IN THE WORDS OF JESUS–Part 152

YES, HE is Talking to YOU! (continued)

Love is the Fulfilling of the Law

We spent our time yesterday discussing some of the ideas involved in self deception and how one can know that what he believes to be true is from above and not the product of our conscious personality and creative carnal mind. The very nature of this whole process goes a long way in preventing and eliminating doubt in our spiritual lives; it is an exceedingly difficult thing to “have faith, and doubt not” (Matthew 21:21). Some people never question the source of their revelations and inspirations but take for granted that it is the Lord; again, as we said yesterday, this does not make it so. This is no trivial matter; deception abounds, lurking in every corner and working to bring us back to or to keep us in the ways of the world. Another key for our understanding of this thing is found in the saying of the Apostle James, a saying that we have used frequently in these posts and that is another guiding Light that can show us when we are right and when we are wrong. James tells us “be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22); in this one sentence is found much power for no matter who we are or what we profess as Christians, we do know the Masters words to be those that we brought forth in the last post regarding the Great Commandment(s) and the Golden Rule. All else that the Master tells us is included in these two sayings.

Self deception can also be seen as the result of the deception played upon us by others. Whether one is deceived by another who is deceiving himself by believing what he sees and hears is the Lord and then spreading this to others, or if one is deceived by another who does so for his own profit, what the Master calls “ravening wolves“. In either case we should be able to see and to admit that we would not subscribe to any of this unless we allow those deceptive thoughts to play in our consciousness and we adopt them. Promises of riches and miraculous healing attract many to preachers who profess them and, as we can see from looking about, some of them are sincere and perhaps self deceived while others are purposefully deceiving others for their own profit. Are there riches and miracles in the Plan of God; yes there are but the riches are not what we can think of as men and the miracles are not controlled by any preacher. At least this is our view; perhaps it is us that are deceived. And again we can see where doubt comes into play. There is a supernatural factor in the world and we cannot understand it nor how is functions but neither can any others. None can predict their success in any supernatural area and we could look at it this way. When the objective of the power is righteous and without selfish motive and it is approached in total faith with nothing doubting and especially if it is the function of a group of like minds, it may well fall into the realm of Mark 11:24 and the Master’s saying “What things soever ye desire , when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” for this is the reality of His saying.

Let us continue on with the words of James for a bit as they follow the saying cited above; this can give some clarity to the idea that he puts forth regrading deception. James says: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22-25). James of course refers not to those casual hearers of the word but to those who diligently and critically hear the word; the former are not likely to be doers nor are they expected to be so that there would be no deception. The latter however, those who are attentive and critical hearers are who he rebukes here. The idea of the glass is a sort of simile of his message; hearing and forgetting what one heard and not putting it to practice is like looking in a glass attentively, as in beholding, and then forgetting what it was that you saw. Contrary to this is the man that “looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work” which is saying that he is a hearer and a doer of the word and in this is no deception.

This seems clear; an attentive hearer must be also a doer else he is deceiving himself and yet it is not so simple as this for the law is broad and wide and encompasses all that we do and think, Is this the reason why we devise doctrines and dogma ‘around’ it? We dilute the urgency of what the Master says to meet the tendencies of the race of men and Jesus makes this point to the Jews and for our benefit saying: “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye” (Mark 7:6-13).

What are some modern examples of this where we as men take the words of the Master, His commandments, and we change them to suit our carnal needs and not only in the sight of the church but with the participation of it. That there are many denominations and sects in the Christian Church today is a fact; we should know that these things of which we speak do not apply to all of them and some of these things likely to only a few but these are some of the more apparent examples of this blight on His purported church. This is not intended to be a critique of the church but an example of deception which somewhat replicates the thoughts of the Master in speaking to the Jews who created the doctrine He cites. A doctrine that was not in agreement with the law and the commandment of the Lord yet was convenient for them to do. This started as someone’s idea and this someone likely found a way to make it a right thing either in clever use of scripture else because he was a leader and unquestioned. Either way, it became a doctrine and a tradition.

