
People have always been able to communnicate with God NOW. That’s never been disputed. The problem comes in as there is more than one spirit talking in this world and if you listen to the wrong one, you can get into a whole lot of trouble. That’s why using the Bible as your standard is a wise discipline. The apostle Paul wrote this in I Timothy 4:1, “The Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.” In II Timothy 4:3, Paul said “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accorance to their own desires.” Jesus Himself told us to take care what we listen to. (Mark 4:24) These words are a loving admonition from your heavenly Father, who desires you to stay on His course for you.
Well gang, we’ve been warned that we’re following demons and deceitful spirits, and obviously will not endure sound doctrine. My ears are tickling now. Sorry Linda.
The primary demons are the religious ones. This quote from Father Richard Rohr’s Sunday commentary, “Jesus was consistently inclusive. You find a story where Jesus excludes. He will name the moment correctly, but he never excludes people. Most Christian denominations are largely exclusionary institutions.
Even the Eucharist itself is used, at least in my Catholic Church, to define the worthy, the pure, and the true members. But every time Jesus eats, he seems to be eating with the wrong people, at the wrong table, or saying the wrong things, or not washing his hands ahead of time. By doing so, Jesus redid the social order and this upset both church and state.
That we would forget such a message and make the Eucharist itself some kind of measuring of worthiness is pretty much turning Jesus’ teaching absolutely on its head.”
Bingo!
You’re right that Jesus was inclusive, although everyone did not want to be part of Him. There are many different spirits in the world. The Bible mentions spirits of infirmity, divination, etc. All of them come into people’s lives by way of unbelief. The story of Adam and Eve is the basis of understanding that by rebelling against God and giving credence to the enemy, you suffer greatly. Jesus warned his followers, “the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so they may not believe and be saved.” (Luke 8:12)
Excuse me but if I had listened and done what you are saying, Linda,
my son and my husband would not be alive today. He leads me through the deep waters. I only gave and give credence to God who LOVES me. There were those who tried to pound the word in when I already had the WORD in me.
You ARE the WORD and a most beautiful expression of it Barbara. Keep on LOVING!
Linda, what you write everyday on this blog fuels my desire to run further away from religion and go deeper into universal truth. Thanks for your contribution to my spiritual journey.
Barbara, I don’t understand how living by God’s word which brings life, is a problem. Twice in this conversation, I’ve affirmed the role of the Holy Spirit, so your response is very unclear.
CW, be careful what you hear!
Who are we to affirm God, when all along it is God who affirms us? This is the resounding theme of all scripture, and God will use even our unbelief, rebellion, and “doctrines of demons” to show us who WE ARE in Him. Everything is included in God, and every road leads to Heaven.
You got it jbf! God affirms us. He created us. He loves us. We are ALL His children. We ALL came from the same Source (God-Light) and we will ALL return to the I AM, that we are. That’s why it’s called GOOD NEWS! May we ascend in consciousness more greatly while here in this dimension and bring glory to His creation(s).
jbf, your thought that every road leads to heaven directly contradicts what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13, “enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it, for the gate is small, and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it.”
There are two metaphorical gates mentioned here: the narrow and the wide. The narrow is difficult and the wide easy. Keep this in mind and reread the entire chapter. It all revolves around duality on the wisdom of bearing good fruits and the foolishness of bearing bad fruits. It is EASY to judge others and to take without asking. It is DIFFICULT to be humble and not judge others, and DIFFICULT to humbly ask, seek out, and knock.
There are two metaphorical roads that Jesus mentioned here: the easy road where the foolish believe they can judge and steal their way towards life, and the difficult road where the wise humble themselves and stray from judging others, asking instead of taking, so that our Father may give us the gift of Life.
Good point Eruesso, if one understands metaphorical sacredness. There is so much more to the sacred Scriptures than what’s on the surface- the print! It’s amazing to me that literalists can know that Jesus wouldn’t cast pearls before swine and instead specifically spoke in parables to hide the “in plain sight” meaning. And yet they then claim the ink on paper, the simplisitc meaning- which isn’t simple. Go figure!
Linda- You are my constant example to others of what Bibliolotry can do to a good person with good intentions.
One need only read this endless chain of postings to realize how “stuck in the mud” we really are.
Hugs to all, Beverly