ON LOVE; PART DCLXVIII
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GoodWill IS Love in Action
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
In the last essay we continued our discussion on that aspect of the Love of God that IS called grace. We have discussed how that this is a term that IS used in doctrinal Christianity in a rather nebulous way to show a free ‘gift’ from God for believers and how that many believe that that whatsoever grace one may have IS NOT attributable to what a man has done to earn it. Without going too far into the various Christian doctrines concerning grace, we should note that there ARE several; some linked to the doctrinal concept of predestination which itself is rather vague and nebulous, others link grace to the various doctrines of faith while yet others may see some varying combinations of these ideas. Overall however the Christian ideas on grace are mostly derived from interpretations of the Apostle Paul’s words which were never intended to show anything but the Truth of discipleship that IS found in one’s striving toward the Kingdom of God. We should try to see here that any of the doctrinal ideas that offer predestination as a part of the ‘gift’ of grace ARE against the very nature of God that IS taught by the same scriptures which IS clearly stated in the simple words that “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34) and which is repeated by the apostles in several contexts including the words of the Apostle James who turns this concept into a human endeavor as well as he tells us that “if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors” (James 2:9).
From James view of the “royal law“, the law of Love, we should see the intimate link between this idea of the equanimity of ALL in the eyes of God as this becomes a part of James’ expression of the depth of Great Commandments and a concept that IS hidden within these and within the explaining nature of the Golden Rule. In these words from the Master which we carry at the head of our daily essays, we can easily uncover this equanimity by the simplicity of the word neighbor which somehow hides this from the common view and we should see this same in the Golden Rule which DOES NOT differentiate between men as it tells us to treat ALL men in this same way. This precept IS framed for us in Luke’s Gospel saying “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). This IS the teaching to men and this IS the way of God; and, in this view of the equanimity of Life we should be able to understand that predestination IS NOT the Way of God. At the same time we must however remain logical in our approach to this idea and reconcile the fact that as we look out at the world there IS much disparity on virtually every level of men’s mental, emotional and physical attributes as well as in the societal and cultural differences that ARE most easily seen. This view of disparity however should NOT give us any ideas that God IS the originator of the suffering of many nor of the sense of comfort and pleasure that IS available to others; this IS but the working out of the Great and Awesome Plan of God on levels that we can not yet understand but which we can glimpse in an open minded view of Life and of God.
The open minded view must discount grace as that this IS a ‘gift’ of God given to some and withheld from others and it must understand the True dynamics of the Truth that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11). The open minded view begins with the reality of Life and an understanding that the body IS NOT the man. To this we must add that the personality, his mind and his emotions, ARE a part of this body nature and constitute the psychic man in the world whose ways and habits are changeable dependent upon the focus of the Life of a man. The True man IS the consciously aware Soul who gives Life and consciousness to the form in the world. It IS on this level, the level of the Soul as the consciousness of the man, that the Truth of the Love of God IS seen; it IS here that there is the equanimity and the reality that “there is no respect of persons” (Colossians 3:25).
Now this open minded view IS a difficult one for the doctrinal Christian to see because of both his view of Life, that it IS the man in the world who has a Soul rather than that it IS the Soul that lives through a form for a time, and because of his refusal to accept any of the realities of Life that are related to the most ancient concept of reincarnation or rebirth. It IS ONLY with an understanding of the greater reality that the True man IS the Soul and that it IS the Soul that incarnates in form and lives for a time, garnering to himself as much spiritual collateral as he can earn; and that it IS this sense of spiritual collateral that determines the particulars of his next incarnation. Without this view it IS impossible to equate what we see around the world, the suffering found in the abject poverty of some and the lives lived without opportunity due to religious, political and cultural oppression that afflict billions of our brothers, with the Love of God and, more importantly, the Love that IS God. Where IS their grace, their ‘gift’, in a God’s World that is founded in Love and in the scriptural understanding that ALL ARE His children and that “neither is there respect of persons with him” (Ephesians 6:9).