Today we have the Master’s teachings on marriage. These are rather clear, He condemned divorce and told us the ramifications of it and on re-marriage on both parties yet it all goes unheeded except in a certain segment of the church. For much of the church today divorce and re-marriage are OK and the churches not only willingly re-marry couples within their congregations but pastors and church leaders are among those divorcing and remarrying. There may be rules and regulations to cover this all but these are the rules and regulations and the traditions of men. Not much better is the process of annulment which is sorely abused as well in the church today. This is not a simple issue but for people who profess to know and Love the Lord and claim to be His disciples there should be but one way for all this to work and that is His way. Things do happen and people do make decisions on living in this world and in this is found the role of repentance and correction. The church can surely have a role in this but not one where the commandment of the Lord is changed to suit mans needs either by allowing these things in doctrine or by creating clever ways around them.

Another area of confusion and perplexity is in adultery and fornication and the related issue of homosexuality. While homosexuals are hounded by much of the church as the real evil, it is not spoken of by Jesus at all. It has always existed and has most always been seen as contrary but except for the few words by Paul that address it there is little said of it. Today, contrary to the words of the Master, we look past fornication and adultery but pay special attention to the issue of being gay making it the bigger sin. Realistically speaking, homosexuality is but another form of fornication and if it is committed with another while married then it too is adultery. Sex is a very difficult human emotional desire to overcome in any way that it appears; it is a leading cause of most all of humanities woes and it afflicts most all of us. But there is no scriptural basis to the anti gay doctrines in so much of the church and there is surely none for the ordainment of openly gay ministers. And there is yet the matter of the lack of attention that is given to fornication in the adult world.

Then there is the matter of women in the church and the role that they should play. The Master has nothing to say about this issue whatsoever in either a favorable or unfavorable way. There also are no hard rules laid down in the Old Testament regarding women save how they should be treated in different circumstances which seem more in line with cultural ideology than with the word of God. There are numerous verses regarding their value, their rights in marriage, and matters of inheritance but no commandment regarding them as in general terms. To this day however some parts of Judaism cause the women to be apart from men and screened off into the back of the room at the synagogue but there is no biblical support for this; it is a custom and a tradition. Now Paul on the other hand had much to say about the role of women in the church and while the majority of the church considers all of scripture to be inerrant, many ignore his sayings on this matter. Why Paul said what he said in unknown and there are some who claim that these sayings, at least in one part of his writings, are a forgery added by others and by this they choose in not attend to it. If we believe that the whole bible is the inerrant and infallible word of God then what do we have here but the changing of His word to suit the ways of man or, in this case, woman. We seem to want scripture in both ways; as infallible and with the ability to ignore it in parts.

We could go on into themes like abortion and birth control for which our church doctrines are created in the absence of any biblical edicts and into the right understanding of fornication and the whole sex issue that alienates the young and the unmarried couple who struggle with the vast issues of intimacy. Man has defined all these things and more in ways contrary to the teachings of the Master or, in our interpretations of what is not said to become what the Master must have meant. We lose sight of the fact of the message of Love that He brought to us in His two Greatest Commandments and this is perhaps the most critical of all examples that can be made. Why does the so much of the church subtract from His words and cleverly try to redefine the idea of a neighbour and a brother into being only one who is of the same faith and a believer to boot. There is no basis for this in the accurate reading of scripture and sayings that are used to justify can only be found in isolated writings that are used out of context and misapplied as to concern all. Would Jesus, speaking about our Christian view on Love, tell us today something of this nature? “I have told you of the Love you need to have for all; for your neighbor near and far, for your enemies and for those that wish you harm and I have told you of how you should treat all as you want to be treated but you, by your tradition. say that we should love our friends and our fellow Christians that believe as we do and the rest we are to considered doomed unless they come to us”.

So we should see that the Master is not only talking to those Jews who adapted a law to fit their societal needs but He is talking to us as well who are guilty of the same type of things. This is deception; we deceive ourselves in making the doctrines and we deceive others in teaching them. There so much that the Master told us that we just plain ignore in our effort to live comfortable lives here on this Earth and we think that we have it right and that we will go to heaven because our doctrines tell us so.

James adds for us an interesting prospect that we would do well to understand and remember and it concerns the law and sin. Now we know that the Master’s intent is to have His law in our hearts and that we should look at His two Greatest Commandments as the resolution of all the rest and they truly are if we could but practice them. James acknowledges this and goes on to tell us that no matter which of the commandments we may break, it makes us guilty of all; not of the individual breaking of any particular one but guilty of breaking the law. Ponder on this.

“If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill , thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:8-12).

Note on the Quote of the Day