ON LOVE; PART MXVII
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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. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God
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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).
Because of our writing schedule and our focus upon the idea of faith, we missed this year’s Wesak Festival, the Festival of the Buddha, which occurs at the May Full Moon. While this IS an important festival for much of the world, there IS likely as much doctrine in its celebration as there IS in the various Christian festivals and, while doctrine IS important to so many people, it IS NOT our focus in this blog. These festivals and whatever rituals ARE associated with them ARE for the most part the creations of men as ARE the doctrines which interpret the Truths offered by the Sons of God that bring them to us. There IS little or NO True teaching of the spiritual intent of these Sons of God and this IS likely because the spiritual Truths ARE so contrary to the way that men live and, while this IS likely True in ALL religion, this IS especially True in Christianity and, from the perspective of the radical interpretations, Islam.
In Christianity the radical perspective IS rather long gone but its seeds still DO exist in the more ‘fundamental’ denominations and sects which teach and act in ways that ARE contrary to the Master’s words and one DOES NOT have to go far to find these. It IS unfortunate that yet today there IS hatred and wrath spoken against other religions under the guise of Christian thought and while much of this IS directed today against Islam, the reality IS that many Christians look askance at ALL other religions without ever taking the time to explore them. And we should note here that mere exploration IS seen by many as against Christian doctrine. In a way it IS Christian doctrine that helps to perpetuate the divisions of men….the factions that ARE spoken against in Paul’s list of “the works of the flesh“, though none would likely admit this against there own claims that ARE based in their misinterpretation of Jesus’ words.
In the story of the Wesak Festival that we post every year, there IS an communion of sorts between the Christ and the Buddha which we should try to see as a communion between the Love as offered by the Master and the Wisdom which IS offered by the Buddha. The Wesak story IS one of cooperation between the Christ who never left us as we read in His words saying that “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20) and the Buddha who returns to this Earth scheme in Loving support of His Brother and of the Souls participating in it. The complete story can be read in In the Words of Jesus part 654 and it IS a lesson of Love and Wisdom that should be taken from it.
We ended the last essay with our ideas on some of the words used in Paul’s writings and those given us by the writers of the gospels. We centered our thoughts on the idea of sozo and its rendering as saved and on iaomai, which IS rendered as heal in Jesus’ words regarding the view of men who neither see nor hear the Truths that have ever been offered. While Jesus speaks to the Jews as He repeats the words of the prophet, we should see His words, as well as most ALL of His words, as an indictment of humanity in ALL its generations; what was True in Isaiah’s time, was True also in Jesus’ time and repeated again by the Apostle Paul in Rome and perhaps if we could have seen the warning in addition to the historic perspective, Christianity would be in a different place today.
The Truths of the words of Jehovah through Moses and the prophets ARE yet ignored by much of Judaism; this in favor of the doctrines of men who never understood the message of the Christ 2000 years ago. Neither ARE the Truths of Jesus’ message against men’s doctrinal approach to God seen although they ARE clearly depicted in His many words which decry such practice, words which doctrines look past in favor of their own interpretations of His intent. Here, although there ARE thousands of different doctrinal and denominational approaches to His words, men DO NOT see their own error against the backdrop of illusion and glamour which IS that vanity which IS men’s perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4.
It IS this vanity that must be overcome by ALL men and to DO so they must strive to keep His words as they journey toward the Kingdom of God and the fullness of faith which IS that KNOWING by revelation the mysteries of His Presence and His Kingdom. Here we should try to see how that while doctrines DO keep men somewhat in tune with the Godhead, it IS also doctrines that prevent many from ever seeing the deeper Truths, many of which ARE NOT ONLY ignored but ARE spoken against in the firmness of some doctrinal views. The words of the Prophet Isaiah which ARE repeated by Jesus as reported by His apostles and then repeated again by Paul should be seen by the doctrinal church as an indictment against their own reliance upon doctrinal views of Truth and while these words ARE directed against the Jews, it IS Truly NOT difficult to see their effect upon Christians; we read from Paul’s words that:
“after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:25-27).
It IS here in these words that we have the link between healing and salvation. Both sozo and iaomai, ARE rendered in other places as to make whole and heal 2 and when we can link this to the Apostle Mark’s version of Jesus’ words saying “and their sins should be forgiven them” (Mark 4:12) in place of iaomai we can better understand the whole of the intent. It IS sin that IS to be healed, NOT sin as this IS commonly understood but rather the sin that IS men’s focus upon the self and the things of the self, a focus that IS promoted by the doctrines of men over the the Truths of our trifecta which we repeat again:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
And it IS in focus upon the things of God that men ARE made whole; it IS in focus upon keeping His words that we can see the reality of the man who IS expressing some measure of the Truth and of His Presence. This IS the whole man: the Soul, the spiritual Inner man, as the director of his Life in form expressing a measure of “the fruit of the Spirit“….”some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” (Matthew 13:8).