We should remember that there IS NO definitive word in the New Testament that refutes the concept of rebirth or reincarnation except some vague saying from the Book of Hebrews which DOES NOT refute this at ALL. A saying that can even be considered to be explanatory of the right view of this concept of which little IS KNOWN, as little IS KNOW of death, and for which there ARE many wrong perceptions. In Hebrews we read a section by the author regarding the ‘priesthood’ of Christ Jesus, that unlike the priests of old, the Master offers sacrifice but once, but there IS much here that IS unclear and some that IS misinterpreted. The verses say:
“For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die , but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:24-28).
The comparison of Christ to the priests of old IS NOT an important view for us today and likely has never been such except in regard to view of Christ by the Jews in those ancient days; in this regard it IS unfortunate that some doctrine relies upon these ideas that are sparsely understood and of no moment to us as followers of Christ who DO NOT see the relationship to the ancient ideas of the priest. Nonetheless the single most referenced words against reincarnation in the New Testament are found in this group of sayings which speaks a Truth that IS NOT understood as such. Men DO ONLY die once, that is the man in the world, the complex personality and form that is given Life and consciousness by the Soul; this combination of personality and Life will NOT appear in this Earth again; but the Soul endures. This DOES NOT say that the Soul will NOT be born again as the Life of a new man, a different man, whose very Life will be based upon the ‘judgement’ of that that man who had died. Doctrine has hijacked the Truth of these ideas and put them into the doctrinal approach of the atoning value of the Master’s death. As we have discussed in or previous essays, there IS much depth and much teaching in the death and the resurrection of the Master that IS missed by those whose view IS atonement, that by His death men is freed from Sin. The greater Truth IS yet that man must free himself from sin, he must free himself from the temptations of the world and this IS the crux of the Master’s teaching that IS centered in and flows from Love. The view that He died for our sins IS ONLY valid in the idea that if man had NOT followed the carnal path, but had followed the law and the teachings of the patriarchs and the prophets, that there would have been NO need for the example of His death in the perfection of a True Son of God.
The Truth of the Way to the Kingdom of God had been lost in the rites and the rituals of the established doctrines and traditions and the Master came to again show to men how it IS that one can be accounted worthy of the Kingdom of God, how that it IS by Repentance and keeping the True word of God that one can find this same perfection and in this to overcome the sting of death in the Truth of Life as He did and as IS explained for us in the right discernment of the words of His apostles. While we have gone a bit afield here, the main idea IS that these words that are used to discount the concept of rebirth are wholly misunderstood and misapplied; NOT ONLY that one verse, but the entirety of the selection which IS of little True spiritual value for us here today. As an example of the doctrinal confusion we include here a section of Vincent’s ideas on these words: That there is no place for a repeated offering of Christ is further shown by reference to the lot of men in general. The very idea is absurd; for men die once, and judgment follows. Christ was man, and Christ died. He will not come to earth to live and die again. Christ died, but judgment did not follow in his case. On the contrary, he became judge of all 4. This IS of course a purely doctrinal view the author of Hebrew’s most confusing words.
Our main point again IS that of the doctrinal idea of the free ‘gift’ of grace or favor that IS given by God and the relationship of this idea to the theories of predestination; that there IS a conflict with the Truth of the words that say that “there is no respect of persons with God“. Further, we should see the ultimate reality of this saying; that if there IS NO respect of persons by the Lord and, if there IS predestination, how do we understand the stark differences in the lives of the seven billion persons on this Earth today. Can we see that in predestination there IS a Plan to give to some and NOT to others based in the chance that one might be in a position to come to believe in the Lord and, while in today’s small world it IS more possible to be in this position, this was NOT True even twenty years ago. And there ARE yet more rigid ideas on predestination, that this would involve believers and how that if one should come to believe that he must have been predestined to salvation. Regardless of how that this theory of predestination IS seen, the fact IS that it IS contrary to the words of the apostles that say that there IS NO respect of persons by the Lord and if we believe the latter, then there IS NO free ‘gift’ of grace but ONLY grace as this IS earned according to the fruits of one’s focus upon the things of God. At the same time we must understand that if this precept IS True, that there IS NO respect of persons with God, then without the provisions offered by the concept of rebirth there IS NO Plan….there IS ONLY the haphazard existence of men in the world.