As we ended the last essay we also took on the ideas behind the Greek words epistrepho which IS rendered as convert and metanoeo which IS rendered as Repent. We should try to see here how that the intent of both of these words IS the same from a spiritual perspective; in the one, metanoeo, we have the idea of change, a change of thought and attitude that results in changed actions. Here, as Jesus uses this idea, we should see that change from sin to virtue or from “the works of the flesh” to “the fruit of the Spirit“. This of course starts in the “renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) which IS the result of one’s change in focus from the things of the self to the things of God. Repentance then IS a complex endeavor of change that begins with a glimmer of the Truth and in this idea we should also see the idea of conversion.
This conversion which IS rendered from epistrepho IS the turning of one’s Life away from a focus upon the things of the self and onto the things of God and in this sense being converted IS the result of Repentance while in another sense it IS the cause of it. Perhaps it IS in this circular idea that both these words ARE used by the Master and His apostles and while one may be seen as more spiritual that the other, they ARE both intertwined as ARE the ideas of sozo and iaomai. It IS in the doctrinal ideas given to sozo as saved that confusion exists, a confusion that IS based in the nebulous doctrinal ideas of salvation. This brings us back again to our discussion on faith as this IS used by Paul in that saying that has become a central point of Christian teachings. Paul writes: “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:8-10).
It IS in understanding the way that faith IS that KNOWING, which in its fullness IS to “doubt not” (Matthew 21:21), that we can better grasp the apostle’s message. It IS in understanding the way that believing IS that KNOWING of which we read that the man who DOES “shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe” (Mark 11:23), that we can better understand the whole of Paul’s Truth which tells us that it IS in KNOWING that one finds righteousness. It IS the man who KNOWS the Truth that can profess it in righteousness as his expression; it IS this man that IS healed….it IS this man who IS made whole….it IS this man who IS Truly saved. While doctrines allocate this idea of being saved to speaking and confessing these words from Paul according to their doctrinal tenets which often signify this as being “born again“, the reality IS ever found in the DOING as we read clearly in the Master’s words and in the words of ALL His apostles.
These words to the Romans ARE words against the way of the Jews and their approach to the law which had become but a tool of their doctrines because they DID NOT see nor hear the Truth behind the words which the Master shows us; the Truth that men should “should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:15). This IS Paul’s message against the law which, while encumbered with uncertain ideas, shows us the error of the Jews and their reliance upon their doctrines which “establish their own righteousness” and this IS NOT unlike the error of Christianity which supplants the Truth of His words with the affirmations and confessions of those ideas that follow upon these words which should give them their context; we read:
“For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above: ) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. ) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach….” (Romans 10:2-8).
It IS in the realization that “the word of faith, which we preach” IS His word; that it IS the His words of Truth by which men should live, that we can come to understand Paul’s many words that compare living by the law to living by faith. It IS however in the nebulous doctrinal ideas of just what this faith IS that the Truth IS lost. When we can see how that the Jews had “a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” and that Jesus brought us this KNOWING by His words and by His example, we can then see the message that IS missed by most ALL doctrine. It IS keeping the law for the sake of the law, keeping it because it IS the law, that Paul speaks against and this in favor of KNOWING the Truth of one’s own existence and of his interrelationships with ALL men according to the precepts of the Great Commandments.
The Jews had this law but had NOT a True understanding of Love, neither for God nor for one’s fellowman, but this IS NOT because these ideas ARE NOT in the law, it IS because of the way that their own doctrines interpreted the Truth. And the same IS True yet today. Men DO NOT understand the entire concept of this Love and they DO NOT understand that the reality of Loving God according to the Great Commandments IS to put the things of God first and foremost in one’s Life; embedded in this idea IS Jesus own words saying that “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). And, to be sure, there IS NO shortage of this idea in the Old Testament, in the law of Moses and in the prophets, where we read such things as “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations” (Deuteronomy 7:9).
We leave off again today with our selection from Galatians which we DID NOT specifically address but whose ideas ARE found in the reality of faith; it IS in KNOWING some measure of Truth that one can be Truly “led of the Spirit” and this measure comes ONLY as one strives to keep His words; words of which Jesus says “they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:17-24).
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 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.
We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.
My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.
My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.
I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.
My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.
Let the peace of God rule in your hearts
- 2 New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition, 1888