Can we see the dilemma here? Can we see the reality that if there IS a Great and Awesome Plan of God that there CAN NOT be a haphazard approach to Life, that there must be some ordination that can explain the appearance of haphazardness, that can explain the stark differences that are so apparent in the lives of men around the world? Can we see that in the orderliness of ALL things from the tiny atom to the solar system and beyond, that there must be some orderly Plan at work in this Earth as well and that this order can be found in the march of Life from unconscious awareness to consciousness to self-consciousness and finally the presence in this Earth of True Sons of God….Souls who have developed the ability of the conscious manipulation of the forms and the spiritual enlightenment of them. And can we understand that favor and predestination as understood in doctrine IS NOT the way of order, that this is tantamount to the haphazardness of more than just the things of the world, the haphazardness of the very Plan of God that willingly forsakes some over others; this IS in stark contrast to the eternal Truth that “that God is no respecter of persons“.
In the end, the answer IS the reality of grace, as the earned ability to express the Love and the Power of the Soul by degree through Life in this world. Without the nebulous ideas of doctrine and in full view of the Truth that there IS NO respect of persons by the Lord, the Souls of men bestow upon their own existence in the world ever more revelation and realization as they Repent and change their focus to the things of God. This IS the reality of Life that IS encapsulated in Paul’s words to the Romans which we often discuss:
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:20-23).
This IS the Path of the Souls of men through the long journey to the Kingdom of God; it IS in this Kingdom that one IS “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“. And grace IS found at every step, at every stage of this journey of Life; in this grace IS the ever increasing ability to express the Truth of Love in the world and that expression IS mercy and GoodWill for ALL men. This IS not the direction that we intended to take in today’s essay; our plan was to address the ending comments from the last essay which concerned the use of this Greek word charis in regard to the relation between the servant and the Master in the Parable of the Master and the Servant as well as to gain a greater understanding of grace as this IS presented by the Apostle John in the the Prologue to his Gospel. We will try to get back to these in the next essay and we will include as well our view of the True meaning of these words from Paul which on the surface appear to support the doctrinal ideas on this most mysterious subject of grace:
“Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:9-10).
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect |
Potency |
Aspect of Man |
In Relation to the Great Invocation |
In relation to the Christ |
|
GOD, The Father |
Will or Power |
Spirit or Life |
Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN |
Life |
|
Son, The Christ |
Love and Wisdom |
Soul or Christ Within |
Heart of God |
Truth |
|
Holy Spirit |
Light or Activity |
Life Within |
Mind of God |
Way |
Note on the Quote of the Day
This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.
This Quote of the Day is the antithesis of glamour and illusion. In this mantram are the thoughts about ourselves and our brothers in the world that can diffuse those forces that hold a man in the world of things and prevent his spiritual progress.
Mantram of Unification
The sons of men are one and I am one with them.
I seek to love, not hate;
I seek to serve and not exact due service;
I seek to heal, not hurt.
Let pain bring due reward of light and love.
Let the Soul control the outer form, and life and all events,
And bring to light the love that underlies the happenings of the time.
Let vision come and insight.
Let the future stand revealed.
Let inner union demonstrate and outer cleavages be gone.
Let love prevail.
Let all men love.
The Mantram of Unification is a meditation and a prayer that at first affirms the unity of all men and the Brotherhood of Man based on the Fatherhood of God. The first stanza sets forth several truly Christian ideals in Unity, Love, Service and Healing. The second stanza is a invocation to the Lord and to our own Souls asking that from the pain (if there can truly be any) incurred in focusing on the Spirit and not the world will come Light and Love into our lives and that we begin to function as Souls through our conscious personalities. We ask that the spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes and also that the Love that we bring forth, individually and as a world group, can be seen by all and ultimately in all. Finally, in the last stanza we ask for those things that are needed for Love to abound. Vision and insight so that we can direct our attention properly; revelation of the future in the sense that all can see the Power of Love in the world; inner union so that we do not fall back into the world’s ways, that we faint not; and that a sense of separation, the antithesis of brotherhood, ends as we know it today. Let Love Prevail, Let All Men Love.spiritual control of our lives will bring to light for us the Love that underlies world events; a Love that the world oriented man will not see working out behind the scenes.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts!
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
